On Monday the Town of Wake Forest closed the Richland Creek Greenway because of safety risks caused by increased stream bank erosion that threatened the paved asphalt trail. There are signs at the trailheads warning potential users that the greenway is closed.
During Tuesday night’s town board meeting, Assistant Town Engineer Holly Miller told the commissioners that another closure of the greenway about two years ago was farther to the north and much worse. She said the engineering department hopes to reopen the greenway in April, “but it all depends on the permitting process which could take six months.”
Also, she said, “We’re evaluating the entire stream. It’s not impaired. We’re looking in the future not having to keep bandaiding this stream” by providing more permanent cures.
The Richland Creek Greenway has 0.35 mile of paved asphalt trail which begins at The Cottage at Olde Mill Stream, 901 Barnford Mill Road, and goes north on the east side of Richland Creek, ending just north of Littlehampton Court at Barnford Mill Road.
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One of the items on the town board’s consent agenda Tuesday night was approval of a petition to annex 16.823 acres off Stephen Taylor Road in Franklin County requested by Capital Companies Group LLC, which was formed in 2016 by John P. Williams of Franklinton. When you look at the material provided in the agenda for this item, you see the name Larry Seibel on some of the properties.
Many of us remember Larry Seibel fondly because of his Zoo Fauna, full of curious goats, camels, water buffalo, a bear, a tiger, peacocks and other assorted animals, all just a few minutes away from Wake Forest. A great place for kids and grandparents.
After what I remember was the second fire in a barn, Seibel dispersed many of the animals and closed the zoo. Then he decided to sell his land for development. Several acres were annexed to Wake Forest in 2007 – something most of us had forgotten – but the deal with the buyer fell through.
Now he has a deal, according to Planning Director Chip Russell, and the new subdivision called the Reserve at Richland Hills will be attached to Wake Forest through Haltwhistle Street in the Olde Mill Stream subdivision. It is planned for 112 single-family lots.
With Richland Hills largely in Franklin County, with active plans for the Holden Mason subdivision off Capital Boulevard south of Holden Road and this new subdivision, Wake Forest will cover a large part of southern Franklin.
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If you live on Spring Valley Road off South Main Street or any of the nearby streets, you know the Wake Forest Fire Department held a controlled burn exercise during most of the day today, Wednesday, Feb. 22.
They burned a single-story house, a manufactured home, at 189 Spring Valley which has been owned since 1989 by Lyon Real Estate Investments, a Wake Forest firm headed by former mayor and retired grocer John Lyon.
The fire department uses these burns to safely practice different scenarios fire fighters will encounter in real fires.
