January 31, 2007

Published in Wake Forest, NC

            They will also welcome a new member, Sarah Bridges, who is taking the out-of-town seat formerly held by Speed Massenburg.

            When the planning board members join the town commissioners and mayor in the meeting room at 7:30 p.m., they will hold three public hearings: a special use permit for the master plan for the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; a request to rezone a historic property, the Wakefields house and 6 acres, for conditional use neighborhood business; and a request to rezone 3 acres in the southeast corner of Burlington Mills and Ligon Mill roads for conditional use neighborhood business.

            During the business meeting after the hearings, the planning board will consider the plans for the town to build a new American Legion building on East Holding Avenue. To obtain the American Legion land next to the present town hall for the new town hall, the town agreed to construct the new building.

            The master plan for the seminary campus was given to the planning and town boards last month to give them time to study it, and they were admonished not to discuss the plan with anyone because the hearing is for a special use permit, which can be granted based only if it meets certain legal criteria.

            The plan primarily addresses the new campus, the West Campus, behind the Ledford Student Center where construction will begin soon for Patterson Hall, planned for classrooms and offices..

            The part of the plan that would affect area residents is to close South Wingate Street between North Avenue/Stadium Drive and South Avenue/N.C. 98. This is a proposal only and would require approval from the state Department of Transportation, the town and other entities.

            Closing Wingate and building a new street, which would be done by the seminary, would combine the old and new campuses and allow for pedestrian-only traffic between them.

            The seminary’s engineering firm, Bass, Nixon & Kennedy, is suggesting the new street be built from the intersection of Stadium Drive with Rock Spring Road southward, crossing Durham Road (N.C. 98) and ending at South Wingate near the Forrest Park ball fields.

            West Avenue and Rankin Drive will be permanently closed for the construction on the west campus.

            The plan calls for a multi-use campus center and two classroom buildings to be constructed on the West Campus in the future along with a parking deck where the old tennis courts still remain in the northwest corner of Wingate and Stadium Drive.

            The plan as proposed would mean several trees, mostly oaks but also pines and a black walnut, would be felled though some will be saved.

            Rose Oil Company, a Henderson company headed by Samuel Watkins Jr., is requesting a rezoning for 3 acres in the southeast corner of Burlington Mills and Ligon Mill roads for conditional use neighborhood business for a convenience store with gasoline sales.

            The property, owned by Wake Forest developer Jim Adams, was annexed in October of 2005. At that time, Rose Oil presented a master plan. Since then, Rose Oil has held discussions with the neighbors and made changes to the master plan.

            Sherrill Brinkley is asking to rezone his home, Wakefields, and 6 acres at the end of Wake Union Church Road facing Capital Boulevard from county R-30 to conditional use neighborhood business.

            The land is part of the 876 acres Ransom Sutherland, an officer in the Fourth Regiment, North Carolina Continental Line, purchased in 1786. He built the rear portion of the present house in about 1790, and the Sutherland family was calling the house and plantation Wakefields early in the 1800s. Sutherland died in 1823 owning almost 3,000 acres in Wake, Granville and Franklin counties.

            In 1779 Sutherland donated the land for Wake Union Church, which served Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian and Baptist congregations on a rotating monthly schedule. It is now Wake Union Baptist Church.

            The front portion of the house, the Greek Revival part with a two-tier central porch, was reportedly built in 1831 for Mourning Person Harris, wife of John Harris, a Sutherland descendant. It closely resembles the Mordecai house in Raleigh. The house is on the National Register of Historic Places.

            The house was in the Harris family until 1946, and the Brinkleys, who plan to remain part-time in Wake Forest, have owned it for several years.

            The house is no longer suited for use as a single-family home, Sherrill Brinkley said this week, given all the commercial development along Capital Boulevard. Brinkley has conferred with Planning Director Chip Russell about the most appropriate zoning and protection for the historic structures.

            The property is under contract to Jim and Gail Adams, who plan to operate a convention/conference/meeting business there.

            In her staff report and recommendations, planner Ann Ayers has set out the same restrictions and safeguards the town used when it approved a conditional use neighborhood business zoning for Crenshaw Hall on Old N.C. 98, where owner John Bennett plans a similar business. Ayers said Brinkley is leaving the attachment of historic covenants or easements to Jim Adams.

            The planning board, in its business meeting after the hearings, makes recommendations about the requests. The town board will make the final decisions about the requests at its regular meeting Tuesday, Feb. 20.