Commissioners deny Forestville Road annexation

On March 23, just before the four-hour hearing about the Joyner or country club hearing, the Wake Forest Town Board took up the request to annex eight acres along the east side of Forestville Road between a new strip mall and the entrance to the Bridgeport subdivision.
The developer, Robert Sheer, has also filed a request with the Wake Forest Planning Department to build 61 townhouses on those eight acres, with the majority of the townhouses on the site of the large pond with a 30-foot earthen dam.
Neighbors and others who protested the annexation and the subdivision plans spoke at both the town board meeting on March 21 and the March 23 special called meeting.
One of the neighbors, Matt Davis, called it not smart development but “desperate development.”
Other neighbors said the traffic on Forestville Road during rush hours is “a parking lot” even before the 265 Meridian apartments are added.
Elaine Shepherd presented a petition with 75 signatures opposing the townhouses as too dense. She said that the balconies and windows in a current adjoining subdivision
overlook the back yards in Bridgeport where there are no buffers between the two developments.
Another woman said Bridgeport residents would assume that their children would attend Heritage High School across the street. But, she said, because of current overcrowding Heritage attendance is to be capped and Bridgeport students will be sent to Rolesville High School that is east of Rolesville.
Shaar defended his plan, saying it more than met town requirements for open space and would be a walkable community with easy access to a grocery store and restaurants. He said the admissions director had told him there would be space at Heritage High for Bridgeport students.
He also said he would be draining the pond. “I believe we have the right plan to take down that pond.”
After hearing from everyone, Commissioner Chad Sary offered a motion to deny the annexation request, thanked the developer and the protesting neighbors and then addressed the claims by several people, based on no evidence, that the commissioners had been offered money to vote in certain ways about developments.
“That is insulting and ridiculous,” Sary said, adding that he is “a little mad” about those assertions. Saying he moved here in 1999, he said Wake Forest is a great place to live.
“My concern is the density,” Sary said, and told Shaar, to come back with a better design.
After the vote, which was unanimous to deny, Commissioner Adam Wright spoke to the residents who protested the annexation and said he tries “to represent your voice.” Also, he said the board finds it easier to make a hard decision “if we know you are behind us.”
The vote does not solve the problem with the two ponds if the annexation turndown means the townhouses will not be built. The larger one, the lower one, which Shaar planned to drain, fill with dirt and build the majority of the townhouses, has been called unstable and in poor condition. The dam has mature trees growing on its top and along its exposed southern side which looms over the mail kiosk and new houses in Bridgeport.
William H. Denton, a regional engineer with the state Department of Environmental Quality, said in a letter this year that “Of all the dams in the 16-county region that the DEQ DEMLR Raleigh Pffice covers, WAKE-265 is one of the most concerning to me.”
The smaller one, just below several newly-built businesses on the west side of Forestville Road, will also have to be drained when the lower one is. Shaar’s property line cuts off a section of it.
Shaar is being fined by DEQ for his lack of action about the dam and pond. Without annexation, the Town of Wake Forest has no control over the pond though a breach of the dam could damage or destroy Wake Forest homes, a vital street and harm or kill town residents and others. People have contacted Wake County, where officials said there is nothing they can do.
There are no surface waters connected to these ponds, which means there is no federal agency interested or involved.
The two ponds probably were built while the land was owned by the Marshall-Stroud family which had a dairy farm operation. The conclusion has to be they are fed from run-off from the surrounding land, which now has streets and roofs which will add substantially to the run-off. And they are very likely also fed by underground streams, which will remain even when the ponds are filled with dirt.
Shaar has not responded to an inquiry about his plans for draining the ponds after his annexation request was denied.
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