(This letter was sent to the mayor, the planning director, the town clerk and all five town commissioners.)
Dear Wake Forest Planners and Commissioners,
As a 33-year resident in the Glen Royal Mill Village who deeply values our town’s culture and character, and Joyner Park in particular, I want to voice my opposition to the development plan for the 56-acre Pate parcel directly across Harris Road from the park. Much of the forest land within and adjacent to the park has been cleared and developed in the decades since Mr. Joyner donated that land, which has degraded the park’s original beauty and tranquility. Preserving a substantial portion of the Pate property and making it accessible from Joyner Park would offer a way to reclaim some forest tranquility, enhance the nature-based recreation and educational value of the park, and protect our town’s character.
The Pate parcel looks rather ordinary from the street view, but behind the young pine forest it is an ecological jewel, with huge oaks, hickories, tulip tree, umbrella magnolia, pawpaw, and sugar maple along a 50-ft high steep slope, and a high diversity of understory trees, native shrubs, and unusual wildflowers including trillium, bloodroot, wild comfrey, heartleaf ginger, mayapple, Michaux’s lily, and many others. High quality meandering streams and wetland habitats lie along the northern and eastern sides, supporting a variety of fishes, salamanders, frogs, box turtles, dragonflies, and other wildlife. Bird diversity there is wonderful; it is one of the few sites in Wake Forest where the flute-like songs of wood thrushes are frequently heard. This is a fabulous area for environmental education field trips, enhanced by its proximity to Joyner Park Community Center.
I realize the Pate parcel is high-value real estate due to its location. I would love to see the entire parcel preserved as a nature park, but recognize that might not be feasible due to cost. As a compromise, I urge you and the developers to consider a smaller, compact, less obtrusive development plan on the 23-acre portion of the site with flat topography and younger forest, and preserve about 29 acres of mature forest and slopes to the north and east for unpaved hiking trails (see map attached below). The Town already owns an adjacent strip of land along the stream on the northeast side. I would happily volunteer to help with trail planning, educational signage, and leading ecology field trips.
More than five thousand residents have so far signed the petition posted by Joyner-Harris Forest Conservation; there are many who share my desire to preserve this ecological jewel. As Wake Forest’s development continues to boom, we must preserve enough publicly-accessible forest to provide for our resident’s nature needs. This particular site is ideal for that purpose, while there are loads of other suitable sites for apartments and townhomes.
Please show that you care about our long-term town character and residents’ emotional well-being by ensuring that new development on the Pate parcel does not further jeopardize the beauty and serenity of Joyner Park.
Thank You,
Gerald Pottern, senior biologist
Mogensen Mitigation Inc.
Environmental Consultants
104 East Chestnut Avenue
Wake Forest, NC 27587
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Office / Home: 919-556-8845
Mobile / Text: 919-649-6506
Gerald Pottern is a long-time Wake Forest resident, biologist, wetland specialist and a member of the Joyner-Harris Forest Conservation team.
The land in question, 68 acres on the northeast side of Harris Road, is owned by Jane Harris Pate, who inherited the land from her mother, a Wake Forest attorney also named Jane Harris.
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4 Responses
Why should the town dictate what a rightful property owner is doing on their land? As much as I love trees, that simple love for nature may not be enough to override the business decisions of a citizen on their private land. As much as everyone seems to hate HOAs for bullying homeowners on what they can and can’t do on private land, it’s surprising that everyone wants the Town to do exactly that.
If there really is enough demand to preserve the land (I know there’s a petition going around), why don’t all the signers put in some money while they’re at it? Fundraise enough money together, legally purchase the land, and then choose to preserve as they wish. Wouldn’t it be such a more gratifying story to read, “WF locals come together to save ecological jewel” rather than “WF locals complain enough to Town leadership to interfere with development by private citizen.”
People worry about the already high (and increasing) housing costs in the area, whether that’s rent, property valuations, or new home prices. And yet, when opportunities arise to increase housing supply, all the NIMBYs come out and scream. I wonder if the developer was planning on building a Costco or Trader Joes like every soccer mom in this town is begging for, would people would still have a problem with the development?
Benjamin,
Great points and I am glad to hear that you love trees! Yes, it would be ideal for the town to purchase all or a portion of the land from the property owner and dedicate it for preservation. This is actually possible through the help of the Triangle Land Conservancy and land grants. Therefore it is important for people to speak up when it comes to how their town is being developed, especially if they are unhappy. Fortunately the U.S. Constitution grants citizens the right to petition and voice their opinions. Also, I’m not sure a Costco or Trader Joes would be appropriate directly across from the town’s premiere park. In my opinion, like apartments, there are other locations more suitable.
Not to speak for Benjamin, but I think you missed his point. Why don’t the people who don’t want this land to be developed put their own money on the line – raise their own funds instead of trying to use the town government to force all the citizens to pay for it, or to prevent the property owner from utilizing their valuable asset.
Joshua, I get your point. Unfortunately land in WF is extremely expensive. I’m not sure how much the developer has agreed to pay for this particular parcel, but I know it was listed for $7.2M. Therefore, purchasing this property in its entirety may only be possible through the assistance of federal and state land grants. Most land grants stipulate that municipalities match funding, so Wake Forest town officials would have to buy into this idea. And sure, some residents may not want this, while others do. So this would have to be carefully considered. We are not opposed to fundraising and potentially gathering enough money to purchase the land ourselves and then donate it to the town. We have only recently become a nonprofit, so this process would take time. In the meantime, we are encouraging town officials to carefully consider how this beautiful land is rezoned and developed. WF town officials actually encourage citizens to get involved, come to town meetings, and address the BOC with their concerns, so we don’t view this as interfering with the process but instead view it as being a very vocal and organized part of the process.