By a seven to two vote Tuesday night, the Wake Forest Planning Board members recommended the town board approve the 40 townhouses planned by David Williams Jr. on 5.54 acres on North Main Street between an historic house owned by Julie Ellis and The Meadows subdivision.
It was a lengthy meeting, nearly four hours, and the townhouse request took up half of it. There was an overflow crowd, including many people supporting Ellis in her fight against the rezoning and several supporting Williams and his companies, 11 Investments LLC and Design Focus. Despite the heated opinions, the meeting was orderly and courteous. Planning Board Chairman Ed Gary and others mentioned several times the “barrage of emails” they had received opposing the rezoning in recent weeks and the last couple days.
Ellis and her spokesperson, Darien Coleman, said there was widespread opposition to the townhouses, a petition against it with 256 signatures, and questioned whether more were needed when the town has recently approved 509 townhouse units. One of the planners corrected the number, saying they had counted the recently approved 95 Forestville townhouses twice.
Ellis showed exterior and interior pictures of her house, the Battle-Purnell House built in 1802 that she and her husband have restored, along with the magazines that had featured the house, the barn where she and her daughter run an equestrian business, and the sand training arena. The house, Ellis said, is “a true jewel. It’s a treasure.”
The other objections to the rezoning were the “stretched infrastructure” in town, the traffic, and the concern that children and adults from the townhouses will use the recreation facilities in The Meadows subdivision. “We do not feel this belongs here,” Ellis said, also chiding David Williams Jr. for not “compromising” with her and her husband, Daniel Safriet, and instead planning single-family homes on the 4.54 acres. She said a friend had claimed he could put 25 homes there.
Both Gary and Commissioner Brian Pate asked Ellis what her definition of compromise is, with Pate noting that they always hear “let’s keep the forest in Wake Forest” from people opposing a project. The town board, Pate said, has to make decisions about what is best for 43,000 people. “What I’m hearing from you guys is no way, no how, not in my backyard.”
Soon after, Commissioner Bridget Wall-Lennon emphasized Pate’s point. She had the same concerns more than a year ago when townhouses were proposed for her subdivision, Stonegate at St. Andrews, and protested the rezoning. Once the homes were built, though, she said her fears were not realized. “I’m not quite sure how I’m going to vote on this,” Wall-Lennon said.
One notable statement was made by a Meadows homeowner, Katherine A. Eckerd, that many of the houses near hers are rentals. “Every one that comes on the market is being bought up by the landlords. I think they’re trying to buy up every affordable house in Wake Forest.” (A quick check on the Wake County website for homes along Barnford Mill Road showed that of 23 homes, six were clearly rental properties.)
David Williams began his case for the project by introducing his father, David Williams Sr., and his brother, Jonathan. His parents moved to town in 1975 and his father worked for Wake Electric and was a chairman for the Wake Forest Chamber of Commerce, a Koinonia Foundation and Boys and Girl Club board member, and one of the group that built the South Forest Industrial Park. Williams himself is a Wake Forest-Rolesville High graduate, a volunteer fireman and the chief at the Wake Forest Fire Department.
He went through that recitation, he said, because he wanted to demonstrate that they have worked to make the town the best it could be. “This is our home. We love Wake Forest.”
The townhouse project came about, Williams said, because they saw the dilapidated house surrounded by weeds and junk and said, “This does not look good in this town. We have to do something about it.”
Williams said single-family homes were not feasible on the small lot because the high cost of the land would put the price of each home between $300,000 and $350,000. He quickly showed a picture of the planned homes and said they would not have that “shipping container look.”
Planner Thomas Smith asked, “Is this consistent with your vision of Wake Forest? Will every open parcel suddenly become forty to fifty townhouses?”
The older David Williams said they followed the Wake Forest Community Plan in planning the project.
Commissioner Liz Simpers said she talked to a teacher who was asking if she could afford a home in the townhouse project. Her brother had said that with so much opposition he thinks people will turn up to back it.
