August 22, 2007

Published in Wake Forest, NC

            The three are the Franklin Street roundabouts and median, widening South Main Street from Forbes Road to Forestville Road, and a sidewalk along North White.

            The bond issue presented to voters was to build Franklin Street for $2.4 million. The current estimate is $5.2 million with the landscaping, engineering, lighting and underground utilities.

            “Where are the extra three million bucks coming from?” Stinnett asked.

            “From the bond issue,” Deputy Town Manager Roe O’Donnell said.

            “I honestly think by the time we pay for these three projects the bond money will be gone,” Stinnett said.

            The $9.5 million approved by voters was for $3.3 million to build part of the North Loop, $1 million to widen South Main Street to five lanes from Rogers Road to Forbes Road, $2.2 million to widen Stadium Drive to three lanes from Rock Springs Road to Capital Boulevard, $2.4 million for Franklin Street and $600 for the North White Street sidewalk.

            Town Manager Mark Williams, Mayor Vivian Jones, Commissioner David Camacho and O’Donnell said, at various times, the problem is that totally unforeseen inflation in construction costs began soon after the bonds were passed.

            “The cost of construction has skyrocketed over the past two years because of hurricanes and the material we are selling to China,” Williams said.

            Jones called the inflation extremely extraordinary. “It’s something that nobody could predict.”

            “Next time we do a bond issue we need to be absolutely certain which projects we want to do and how to do them,” Williams said. That would include having engineering and other planning done so “we can speed them up and get them done faster.”

            He mentioned South Main Street where neighbors shot down the town’s proposal for four travel lanes divided by a concrete median from Rogers to Forbes.

            The town is planning a different project, adding a lane between Forbes and Forestville to make two travel lanes and a turn lane.

            When will construction start there, Stinnett asked.

            “It depends on the right-of-way. We want to acquire as little as possible,” O’Donnell said. The design is just beginning. When it is complete, the engineer will decide what right-of-way needs to be purchased.

            Next came the North White Street sidewalk, and O’Donnell said it is under design. “We may be able to do that job ourselves. We are very proficient in sidewalk construction.”

            The question became how the sidewalk should be designed – with or without curb and gutter -- because the east side of North White has a number of drainage ditches. The west side is not possible because of the railroad and its right-of-way.

            “Do you just want a sidewalk that runs all over the place?” Planning Director Chip Russell asked. His suggestion: “Do a project and do it the best way you can.”

            It will take longer to do the larger job with curb and gutter, Commissioner Frank Drake said. “Which do the residents want?”

            “I just keep hearing that there is no way for kids to get to Flaherty Park,” Stinnett said.

            “The quickest way to get the sidewalk is for us to do it. If you want curb and gutter, we can’t do that ourselves,” O’Donnell said.

            A bit later, Commissioner Stephen Barrington chimed in to say he wants the curb and gutter. “I don’t want us to have to redo it.”

            O’Donnell also said the town crews can build the desired sidewalk to Ailey Young Park, but there are some “real tough issues,” Williams said. “There are houses right on the road. It comes down to a political decision.”