The Wake Forest commissioners Tuesday night said they had heard from downtown business owners and want to see a draft ordinance allowing cafes and restaurants to serve food, beer and liquor on town streets.
They also finalized an agreement in which the town will upgrade and pave Brewer Circle at a cost of $300,000 and in return a private developer will plat nine lots and build affordable houses on them. Within the past four years the town has also turned the dirt track called Caddell Street into a paved street and sold the resulting six lots to Habitat for Humanity Wake. Another developer has purchased a separate nearby tract on which he will build four affordable homes. Affordable means that the homes will be sold to individuals or families making between 80 percent and 120 percent of the median local income. The homes must remain in private ownership.
Lisa Hayes, the downtown director, brought the letter requesting outdoor dining to the board, where it was warmly received by most. “I think it’s a good idea,” Mayor Vivian Jones said. “I don’t,” Commissioner Greg Harrington said. Later both Commissioners Liz Simpers (“It will bring people from outside to town. I’m for it.”) and Bridget Wall-Lennon (“It’s done in many other towns. It’s common.”) signed on.
“They’re doing it all over the world. It’s nothing new,” Jones said after the board agreed Hayes would return with a draft ordinance including guidelines. Commissioners Anne Reeve and Brian Pate were absent.
Streets and roads were on the agenda, first with an update about the Comprehensive Transportation Plan which should complete by September and later a town-requested plan for the service roads needed when Capital Boulevard is turned into an access-restricted freeway.
Will Letchworth with WSP, the consultant firm for the transportation plan, said the May 21 public meeting about the plan brought in more than 200 people. He called the response, which included 137 comments that day and later, “tremendous.”
People found the maps and the explanations “very useful,” and because of them the planners made quite a few changes.
For the first time that night, Foundation Drive, the current entrance to Heritage High School, was mentioned because the new plan calls for it to be extended across Smith Creek, along the south side of the Homestead at Heritage subdivision, and then split into two. One arm would cross the railroad and meet Ligon Mill Road at the sharp curve at Seawell Drive while the other would parallel the railroad and extend to Steeple Run Drive. That plan is getting close consideration.
Another plan, to make a large one-way roundabout around the seminary campus, “. . . needs further study, a lot of discussion,” Letchworth said. In the diagram he showed, a driver coming from downtown and going to Durham Road would have to turn right and go around the campus before reaching Durham Road.
He and Shivan Shelat, also with WSP, discussed the “hot spots,” troubled intersections and roads with heavy traffic that were identified during the study. They showed a new interactive video method of drawing up plans called story maps, showing some of the intersections. That will be available to the public later.
Jonathan Jacobs, the town’s transportation engineer, first said the North Carolina Department of Transportation is updating its plans for 2020 and is now planning to begin right-of-way property for the Capital Boulevard plan in 2020 with construction beginning in 2024, moving from south to north in four phases. The section from Raleigh to Durant Road will be built first, followed by the sections to Burlington Mill Road, the NC 98 Bypass and Purnell Road.
The town, Jacobs said, wanted to have more than two lanes with swales for the service roads in and near town. DOT has agreed to build the roads as two lanes with curb and gutter, sidewalks near private properties or multi-use paths next to the freeway and a planting strip for trees between the road and the sidewalk. In return, the town will be responsible for the maintenance of those roads, which may mean six or even nine miles of pavement.
The idea, Chip Russell, the community development director who is about to retire, said is for the service roads to be useful for going short distances rather than getting on the freeway. He indicated it would be a joint effort with Raleigh and Wake County.
In other action,
*Chief Donaldson and Sgt. Hodge with the UNC-Wilmington Police Department came to Wake Forest to personally thank Wake Forest Police Chief Jeff Leonard and his department for their direct help during Hurricane Florence last year. They presented Leonard with a plaque.
*Human Resources Director Virginia Jones reported that the changes the town made last year in insurance coverage for retirees “has not affected our hiring, and the town is an employer of choice in Wake County.” She said none of the employees hired since July of 2018 have expressed any concern about the town’s decision to stop funding retiree health benefits for those hired since that date.
*Aileen Staples, the town’s chief financial officer, took the commissioners and mayor through the updated purchasing policy with its many charts and explanations of procedures. Staples said the growth in the town’s employment, technology advances, paperless processes and statutory changes made the update, last done in 2007, necessary.
6 Responses
I’m not sure I agree with Mr. Harrington and his not wanting alcohol served outside, but I can’t be sure I disagree with it. Knowing Hom well enough I know that he is concerned about peoples safety. I have been to a few of the events where I was with friends who got a little too happy. It can get annoying in a setting like that. Mr. Harrington got grief for his vote against the brunch bill. I have told those that supported it: I had a job that put me in grocery stores on Sunday mornings. The people who buy alcohol on Sunday mornings are the last people who should be buying alcohol on Sunday mornings. Just a thought from my experience as Mr. Harrington votes with his experience of being a cop for 30 years.
Thank you Erica for acknowledging there is a God and my 1950`s view. I believe that era we grew up in was much safer and more God friendly than the one we are living in today. Moral values are important not just to me but to many others as well. In the 1950`s we taught such moral values in our schools. Our God and our flag were respected and our children were taught right from wrong. Parents taught their children to respect their elders. Our police officers and our men and women in uniform serving our country were held in high regard. Yes, the 1950`s were some of the best years. I`ll take my 1950`s views and morals over todays anytime.
Were they perfect – of course not but look at what we are dealing with today. People are dying every day from drug overdose, mass shootings, and the like. Once again, thank you for acknowledging there is a God as he is the only one we should be thankful for as he gave us life and to him be the glory.
Editor, please forgive or correct the typo–“druck” was obviously supposed to be “drunk”.
Will the outside dining and drinking in any way block pedestrian traffic on downtown sidewalks?
Thank God Harrington and his 1950s views are leaving the board!
I’d gladly take his “1950s” views over liquor on every corner of our “family friendly” downtown! I don’t know who in the world thinks it’s “family friendly” to have beer next to baby bottles, or to have half-druck adults acting like fools in front of young children. Downtown Wake Forest, once known for its charm, is becoming one big, ugly bar scene. I, for one, thank God Chief Harrington has been a voice of reason in this area. He’s going to be sorely missed.