On Monday, Sept. 15, Wake Forest attorney Nathaniel C. Parker filed a suit in Wake Superior Court on behalf of Frank “Spank” McCoy, asking the court to reverse the Wake Forest Town Board’s decision to rezone land along Copper Beech Lane for the Tryon subdivision.
He and his wife own property just to the south of the Tryon property abutting two areas that were rezoned but labelled as for future development because of the difficulty of access across wetlands. Part of the suit says that the McCoys might be required to provide connections to those tracts when they develop theirs, thereby losing some lots and reducing their value of their property.
The suit also questions the timing, the lack of some statements and other parts of the decision.
McCoy was one of the speakers during the public hearing on June 3, citing the “alarming loss of wetland, primarily through development” in the state. He talked about the impact the clearing and building would have: the loss of large trees, the loss of habitat for woodpeckers, hawks, turtles and black snakes who live there.
Asked for a comment Wednesday, town attorney Eric Vernon said, “We consider the claims to be without merit and will defend the Town’s action.”
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In another suit that has already been heard in Superior Court, attorney Tobias Hampson with the town’s law firm Wyrick Robbins Yates & Pontoon, said this week that Judge Paul Ridgeway, who heard the case on Sept. 3, has not issued a decision. The suit was filed against the town by Wake Forest realtor and developer Russell Gay and his partners in the Ninety-Eight Bypass Associates, 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.
That 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.
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No date has been set yet to again begin to hear the third suit, one filed by downtown property owner Bob Johnson who says he has deeds showing he owns the land between the block of buildings that houses his Cotton Company and the B&W Hardware building. The town says it is part of the dedicated Owen Avenue and repaved it and reconfigured the parking as part of the South White Streetscape project.
A trial had begun earlier this year in Wake Superior Court when the judge became ill. The attorneys for the two sides have not been able to agree on a date.
