During the Thursday, Jan. 3 work session, the Wake Forest Town Board heard about and considered topics from air-borne carbon reduction to enforcing no parking on hatched lines in parking lots.
Scott Miles, the town’s public infrastructure engineer, began with a PowerPoint showing large trailers and tractor-trailer trucks parked along several town residential streets, sometimes for several days. If the trucks and trailers are parked on the grass beyond the curbs, parking and then removing them can damage the curb and gutter as well as adding mud to the streets, Miles said. Some trucks are parked blocking the roadway, and some have damaged traffic signs.
The PowerPoint singled out Meadestone Drive in Shearon Farms, Ligon Mill Road behind WalMart, Harris Road, North Franklin Street between Groveton Trail and Flaherty Avenue, the townhouses behind Richland Hills and Agora Drive behind Lowes Foods, but Miles said the prohibition against such parking would be enforced townwide.
Commissioner Brian Pate said he wanted to make sure the ordinance as proposed would not create another problem because it said “a trailer of any kind.” He mentioned the B&W Hardware’s trailer which is usually parked in the Fidelity Bank lot. “There are a number of small businesses that have trailers.” Pate asked Miles to rework the proposed ordinance, based on similar ordinances from a number of North Carolina towns and cities, to make it more specific.
“I’m glad to see this,” Commissioner Bridget Wall-Lennon said, adding that she knows of a dump truck and a tractor trailer parked in the roundabout going into a subdivision.
Miles continued with another agenda item – encroachments onto rights-of-way, town-owned land, which include homeowners erecting fences which intrude into the easements for water, sewer and greenways. In the Heritage subdivision, he said one homeowner had enclosed the sewer clean-out.
Again, he unveiled a proposed ordinance with fees for current and future encroachments. The minor instances, Miles said, are lawn irrigation, sidewalks and temporary structures, and the major encroachments are retaining walls, permanent subdivision signs, decorative walkways and brick pavers at entrance medians.
The staff at the public works department will identify existing encroachments, the property owners will be notified and required to complete an application. If they do not provide an application, the encroachment will be removed.
“It’s going to take a lot of administrative effort, a massive effort,” Pate said.
The third topic for Miles was a problem of enforcement. Police officers and others have seen people parking their vehicles on the hatched lines for pedestrian crossings and no-parking areas. “You are not supposed to park on the hatched areas.” After checking with town attorney Eric Vernon, Miles said, he has told the Wake Forest Police Department its officers can issue tickets to vehicles parked on hatched areas.
The work session began with a presentation about a law that could reduce the carbon in the air, the main driver of climate change. Bernie Olsen, a volunteer with the Citizen Climate Lobby, and Don Addu, the southeastern director for CCL, explained the proposed law, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act.
If enacted, the law would assess a low but increasing fee on fossil fuels such as coal, gasoline and natural gas. The money would be sent from the U.S. Treasury to every person in the United States to spend as they see fit. The law, which has nonpartisan support including Senator Thom Tillis, would reduce the country’s carbon emissions by at least 40 percent within 12 years, create 2.1 million clean energy jobs over 10 years, improve health and save lives by reducing pollution and put money into the pockets of low- and middle-income Americans.
“It has been done in Canada with great success,” Addu said.
The bill will be reintroduced in the new U.S. Congress in the next few months, and Addu asked the Wake Forest board to endorse the policy. “Senator Tillis is interested in support from bodies such as this.”
“I think we’d like to talk about this a little bit more,” Mayor Vivian Jones said. Readers who want to know more can go to www.citizensclimatelobby.org or search for Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act.
Also, Cathy Gouge, the Renaissance Centre manager, reported on events there in 2018, saying that even though the main hall was closed from January through May, “. . .. 2018 was an extremely busy year.”
Gouge said she expects to reprise the Shades of Gospel with another similar event and will bring back the Celtic Angels in March. “The goal is to continue to grow the sell out more shows.
Bill Crabtree, the communications and public affairs director, said of his department’s efforts to spread the word about town events and issues: “Aside from going door-to-door, we’re doing the best we can.”
Some of the ways, include Channel 10, the town’s television station which has original programming and televises the town board and planning board meeting. “Our website is one of the most robust (in the area) because of so much information in it. There is Our Town, the eight-page mailer filled with town news that goes to every residence in Wake Forest and Wakefield every other month. Why Wakefield. “We want everyone to have a chance to enjoy the programs at the Renaissance Centre. He and his staff send out instant emails to town residents about problems such as the water line break on South Main Street and also use Facebook, Twitter, e-notifier, mass telephone calls and the social network Nextdoor to inform people.
Recently, Crabtree said, the town has been buying ads on four local radio stations –Foxy 107.1 and 104.3; The Light 103.9; and K 97.5 – to reach other audiences such as African-Americans.
5 Responses
Thank you for taking up the issue of parked trucks. Beyond aesthetics, these trucks create hazards parking on curves where drivers have to make sudden swerves when they come upon one These rigs that park near stop signs block turning visibility for drivers because of their height and length. The final reason admittedly is uniquely mine. I love walking in my neighborhood, yet when there is a rig parked, it creates an alley of sidewalk between the road and the burm that is unlit and doesn’t feel safe.
The drivers provide vital services. Company owners need to take care of this for their drivers. They, along with Independents need to work with the town for options.
Speaking of Ligon Mill Road….. Any idea when the northbound portion of the intersection of Ligon Mill Road and South Main Street might be improved? Some improvement could be accomplished with a paint brush, making the left turn lane on to South Main longer so more vehicles might get by to go straight or turn right. Long term that part of the intersection needs widening. The one foot drop-off on the right side of the right lane is terrible; discourages drivers from trying to get by the left turners.
I totally agree. That turn lane maybe holds 3 cars at most and makes that intersection a nightmare.
I agree with Mr. Reck. Let’s give some practical consideration to folks who drive these things and have to park them somewhere. I see them on Ligon Mill near Caveness and just assumed they lived nearby…no big deal.
I would like to point out that those trucks deliver products to our growing town and those drivers are on strict time constraints strictly enforced by the Federal Government. Walmart used to allow the trucks to be parked in its lot. They changed ltheir policy recently. I hope the board considers where these trucks can actually park.
On another note I would like to point out that the Board of Commissioners used to have a policy of not creating resolutions for partisan issues. If the Board does take this up there will probably be more proposed and take up the Boards time. Not to mention a debate on issues that the town government has no control over.