During June’s work session for the Wake Forest Town Board, Planning Director Courtney Tanner noted that the Community Plan with its widespread community involvement had been adopted in 2009. Since then there has been an increase of about 46 percent in the town’s population or 15,000 people.
It is true. We now have 45,264 people – or probably more – in Wake Forest. It is time to update that Community Plan.
The new plan will create a blue print for the future, guide the town in its decisions, establish policies about future growth, guide rezoning requests and is required under a new state law, NCGS-160D. Tanner has chosen Assistant Planning Director Jennifer Currin as the project manager, and after interviewing and assessing all the firms which applied, has chosen Houseal Lavigne Associates LLC as the consultant. The community outreach and engagement will begin this summer.
The Community Plan is not the only one under review this year. The second is the Northeast Community Neighborhood Plan where the changes since it was adopted in 2007 are very evident. That growth is now right next to the Northeast area; Traditions subdivision is its neighbor and Traditions leads to more and more subdivisions.
The purposes are about the same as for the Community Plan, but because it is a smaller area there will certainly be some differences in the preparation.
For instance, the project manager, Senior Planner Michelle Michael, has a summer intern, Chris Robey, who has some experience with maps and GIS. He plans to use several aerial photographs available through the years beginning with 1948 to map the changes in different properties so you can peel back the years. For instance, the land where the Alston-Massenburg Center is now once was the site for a swimming pool during segregation and earlier, if the information is correct, held the garage where Fire Station #2, the Black firemen, housed their fire engine. Don’t you want to be able to look back and find other landmarks?
Tanner also said the plan will provide direction and guidance on partnerships and opportunities for transportation, education, recreation and employment in a user-friendly document to guide growth.
There have to be changes to the town’s Unified Development Ordinance because of requirements in NCGS-160D. It will impact some appointed boards such as the planning board and, Tanner said, affects some quasi-judicial approval procedures.
Also for 2020 the planning department proposes a South Main Street Small Area Study with no information about the scope of that study and the affordable housing study.
#
