April 4, 2007

Published in Wake Forest, NC

            It was a six to four vote with Steve Stoller, Alphonza Merritt, Michael Martin, Ward Marotti, Peter Thibodeau and Chris Kaeberlein voting to table and chairman Bob Hill, Kim Parker, Sarah Bridges and Tom Cornett voting no. It had been the same lineup minutes earlier that defeated Bridges’ motion to approve the traditional neighborhood development.

            During the public hearing, the Rev. Enoch Holloway, pastor of the Friendship Chapel Baptist Church for 25 years, said the members of the 140-year-old “are probably the oldest neighbors the Holdings have.” He praised the Holding family, which operated a dairy farm on the land intended for Holding Village, and said the church endorses it “a hundred and ten percent.”

            “Why would it be good for Friendship Chapel?” Marotti asked.

            Although it may be regarded as a black congregation, Holloway said “the church is not black and we are convinced it’s going to be a mixed neighborhood.”

            Jonnie Anderson, who owns a downtown business, said she favors the plan because it will benefit downtown. “Personally, this is the way neighborhoods ought to be developed.”

            Another neighbor, the Air Liquide US gas plant, is concerned people who buy the single-family homes in the southern part of the development near Forestville Road will object to the noise from the air-compression plant. (No one spoke about the noise from the freight trains on the CSX rail line.)

            Clyde Holt, an attorney with the Raleigh firm of Smith Moore, said the compressors, which work around the clock and around the calendar, can be heard on the lots of nearby homes that were there before the plant was built in 1983. Holt said he stood in one yard: “I would not want to live there.”

            Also, Holt said, the master plan shows an exit from Holding Village onto Forestville Road directly across from the entrance to the Air Liquide plant. Large trucks carrying liquid oxygen, nitrogen and argon, between 15 and 25 a day, go to and from the plant. All traffic would have to head south to Rogers Road because the Forestville Road railroad crossing was closed at the time the Rogers Road crossing was opened.

            Planning Director Chip Russell said the separation between the plant and the homes across the intervening road and railroad line is almost double the required.

            The planning board members seemed ready to agree to a condition that potential homeowners must be informed of the plant.

            Three nearby homeowners spoke briefly. Cheryl Colella Gehrke and another neighbor had concerns about the speed on the already-built section of Franklin Street that serves their developments.

            Hill began the discussion about the project by saying there are a lot of issues, “a lot of them technical in nature.” These are handled by the local, state and federal agencies who oversee the various development aspects.

            Thibodeau then said, “I think there’s a lot a ground to cover” and asked how long the meeting could be. He said he wanted to go through some “substantive technical issues.”

            Martin said he had noticed in the regulating code that restaurants would be permitted in the central district, which has zero setbacks from the sidewalks. “Where are they going to put a thousand-gallon grease trap? In the middle of the road?”

            “If the City of Raleigh says you are going to have to have a grease trap, there are other requirements that are going to weigh into what your setback is.”

            “I’m not qualified to micro-manage this,” Hill said. “The staff has worked hard on this.”

            “How can we be comfortable with this new plan?” Marotti asked.

            “There are various agencies in place that regulate these things,” Hill said. “It comes down to a matter of confidence. I’m perfectly comfortable with them (the planning staff) managing this.”         

            Russell had given the planning board members the plans and the staff report without adding his comments or any conditions he would recommend. He said he needed a little more time to formalize his recommendations. He has worked closely with the developers, he said, providing form while they gave content.

            Although he appreciated the confidence expressed by Hill and Bridges, Russell said, it is always good to look at something with another set of eyes. Also, he said, he had seen some typos and word choices in the regulating code he would like to change.

            Thibodeau said he wanted to provide support for the staff and make sure the project is in the best interests of the town.

            “I’m concerned,” he said, about the number of places where changes or modifications could be approved by Russell. Thibodeau said he thought most of those should return to the planning board.

            Thibodeau, a hydrologist, said he had worked with developers. If they can get a 20 percent change for their plans, they think “every inch I develop means more dollars in my pocket.”

            It is different for traditional neighborhoods which specify building close to the street or sidewalk or at it, Russell said. “Here they would want to increase the setbacks.”

            Undeterred, Thibodeau said more building “means more impervious area, more run-off into streams and ponds. Part of their plan is to manage the pond for irrigation. I haven’t seen anything in here that the project is going to protect that creek or that pond.” Thibodeau also said he wants the development, if it is approved, to be successful.

            “You probably won’t find that (water management) in the regulating code,” Russell said, adding it is not the usual situation. It is the first time a development said it would use a pond for irrigation.

            Also, Russell said, “If there’s some significant change to the master plan, it comes back to you.”

            At least twice Thibodeau told the developers, Roger Perry of East West Partners in Chapel Hill and Scott Murray, who operates his land planning firm from Boydton, Va., that he would like to work with them on water management.

            Thibodeau also said the planning board did not have a final grading plan and “we haven’t talked about the traffic impact analysis. I’d like to have that explained to me.”

            “The whole idea is,” Hill said, “that when you have documents like the traffic study (included in planning board members’ packets) and have some questions, you need to get in touch with the appropriate people at the town.”

            “There is a lot to review in a short time,” Thibodeau said. “This is a landmark project for the town. I just want to see the details. I’m not being mean.”

            Thibodeau then questioned several of the traffic counts from the traffic study.

            Thibodeau’s final questions were about the proposed densities. “Why?” he asked. If there are larger lots they would decrease the burden on the town and the schools. He said some lots are as small as 5,000 square feet, which translates into the town’s zoning of R-5. Much of Heritage and other developments are zoned R-5 because of the flexibility in setbacks in that zoning classification.

            One of the people in the hearing room until the end Tuesday night was T. Barker Dameron who, with his brother, Chris, owns the tract to the east of the Holding Village site. Some of that land is being developed residentially by Andy Ammons as Heritage North. The Damerons apparently plan to present their development plans soon.