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After three of the five Wake Forest
commissioners indicated they were
opposed to rezoning 34 acres for an
extension of the Bishop’s Grant
subdivision, they then voted four to one
to deny the associated annexation
request.
Commissioners Velma Boyd,
Frank Drake and Margaret Stinnett were
against the rezoning, and Commissioner
Stephen Barrington joined them to deny
the annexation.
The Carriages at Bishop’s
Grant would have been 150 single-family
homes on 34 acres adjoining the earlier
subdivision on the east. ECI Custom
Homes of Raleigh purchased the land
between Wait Avenue (N.C. 98) and Oak
Grove Church Road for $2.2 million in
January, and Contentnea Creek
Development Company made the rezoning
request in order to build homes in a
price range between the single-family
homes in Bishop’s Grant and the
townhouses there.
Neighbors to the south and
west praised the developers during the
public hearing two weeks ago for meeting
with them, listening to their concerns
and addressing them. Commissioner
Stephen Barrington said that impressed
him.
“They’re trying as hard as
anyone tries. But that’s not the issue.
The issue is this the right thing to do
with the land right now?” Drake said.
Stinnett cited the density
and, with Boyd, the future congestion at
the one entrance on Wait Avenue. A
second entrance along private Copper
Beech Lane to Oak Grove Church Road
would, she said, not be used much.
“I personally have a problem
with the density,” Stinnett said.
“That’s 150 units in that particular
spot when you already have 172 and 42
(the numbers for Bishop’s Grant). That’s
354 units coming in and out one exit.”
She also noted only 36 of the
single-family homes in Bishop’s Grant
have been built, and Lamar Bunn with
Contentnea Creek said the townhouses are
still being designed.
Looking at the traffic study
contracted by the town, Boyd said it
shows the traffic conditions would be
“lower than acceptable.”
The future entrance to
Bowling Green subdivision will line up
with the existing entrance to Bishop’s
Grant, which is within yards of the
long-existing Old Murray Road leading to
several large-lot homes and horse farms.
And just to the west is the entrance to
Shenandoah Farms, also large-lot homes
and horse farms.
Commissioner David Camacho
and Drake sparred a bit about how the
land should be developed and to what
density. The value of the land will only
increase, making development more
expensive, Camacho said.
He also warned traffic along
Wait will increase “regardless of
whether Wake Forest approves another
development like this. Even if we take a
moratorium (on growth), that’s not going
to reduce the pressure.” Growth in other
towns and in the county will produce the
increased traffic. “We’re going to take
the burden of other folks’ development
without getting any ourselves.”
There was a tricky
procedural issue. The vote on the
annexation had to come before the vote
on the rezoning because the land is
under county jurisdiction and the town
cannot rezone property unless it is
inside the town limits or the
extra-territorial jurisdiction. That led
to an informal straw vote on the
rezoning. When it was three to two, the
board voted on the annexation request
and did not officially vote on the
rezoning. |
