Olde Wake Forest, a 10-lot infill subdivision on an extension of North Wingate Street, will be back before the Wake Forest Planning Board Tuesday night, May 5, with minor changes after the town board voted four to one against approval in December 2013 and Wake Superior Court Judge Elaine Bushfan remanded the subdivision request back to the town board in August 2014.
In 2013 Commissioners Margaret Stinnett, Zachary Donahue, Greg Harrington and Anne Reeve found that the developer, Geer Street Properties owned by Sanford Bailey, had not provided enough evidence to support one of the four required findings, that the project would not be detrimental to the neighborhood or adjacent properties. Bushfan’s order said the town board must “make additional finding supporting its basis for the denial of Petitioner’s application.”
During the public hearing about the project in 2013, neighbors said they feared construction runoff would flood their properties and would change the character of the neighborhood in the oldest part of town. The property has not been developed because it slopes steeply in places from the current deadend of Wingate to a small stream.
If the planning and town boards approve the altered request, that action will void the judge’s remand order. There are still 10 lots on the 1.35 acres. The developer will install 5-foot sidewalks on both sides of the extended street and street trees will be planted between the back of curb and the sidewalk. The street terminates in a T.
Members of both boards will listen to the speakers in Tuesday night’s public hearing. The planning board meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. in the second floor meeting room at Wake Forest Town Hall. It will be a quasi-judicial evidentiary hearing with sworn testimony from witnesses who are experts in their fields.
The only changes Geer Street has made to the plan is to add a swale along the western edge of the project to direct runoff into the retention pond and to get City of Raleigh sewer service from a new delivery point.
The two boards will also hear testimony about a continued matter, text amendments for the town’s Manual of Specifications, Standards and Design which is part of the Unified Development Ordinance.
Also, Anderson Marlowe of Marlowe Builders in Raleigh is requesting an amendment to a conditional use permit issued in 1997 for 1.35 acres on the west side of South Main Street immediately south of Forbes Road, the entrance to Reynolds Mill subdivision. The property is partly wooded and was once owned by Jody Hockaday.
It is currently zoned conditional neighborhood business, and Marlowe wants to add 32 permitted uses ranging from live-work units, crematoria and funeral homes, medical clinics, day cares to open air retail, dry cleaning and drive-thru facilities.
The planning board will take action on the agenda items and send them forward to the town board, which meets next on May 19.
