April 11, 2007

Published in Wake Forest, NC

            The top 11 projects in the draft – which may be changed by the town board – were put together by Town Manager Mark Williams from requests from all town department and total $5,367,500. They are:

• $250,000 to complete the purchase and install the financial software used by many of the town departments. The software was selected to solve a number of customer and user issues.
• $520,000 to continue the downtown streetscape project which will replace the curb, gutter and sidewalks, and add new landscaping, street furniture and lighting. The town has spent $50,000 and plans to spend $1,130,000 in the next two years.
• $75,000 for gateway (entrance) signs with landscaping that will tell people they have entered Wake Forest. The plan is to spend about this much in each of the succeeding four years.
• $120,000 to replace an unsafe bridge over a small creek in H.L. Miller Park behind town hall.
• $150,000 for right-of-way along Jones Dairy Road to align the current T intersection of Chalks Road with the entrance to Bowling Green subdivision, moving the entrance farther from Smith and Dunn creeks.
• $105,000 to purchase right-of-way in a Wake Electric easement to extend the future Heritage Farm Road in a five-lot, 15-acre commercial subdivision to meet Farm Ridge Road and thence Farm Road. Both of the latter roads are unpaved streets east of South Main Street. The justification is that the extension “would enhance traffic flow along South Main Street and Rogers Road.”
• $230,000 to pave Carter Street and Mangum Avenue. The plan is to spend about the same amount each year for the next four years to pave (year two) Farm Road and Farm Ridge Road, (year three) Spring Valley Road, (year four) Highland Drive, and (year five) West Walnut Avenue and Brewer Circle.
• $2.5 million for street and sidewalk improvements. This item was carried over unchanged from last year’s list because there was no agreement about widening South Main Street. The projects are the medians and roundabouts on Franklin Street, widening South Main from Forbes Road to Forestville Road, widening Stadium Drive from Rock Springs Road to Capital Boulevard, building the North Loop from North White Street to North Main Street, and building a sidewalk along North White from East Juniper Avenue to Flaherty Park.
• $117,500 for four sidewalk projects which add up to $285,000, a figure which could go higher if the town has to buy right-of-way and/or easements or add curb and gutter and drainage. “The streets on the list are from years ago (1994) that were engineered at one time,” Public Works Director Mike Barton said. “We are looking at all the sidewalks that are in the pedestrian plan that can be done without the added expenses (see above) to get more bang for our buck and to get people moving.” Barton said that although five projects were listed last year, none were done. Instead the Street Division was told to do other areas with the money, doing the work inhouse. The crews have finished a portion of sidewalk on West Holding Avenue at South Main Street and are now working in front of Aquarium Outfitters. The next project is in front of the church on South Main. “When completed the sidewalk will be complete from the N.C. 98 Bypass into town,” Barton said.
• $300,000 for the coming fiscal year and for the following two years, dipping to $100,000 for the last two years of the plan to install lighting along the N.C. 98 bypass.
• $1 million for street maintenance. A survey showed that 17 miles of town streets need either full-depth patching or overlaying. The repairs should last 20-plus years.

Other projects that may be funded

            There is a list of other projects not rated at such a high priority level as those above, and these total $14.6 million.

            Included is the $110,000 each year for five years pledged to the Wake Forest College Birthplace for the museum annex if the backers can show significant donations from other quarters, the work on two new parks – Joyner and Heritage High School – and $4 million for the new town hall.

            The town has already spent $500,000 on the town hall project. The total cost, including all the plans and construction documents, construction and land acquisition, is anticipated to be $14.6 million.

            Plans are to spend $2.2 million on the joint school/park facility at Heritage High this year as the site is developed and construction begins for the school which will open in the fall of 2009. The town has already spent $600,000 and anticipates spending $1.2 million to complete the two ball fields, two soccer fields, a restroom/storage facility and light the two ball fields and the tennis courts built by the school system.

            Joyner Park on West Oak Street and Harris Road will cost about $12.5 million when complete. The town anticipates spending $4.2 million this year to begin the development of the master plan that includes ball and soccer fields, a playground, picnic areas and a community center.

            This year’s CIP increases the amount the town plans to spend renovating the gym at the DuBois Center from $80,000 to $115,000. Most of that money is the residue, $150,000, from a 1998 parks and recreation bond issue. It was earmarked for the northeast area of town, but for various reasons only $52,000 of it was spent to improve the basketball courts at the DuBois Center. Lawrence Eugene Perry, the president of the National Alumni Association of DuBois High School, is getting bids to fix the roof, the bathrooms, the lighting and the stage in the gym.

            A small program has potential to renew the tree canopy in town. It is called the Neighborwood Program, and it would provide incentives for residents to plant town-supplied trees and care for them.

            Planner Lisa Potts, who is also the liaison to the Urban Forestry Board, said the program has many benefits including adding beauty and character to the town, cooling houses and the air, reducing air pollution, providing a home for birds and small animals and encouraging people to be outdoors more. She is asking for $35,000 to start the program.

            The lowest level of priority includes $809,000 in projects, rounding out the $20.775 million total.