The Wake Forest Fire Department’s Station #4 on Jenkins Road, where ground preparation is already underway, tops the list of Capital Improvement Projects in the 2015-2020 update released last week.
Its cost is listed at $1.83 million for the construction, which should be complete this year. Fire Chief Ron Early lists $465,000 as the cost for the fire truck and other necessary equipment The department has already hired the new staff, which is currently in training.
The town will pay for the station with the proceeds from the fire impact fee charged to all new construction in town. That fund currently stands at $1,910,358, and Finance Director Aileen Staples reported this week the town has already transferred $241,603 to the fire department for the station and will transfer another $93,459 for its design early this year for a total of $335,062.
The fire department is not part of the town government; it is an independent corporation formed in 1981 which contracts with the Town of Wake Forest and the County of Wake to provide fire response and prevention for the entire town and rural area the department is responsible for.
Because of its growth, Wake Forest pays about 80 percent of the fire department’s operating budget and the county less than 20 percent. In 2007 the town commissioners, foreseeing the growth and the need for more stations, voted for the fire impact fee for capital needs for the fire department. Chief Early said the complete station will be paid through the impact fees, loans and fire tax revenue. Fire taxes are included in the property tax for town residents, but rural property owners pay an additional fire tax.
In recent weeks, Mayor Vivian Jones has questioned whether the amount of the fee should be reduced, but Early wrote in the description of the Jenkins Road station’s funding in the CIP that the department’s strategic plan shows there is a need for improved fire coverage on the northeast and side sides of town.
The other projects with a high rating for are a roof for the North Wake Senior Center ($40,000), the Smith Creek Greenway Parking at the trailhead on Burlington Mills Road ($425,000 with a grant for the construction), replacement of the Flaherty Park Dam ($151,000), replacement of the bridge on the Kiwanis Parkway ($149,000), rebuilding of the retaining wall on North Avenue (90,500), and equipment and upgrades for the management information system ($250,000) for a total of $2,935,500.
The total of the long, long list is $21,642,400 and does not include the estimated $21 million-plus for a new police department-public safety building which might be constructed on the north side of Centennial Plaza in front of town hall, replacing the 1909 town hall which now houses some of the police department.
Some projects already have external funding such as a number of street and greenway improvements also funded by the recently-passed bond referendum. Not covered by the bonds are protection and amelioration of the Smith Creek watershed where $42,500 is required with $11,000 of that covered by outside sources and the Wake Forest Reservoir rehabilitation where the entire $353,000 seems to be covered by outside funding.
Leading the second tier (Level B) for funding is the rehabilitation of the Ailey Young House on North White Street, once the home of the mother and father of important black educator Allen Young. The amount requested this year is $22,000 with additional funding in subsequent years. It is a local historic landmark and the town’s Historic Preservation Commission has taken it as its major project. Other organizations have donated to the preservation/rehabilitation fund and the proceeds from donations at February’s Writer’s Night in the Forest will go to the fund.
The much-needed Northern Wake Senior Center expansions – a classroom addition and an exercise room expansion – will not be built this coming fiscal year but are listed for the following two years at $1.8 million and $1.3 million. The original building was donated to the town after a fundraising effort by a group of older residents plus one large donation made it possible. The programs are offered by Resources for Seniors.
Two popular projects are rated as low priority and Level C: spraygrounds at four parks ($250,000) and pickle ball courts and their lighting at the Wake Forest Middle School Park ($122,500).
There will be a public hearing about the CIP next Tuesday at the beginning of the town board meeting in town hall, which begins at 7 p.m. The large booklet itself is available at town hall.
