Board may walk back waiver vote

On Tuesday, Dec. 6, the Wake Forest commissioners may vote to nullify their three to two vote on Nov. 15 that denied a request by owner Craig Briner and Stanley Martin Homes to waive $249,496 in development fees.

An agenda item for Dec. 6 says the board will consider a resolution to approve a waiver of $125,000 of development, inspection and engineering fees. The reason for the reconsideration is stated in the agenda: “There has been further discussion that has resulted in this item coming before the board for consideration, based on the attached resolution,” which includes the lower figure. In short, quite a bit of horse trading and compromise in which the impact fees for fire and parks, recreation and cultural resources were dropped.

Briner, who owns the downtown land between South Franklin Street and Brooks Street, and the builder, who wants to purchase the 11 acres to build about 85 townhouses, told the board in November a plume of contaminants riding on the water table below ground are just enough to qualify the land for a state brown field classification that will require installing impermeable barriers between the ground and the buildings.

Briner won approval for the project in 2013 and called it The Retreat at Renaissance. One feature was a bank of three-story townhouses facing the Renaissance Plaza parking lot where the upper two levels would be for living with a storefront shop in the lowest level. The project will also pave the missing portion of Brooks Street between East Holding Avenue and Elm Avenue.

Commissioners Greg Harrington and Brian Pate voted for the first request with Commissioners Anne Reeve, Margaret Stinnett and Jim Thompson voting no. There is a fuller description of the Nov. 15 vote in the Nov. 16 issue of The Wake Forest Gazette.

In other business on Dec. 6, the town board will hear a presentation about the future community house in E. Carroll Joyner Park by the architect, ClarkNexsen. The candidates for the board of adjustment, the design review and the planning boards will be introduced. The commissioners will vote on the candidates for all advisory boards at their meeting on Dec. 20.