|
Wake Forest Planning Board members
Tuesday night questioned an increase of
traffic on South Main Street and the
construction of Ligon Mill Road if
Alexan at Ligon Mill, a 288-unit
apartment complex, is built along the
future Ligon Mill just south of Caveness
Farm Avenue.
The board did recommend
there be a bond to ensure the road is
built even if the project is not
completed.
Chairman Bob Hill began by
quizzing Beth Lewis, a planner with Chas
H. Sells, the engineer. “I’m concerned
about the impact on traffic on South
Main Street.”
Lewis said building Ligon
Mill “will take people off busier roads
and put them on Ligon Mill Road and
other roads.”
“Where are they going to go
on Ligon?” Mike Martin asked. The Alexan
developers, Trammell Crow Residential,
are required to build two lanes of the
four-lane with median road from its
dead-end near Wal-Mart to Caveness Farm
Avenue.
It will open traffic to the
avenue, which has a right-in, right-out
connection to Capital Boulevard, Lewis
said. And the extension will make the
undeveloped property on the other side
of the road more desirable for
development.
“But until then where will
traffic go?” Ward Marotti asked.
In her opening explanation
of the project, planner Ann Ayers had
said, “We’re going to make sure we get
Ligon Mill Road built,” saying building
at least two lanes of the road are part
of the requirements for The Shoppes at
Caveness Farm, Reynolds Mill subdivision
and the apartments. The Reynolds Mill
developers, Parker & Orleans, are
required to extend the road to the
bypass before the 75th
building permit for the single-family
section is issued. Later she said the
road “will be up to the bypass fairly
soon.”
Planning Director Chip
Russell also assured the planning board
the road will be built. “The need for
Ligon Mill Road to be in place is what
they need to sell this property and rent
this property. They think it is critical
for the development of this project.”
TCR plans to build the
apartments within two years from
approval.
Marotti and others also
questioned the stream buffers for the
three streams on the property. Ed Tang,
an engineer with Sells, said they will
stop their grading at the point where
the Richland Creek buffer or the Neuse
River buffer, whichever is most
stringent at that point, begins.
The vote to recommend was
six to two with Marotti and Chris
Kaeberlein dissenting. Other board
members present were Hill, Martin, Tom
Cornett, Sarah Bridges, Kim Parker and
Alphonza Merritt.
|
