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Generally when a crowd of neighbors fill
the chairs at town hall for a rezoning
or special use, the evening can become
long and clamorous as they object to the
request.
Not so Tuesday night. The
20-plus North Main neighbors and friends
from the community were there to support
Bill and Louise Howard’s request for a
special use permit to operate a bed and
breakfast.
In fact it was Al Dubber,
who had adamantly opposed Inez Mercer’s
bed and breakfast requests next door to
him, who led the praise.
Dubber said he was speaking
for the neighbors who are “in total
support of them operating a bed and
breakfast. They have turned a Volkswagen
junkyard into a beautiful, elegant
house. It’s the showplace of North Main
Street.”
Dubber said the Howards
“have the desire and the means to
operate a bed and breakfast like it
should be operated. We think it will be
a huge asset for our community and
certainly help our downtown area.”
Planning board chairman Bob
Hill joined the praise just before the
unanimous vote to recommend the request
to the town board. “It’s a wonderful
thing for North Main and going to be a
wonderful thing for our town.”
The Howards plan to offer
three rooms and one suite to visitors
and limit parking to beside and behind
their home at 238 N. Main St. A former
rest home and later a private residence
that became extremely dilapidated, the
Howards have completely renovated the
ca. 1915 house.
The house is part of the
Wake Forest Historic District centered
on North Main. The Historic Preservation
Commission wrote a letter supporting the
Howard’s request.
If approved by the town
board at its April 17 meeting, the bed
and breakfast will be the first in town.
Both of Mercer’s requests were rejected
by the town board because of the short
distance between her house and the
Dubber’s, and another proposal for a bed
and breakfast on South Avenue never came
to a vote. |
