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As anticipated during Friday’s town
board retreat, the Wake Forest
commissioners split three to two Tuesday
night about a study about impact fees on
new development for fire station
construction and capital purchases.
Commissioner Frank Drake,
who made the motion for the study by
town staff, was joined by Commissioners
Velma Boyd-Lawson and Margaret Stinnett,
with Commissioners Stephen Barrington
and David Camacho voting no.
The town has had the
authority to assess impact fees on new
construction since 1989 and already
assesses impact fees for water and
sewer, which now are paid to Raleigh,
and for parks and recreation.
There will also be a public
hearing before any possible ordinance is
approved.
At the close of the meeting,
Stinnett said she has noticed the City
of Raleigh has been clearing brush from
water and sewer rights-of-way. “Do they
have to remove their debris or can they
just leave it piled up?”
“They’re our easements,”
Deputy Town Manager Roe O’Donnell said.
“I’ll be glad to call them
and tell them to get their trash off,”
Town Manager Mark Williams said.
Stinnett called attention to
the clearing done along Richland Creek
and visible from Durham Road (N.C. 98).
In other action, the board:
-- continued Tuesday night’s
meeting to Feb. 6 at 5 p.m. to approve
the funding for the electric substation
construction and transformers. Finance
Director Aileen Staples said they had
planned to have the board approve a
12-year loan for $2.3 million from
Wachovia Bank at 3.74 percent interest.
However, she learned late in the
afternoon the Eastern Power Agency, of
which the town is a part, does not allow
towns to mortgage electric property or
equipment. With a series of conference
calls with Wachovia and the Local
Government Commission, Staples has an
agreement to change to a private revenue
bond from Wachovia for the same amount,
time and interest. That agreement will
go to the commissioners Feb. 6. Staples
will be on maternity leave.
-- did not approve the
interlocal agreement with the Wake
County Public School System because
Drake and others said they had serious
problems with the wording and the legal
intent in the document as submitted.
Drake, town attorney Eric Vernon and
Parks and Recreation Director Susan
Simpson will work with school system
staff to iron out the problems.
-- did not approve some
deletions and amendments in the code of
ordinances because the commissioners
wanted to see the amendments. Many of
the changes will delete references to
water and sewer because the town no
longer operates those system.
-- named Drake as the mayor
pro tem following a procedure used after
the last two elections. The commissioner
with the highest vote total in a
November election becomes the mayor pro
tem but only after he or she has served
a year on the board. Barrington remained
as mayor pro tem until Tuesday, but he
agreed with Camacho, who said he was
rarely asked to fill in because “the
mayor does an excellent job of covering
all the bases.”
-- approved the changes in
the off-street parking and loading
regulations. |
