Tuesday night, at the end of the regular Wake Forest Planning Board meeting, the town’s planners proposed developing all 583 acres of the Smith Creek Reservoir watershed in Wake County for “conventional residential use” with three houses – or maybe several more – on an acre. Watershed zoning requires two acres for each house, and there are very few in the Wake County section of the watershed.
The planning board members voted four to one to deny the proposed amendment to the Community Plan and its land use map, referred to in the meeting as CPA-23-03.
The amendment may be on the Wake Forest Town Board’s agenda next Tuesday, October 17. One attendee at the planning board meeting wrote: “At the WF public meetings portal, you can sign up to be notified of meetings and their agenda, sign up to comment at the meeting, and you can also see a video of the planning board meeting. Even if these forests, streams, watersheds, and reservoir are not in your backyard, it affects you and your family. All can help by staying informed, attending the meetings, and signing up to comment.” https://www.wakeforestnc.gov/public-meetings-portal
Because it involved a change in the Community Plan, nearby residents in the Del Webb subdivision on Gilcrest Farm Road were sent letters about the proposal and several attended the planning board meeting.
“If approved by the BOC, the amendment would likely result in the destruction of almost 584 acres of forest involving 70 properties, pollute the watershed and streams which are upstream of Wake Forest Reservoir, and destroy all aquatic life in the reservoir and downstream in Smith Creek due to nitrogen poisoning from fertilizer runoff,” one of the Del Webb attendees wrote to The Wake Forest Gazette.
The largest tract has 247 acres of the 583 total and is owned by Wake Forest Reservoir Properties LLC owned by Andy Ammons, the Heritage developer who lives in Raleigh. He purchased the land in 2003. Altogether there are 70 PINs, the identifying numbers for property parcels, but some owners own more than one tract.
That same attendee reported: “Planning Board member Michael Hickey motioned to DENY with an added recommendation that the BOC consider adding a “rural residential” type of community plan to the Land Use Plan which limits maximum number of dwelling units to be more consistent with what is better for environmentally sensitive and other rural areas, such as a maximum of one dwelling unit per two acres, or one dwelling unit per acre. [Note: Please refer to official meeting minutes for exact wording of the motion.] The motion was seconded by member Michael Siderio, and the vote was 4-1, with members Sheila Bishop and Michael Almquist joining with Hickey and Siderio. Planning board chair Karin Kuropas expressed wanting CPA-23-03 to be approved and was the lone dissenting vote.”
In Wake Forest the watershed is north of Oak Grove Church Road between Gilcrest Farm Road and Oak Grove Baptist Church, and it continues into Franklin County. Several years ago an assistant town engineer surveyed the watershed and identified many large mature trees.
The watershed protected the Wake Forest Reservoir and the now-decommissioned town water treatment plant named for G.G. Hill, who was the town utilities head for more than 20 years.
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One Response
Any time a developer has objections about a competitor’s proposed development citing what it might do to the watershed and wildlife ….Because of deforestation and fertilizer runoff…
you just have to sit back and say,”Huh!?! Now is that special!?”
As for the “now decommissioned” water plant it still sits at the dam that entraps some of the cleanest water owned by the Raleigh waterworks.
There is your next story!