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Town needs roads, open
space, greenways, library
What we need in Wake Forest are more
and wider roads as well as other transportation such as buses and rail, more
greenways, more open space for parks and recreation, an expanded library and equitable
funding for the Wake Forest Fire Department, Don Stroud told about 100 people
Tuesday morning, including state, county and local officials.
Stroud, who owns an insurance agency
and is chairman of the Wake Forest Chamber of Commerce’s Government Affairs
Committee, was speaking at the chamber’s third annual elected officials
reception.
It was obvious Stroud and the committee members are in touch with
some important parts of the community.
His remarks about expanding the town’s
greenway system echoed the pitch the Wake Forest Greenway Advisory Committee
made the week before, stressing the cost – $800,000 – for a mile of traditional
greenway and asking for soft-surface, multi-user trails that can be built and
maintained by volunteers at a fraction of that cost. Stroud said the land
around the town reservoir is an ideal site, and the advisory board is asking
for permission to plan and build a soft-surface trail there.
“Wake Forest has been a good steward
of open space,” Stroud said, and the town has already received $2.2 million to
buy 250 acres in recent years. Remember the town when you are allocating money
for open space, he said. “We are serious about open space.”
The Wake Forest Library has the
highest circulation of any branch in the county system, Stroud said, lending
out 46,000 books a month. The library is slated to be expanded this year.
“We want a big library, as big as can
be fitted on the site,” Stroud said. “We want you to know how serious we are
about this.”
Not only do we want a big library, but
we also want a temporary location for the library close by for all the books,
Stroud said. The town and its business people are committed to finding nearby
temporary space for the library during its expansion.
Twenty-three percent of the service
area the Wake Forest Fire Department serves is outside the town limits, but the
funding picture for the local department has changed since the County Fire
Commission was established.
“We want to be sure the town residents
are not subsidizing fire protection for the area outside the town,” Stroud
said.
Which brought him to transportation:
“We have a lot of cars and roads but the roads are not wide enough.”
Stroud cited the study done by the
Special Transit Advisory Committee, which projects U.S. 1 between Raleigh and
Franklinton will have the highest number of daily in-corridor trips – 650,000 –
of all the 18 corridors in the Triangle that were evaluated.
He said the town and its residents are
grateful for the N.C. 98 bypass and now want it to be completed as soon as
possible.
The breakfast meeting was held at
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Ledford Center and was sponsored by
Time Warner Cable.
The officials present were:
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Wake
Forest Mayor Vivian Jones, Commissioners Anne Hines, Chris Kaeberlein and
Margaret Stinnett and Planning Director Chip Russell. Town Manager Mark
Williams’ mother died last Thursday and he is out of the office.
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Rolesville
Mayor Frank Eagles and Town Manager Matthew Livingston
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Wake
County Board of Education Member Lori Millberg
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State
Sen. Neal Hunt
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State
Rep. Lucy Allen
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State
Rep. Marilyn Avila
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Wake
County Board of Commissioners Chairman Joe Bryan and Commissioners Lindy Brown,
Paul Coble, Kenn Gardner, Tony Gurley and Betty Lou Ward and County Manager
David Cooke
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Betty
Jo Shepheard, field representative for U.S. Sen. Richard Burr
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Pam
Kohl, district director for U.S. Congressman Brad Miller
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