The mayor and four of the Wake Forest town commissioners met with Town Manager Mark Williams, Deputy Town Manager Roe O’Donnell, and town attorneys Eric Vernon and Kevin Stanfield in a closed session that lasted an hour and 10 minutes during a special called meeting last night, Sept. 2. The closed session was a discussion and update about the suits filed over the construction of the Wake Forest Town Hall. Commissioner Margaret Stinnett was absent.
The special meeting seems to indicate the town and the contractor, Heaton Construction of Roanoke Rapids, have reached a settlement before the suits are to be heard in Wake Superior Court on Oct. 27.
After the meeting Vernon said no action was taken, but when asked if there would be action soon as a result of the briefing and discussion, said, “I think that’s a fair statement.” The board may take that action during its regular meeting next Tuesday, Sept. 16.
Heaton filed the first suit, claiming it is owed more money; the town responded with a countersuit asking for reimbursement and other considerations for the repairs necessitated by the defective work of Heaton’s subcontractors.
The building was completed in 2010, six months after the last revised completion date. The town has paid $494,139 to a firm which repaired the windows, roof and foundation where an engineering firm had found defective areas.
There was some action but also no final decision last week in another suit involving the town of Wake Forest. Realtor and developer Russell Gay filed an appeal after the town commissioners voted unanimously in 2013 to deny his second request to build townhouses along the N.C. 98 bypass (Dr. Calvin Jones Highway).
According to attorney Tobias Hampson with the law firm Wyrick Robbins Yates & Pontoon, the town’s law firm, “The matter was heard by Judge Paul Ridgeway in Wake County Superior Court on Wednesday, 3 September. Judge Ridgeway heard the arguments from both the applicant and the Town and took the matter under advisement. We do not have a ruling from the Judge yet. A decision could come any time.”
Gay and his partners in Ninety-Eight Bypass Associates filed the appeal challenging the town board’s unanimous decision in August of 2013 to deny a special use permit for a 99-unit townhouse project between the bypass and Pineview Estates.
The 2013 plan was a revision of a plan heard in August of 2012 which called for 102 units. That plan was unanimously denied by the town board, which later in the year unanimously denied an appeal to waive the six-month waiting period for the plan to be resubmitted.
One Response
I wish we could give priority to local based businesses whenever we spend public monies. I firmly believe there would be more accountability. It is a shame that such a nice building has been constructed with that amount of defects. In the future, WF should consider hiring a construction engineering firm to inspect the progress of any building construction/modification/renovation projects.