Board hears about public art

With Mayor Vivian Jones out of town, Mayor Pro Tem Greg breezed through a short agenda.

In the consent agenda, they approved petitions for contiguous annexation of three properties, two of them properties being developed for subdivisions. The petitions were:

* Petition from Holden Mason I LLC and Holden Mason II LLC for property in Franklin County, the 74 acres on Capital Boulevard where a 294-home subdivision was planned. The town board unanimously rejected the plan in May but last month agreed the project did not have to wait the required six months before presenting a new plan.

* Petition from Deborah H. Flynn for annexation of three properties she owns on Averette Road and Oak Grove Church Road. Some of the three contiguous properties abut the Tryon subdivision.

Chief Finance Officer Aileen Staples gave an overview of the Public Art Commission, which receives 1 percent of the budget of certain capital projects. The new South White streetscape qualifies for the 1 percent for art but continuing projects do not. “It’s been very neat to see how the money has been spent,” she said.

Those art projects include the statues placed around town last year and this, the Spotlight on Local Artists whose paintings become murals placed on town buildings, and the purchase of a gate-like statue that was near town hall and is now in Joyner Park.

Although there are no qualifying capital projects in the 2018-2019 budget, the commission does have $129,070.82, “. . . enough to buy it if something comes up,” Commissioner Brian Pate said. One upcoming project is the painting of the above ground sewer structures, which will be painted by local residents.

The board heard from three applicants for the planning board, and later in the meeting voted to appoint Karlene Turrentine and Thorsten Hamp to fill the two seats empty because of resignations.

The commissioners approved text amendments to the Unified Development Ordinance that will be used in the Planned Unit Development ordinance.

After Pate gave a brief history of the Pulte Group’s problems with land along Forestville Road where there is a wetland with a pond and topography problems, the board voted to extend its master plan for a subdivision, the Regency at Heritage.

The town is purchasing property on Unicon Drive to house Wake Forest Power, and Tuesday night the commissioners approved a ground lease agreement with JKW Enterprises LLC that will last until Feb. 25, 2052 with a possible extension to 2082.

The Renaissance Center staff submitted a grant application to the National Endowment for the Arts for $10,000 to support the Shades of Gospel Concert on Nov. 3. The town board voted to approve acceptance of the grant money.

At the end of the meeting, when Pate was the last commissioner to relate his recent activities, he asked the camera man to turn a camera to his right to where David Leone, the associate editor of The Wake Forest Weekly, sat.

Leone, Pate said, tells the town what is going on. He recalled his father, a newspaper editor for 37 years, saying, “Covering a small town is the most difficult of jobs. You have been fair with us. We will surely miss you and we thank you for your contributions to the town of Wake Forest.”

Leone has resigned and his last day is Aug. 31.