Someone who did was David Saint John, who has lived in and repaired houses on North Main Street and now lives in the Mill Village. “I have a special appreciation for historic Wake Forest. North Main is a very special place. This is an affordable project. I believe it will be well done.”
“Aside from the historic property, what’s the difference from this and the ones in the subdivisions that are one street over?” Wall-Lennon asked. She called the project “a comfortable type.”
There was rebuttal after those opposed finished followed by re-rebuttal and there may have been re-re-rebuttal. Chairman Gary let everyone who wanted to speak and speak at length.
The motion to approve the townhouse rezoning was made by Joe Kimray with a second by Colleen Sharpe. Those voting no were Smith and Thad Juszczak, who said he was representing the people of Wake Forest. Early in the presentation Juszczak said to Williams, “No one in the area is in favor of this project. Why do you think this would be a good thing for the town of Wake Forest.” The elder Williams said it would provide an option and help with the appearance.
The planning board had no problem approving the three other agenda items. As the clock neared 11:30 Gary said, “This is the last one, kids. Then we can go home.”
There was no discussion about the change in the Unified Development Ordinance making it possible for the town to accept private streets for maintenance. Director of Engineering Eric Keravuori had outlined all the steps the homeowner along the private streets would have to take for acceptance by the town.
The planners were also unanimous in approving the Donna Pace and Sarah Bridges request for conditional residential mixed use on their combined plots of 4.88 acres where the condition is the land will be used for homes for the elderly. When planner Al Hinton, who admits to 80, asked if elderly is over 55 there was laughter from the other older planning board members. The head of the homeowners association in the next-door Riverstone subdivision and neighbor Kim Parker both said they approved. Wanda Mukherjee questioned the increase of people in the Falls Lake watershed and said she hoped the town would not allow hotels or motels.
The only sticking point on the request by Alhambra Holdings to rezone the historic house and lot at 218 South Main Street was about whether to require the ramp for ADA access be behind the planned accessory building or if it could easily go to the front door. The vote to approve was six to three.
Brendie Vega, the assistant director in the Community Development Department, said, yes to a question about whether the recent Wake Union request that was denied will return to the planning board. “Yes, but not on the May agenda.”
11 Responses
Mr Rominsky,
“There are many of us who live in the meadows and Olde Mill Stream who greatly approve…” Do you have a petition? How many signatures?
Until we have broad base “special use” designation for every project that is presented to the board, the developers and their lawyers will say..”it’s zoned for what I want to do, why can’t my project fly..?” Broad base special use means every request will require a vote, even within existing zoning constraints, but it is only way to slow developers. This supposes the commissioners would listen to popular sentiment…
Following is a commentary I posted on NextDoor.com in response to the Planning Board’s decision Tuesday evening. I believe it bears repeating in response to this article – Let’s make no mistake about what happened during Tuesday night’s Commissioners and Planning Board joint public hearing. As most are aware, this meeting was held to review the rezoning request filed by “11 Investments, LLC” to rezone approximately 4.5 acres located at 1047 N. Main St., from Rural Holding District (RD) to Residential Mixed Use Conditional District (RMX CD). This rezoning was specifically requested to facilitate a plan presented by David Williams and “11 Investments, LLC” to build 40 townhomes on the above-mentioned 4.5 acre tract of land. Since the middle of last year, homeowners impacted by this rezoning request have voiced an overwhelming opposition to the rezoning requested (RMX CD) and to the proposed 40 townhome development plan. Countless objections and requests to modify the rezoning and development plan have fallen on deaf ears. After hours of discussion and debate, the outcome was clear. Homeowners in the the local communities of the Meadows, Old Mill Stream, Twin Creeks, and Edgeford Park were abandoned by the Wake Forest Board of Commissioners and the Planning Board last night.
