Tuesday night, March 5, 2024, the Wake Forest town commissioners and mayor had two items on the work session agenda, a report by Senior Planner Patrick Reidy about a proposed project for 30 acres on Star Road and a study by LFB Engineering of the Toms Creek watershed by Neal Bannerjee and Cindy Lancaster.
Any action on those will be taken at the town board’s regular meeting on March 19. The Wake Forest Planning Board last month voted unanimously to recommend the town board deny the Star Road project, and the town planning staff has recommended denial because the request is generally inconsistent with the Comprehensive Plan.
The modifications the applicant, St. John Properties in Raleigh, wants are to develop with light industrial uses, and the staff report says those are “detrimental to orderly Town growth and development patterns. Star Road is in disrepair and not suitable for tractor-trailer traffic.
Reidy pointed out that the applicant refuses to build a backage road required by NCDOT’s plan for Capital Boulevard, meaning the town would have to build it. The plan as submitted calls for two of the one-story buildings to be 50 feet from Star Road while Wake Forest standards call for 100 feet of setback. When Capital Boulevard’s plan is built and Star Road improved, NCDOT could have to buy them and demolish them. Also, a building where there is auto repair and outside auto/truck parking is also where a day care could be located, with the play space in or near the parked vehicles.
The town’s land use plan calls for multi-story auto-oriented retail and service businesses — shopping centers, hotels, restaurants. The owner’s plan is for small scale retail, office and light industrial.
Reidy said the owner not only refused to build the backage road, he also refused to provide money for it or for the required public art. The town has no way to enforce those requirements.
Commissioners Nick Sliwinski, Ben Clapsaddle and Faith Cross had questions. It was during answers to Cross that we learned the water lab the City of Raleigh has built on its nearby property is also very close to Star Road and the town had no jurisdiction because it had been part of an old plan.
Mayor Vivian Jones said, “I don’t see why industrial is a problem” and asked if the roads going to two industrial parks are thoroughfares.
Clapsaddle said he thought people might be making compromises when everyone else has to abide by the rules.
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2 Responses
Welcome to our new Wake Forest Board of Commissioners who are going to vote against anything that advances growth in Wake Forest. The citizens want us to go backwards because most support an anti-growth mindset. Your welcome!
There’s a requirement for “Public Art?!” How is that defined?