My family and I are fairly new to the Wake Forest area, and during the past 35 plus years, we have been fortunate enough to have lived and owned homes in many parts of the country. That being said, we have attended and participated in many town council and board meetings, but never before have we witnessed the level of arrogance, complacency, and misguided judgment as was evident among many of the board members and commissioners present during Tuesday night’s meeting.
My wife and I sat in shock and disgust as we listened to the scripted disingenuous opening comments presented by the Williams family and 11 Investments, LLC, while accompanied by their attorney and a parade of “subject matter experts” (more appropriately – a handpicked cast of characters). While they claimed to be acting in the “best interest” of Wake Forest, it was evident that 11 Investments, LLC is simply looking to line its coffers with the increased profits derived from cramming 40 town-homes into a 4 acre subdivision. It was also evident that the Planning Board was not the least bit interested in challenging the plans or motives of the developer. They were however quick to disarm any productive debate or opposing positions presented by the homeowners.
As the meeting continued, the responses and argumentative demeanor of the board members made it clear that their minds were made up well before this planning board meeting took place last night. This was especially evident in Ed Gary’s willingness to allow nearly uninterrupted commentary from the developer’s team, while effectively squelching the comments of those homeowners in opposition. This was also the case with Joe Kimray, who all but stood up and applauded in favor nearly any of the developer’s arguments, yet scowled and responded with an arrogant and condescending tone to the objections and comments offered by the homeowners.
In spite of months of objections voiced by an overwhelming number of area homeowners, this Planning Board ignored the outcry of the impacted homeowners and sided with the developer to recommend approval of their rezoning request. When called upon to vote, Joe Kimray was the first to vote, and nearly came out of his suit jacket getting his arm up in favor of the rezoning. Quick to follow was Ed Gary, then the remainder of the Board, with the exception of Thomas Smith and Thad Juszczak. Unlike the rest of the board, these two gentlemen demonstrated strong leadership, good judgment, and the courage to act in support of those they represent, and they voted against the rezoning request.
It has been suggested by the the developer, and by the Planning Board, that 11 Investments, LLC has offered several compromises. This however would depend on one’s definition of a compromise. What the builder offered was of relatively no value and equated to nothing more than token offerings in an attempt to appear cooperative. In contrast, one of the attending commissioners stated that he had never heard an alternative plan or compromise solution presented by any homeowners. This is absolutely not true or accurate, and is indicative of those who simply have not been listening to the voices of those they represent.
To help put all of this into perspective, here is a quick overview of the current plan and a proposed realistic compromise scenario:
The developer, 11 Investments, LLC is requesting rezoning to RMX CD (Residential Mixed Use). This specific type of Zoning classification is to facilitate their 40 townhome plan. When David Williams was interviewed a few months ago (this is all on record), he was asked why he would not consider a single home plan of 6 to 8 homes. His response was that with 6 to 8 homes, the homes would have to be sold at $800,000 to hit break-even, and this would not be marketable. This actually makes sense, however, it is also reasonable to assume that if the home count was doubled to say 12 to 16 homes, the break-even would be closer to $400,000 per home. Lets give “11 Investments, LLC” the benefit of the doubt and consider adding 4 more homes as a buffer, thereby raising the single home count to 20. I am not a home-builder, but logic would also suggest that building a lesser number of larger homes would yield some cost reductions in lot preparation, grading, excavation, permitting, and likely some additional categories I am not familiar with. Given this, I believe it is reasonable to assume that approximately 20 single homes in the mid to upper three hundred thousand dollar range would prove to be a profitable investment. Would it be as profitable as 40 townhomes crammed into 4 acres? Of course not, and therein lies the real truth behind the development plan of 11 Investments, LLC and the Williams family.
Now regarding the Re-Zoning topic – The compromise scenario outlined above would require a Zoning change to (CU GR-3) “Conditional Use Residential” instead of the currently requested (RMX CD) “Residential Mixed Use Conditional District”. So how would this fit in? The following is the current zoning profile in the areas and subdivisions directly adjacent to and surrounding this proposed 4 acre development:
North is CU GR-3, East is CU GR-3, West is CU GR-3, South is RD (Rural Holding District) and CU GR-5.
The RMX CD (Residential Mixed Use Conditional District) zoning is clearly a square peg in a round hole. Yet the Planning Board sees no issue with this. Why?
This commentary is already quite lengthy, so I’ll forego all of the other concerns already raised, such as: traffic volumes, safety, drainage and run-off, property values, sidewalk access into town, common areas, etc….
In closing, I don’t believe this Planning Board can be relied upon to act in the best interest of Wake Forest homeowners. For that reason, it is critically important that we, as citizens and homeowners in Wake Forest continue to voice our objections loudly. We need to scrutinize every zoning request by every developer and every builder, both residential and commercial. Contrary to the unilateral decision this board made on Tuesday night, our opinions matter. This is our town, these are our neighborhoods, and it is our real estate investment, tax dollars, and community involvement that drive the future growth and enrichment of Wake Forest. Let’s stay engaged and hold our representatives accountable. If they aren’t doing the job we expect, let’s try to help them. If that doesn’t work, let’s get them out and get the right people in.
Kind regards,
Ron Bostic
Mr Bostic’s Comment are 100% accurate.
Too bad the WF Planning Board totally disregard the opinions and concerns of the WF residents who turned out in record breaking opposition for this Rezoning project.
The biggest mistake that was made on the part of the citizens of the effected neighborhoods was to allow the unethical Thomas “Lost in Space” Smith to be their spokesperson. A very poor leader and negotiator who botched the entire attempt. I feel sorry for you all. We should all be feel lucky his ego is so big he resigned from the planning board, which only increases the appearance of his unethical attempts to stop growth in our community. The developer offered the compromise for single family homes very early on, it is on video and recorded conversations, and the appointed “derp derp” refused the offer. Now 3 months later they attempt to paint the developer as someone who is unwilling to compromise. Lies lies and more lies from Thomas “Lost in Space” Smith. This will follow you for a long long time my friend. Bless your heart.
Sarah doesn’t have the integrity to include her last name and resorts to name calling.
She then fabricates a story that I was in a spokesperson role – which inaccurate.
In addition, there was NEVER an offer from the applicant to resubmit a plan for 25 homes which I would have not have NOT opposed.
Sarah, don’t let the facts get in the way of your comments,
Your mean-spirited juvenile comments only indicate that you too don’t have have WF best interest in mind.
I’d like to offer a few gentle corrections, if I may.
1–David Williams, Jr. is a FORMER Fire Chief at WFFD, not the current Fire Chief as the article (I’m sure unintentionally) states. He is no longer associated with WFFD. His fire services are rendered in a neighboring town now.
2–The article seems to indicate that two of Mr. Williams’ companies are involved with this project, “11 Investments” and “Design Focus”. Only 11 Investments is involved. The other company, which is not properly named within the article, is only partially owned by Mr. Williams, and neither it nor his business partners are involved in the project.
Not true to say nobody in the area approves. There are many of us who live in the meadows and Olde Mill Stream who greatly approve of the project as it will be better than the eyesore that is there now. It’s just the cult like mentality led by Thomas Smith that attempted to squash the voice of the vast number of us who approve of it.
John,
Thank you for your comments and support.
Where are the “many” that want this project? Also you should choose your words better when calling the people that oppose this project a “cult”.98% of the people in the area said NO. Houses are what was supposed to be there per the existing zoning, not Townhomes.
Cult-like? Hysterical and inaccurate.
Why are there 100s of signatures on a petition in opposition?
Why did there 150 attend the initial meeting at Forks restaurant in opposition?
Why was there a record turnout in opposition at the Planning Board meeting ?
Finally, where was all the support?
One gentleman stepped forward in support and we later learned the back-story that he is a family friend of the Williams.
Fake news by John Romininsky.