The town can open up
At the close of Tuesday night’s town board meeting, Town Manager Kip Padgett announced that the town has been cleared to resume its popular in-person events, including the July 3 fireworks show in the Heritage High School stadium, now that Governor Roy Cooper has lifted all indoor and outdoor capacity requirements and masks and social distancing are no longer required.
It will not really be the same as before the pandemic – for instance, Six Sundays in Spring will be Six Sundays in Fall for this year with the free concerts at E. Carroll Joyner Park scheduled from September 5 through October 10. Also on October 10 the popular Friday Night on White will return, this time featuring Crush as the band.
A month later the Wake Forest Cares Holiday Kick-Off will be in downtown Wake Forest on Saturday, November 13.
Family Movie Nights at Joyner Park will be held July 24 and August 7, and a Halloween Boo Bash will attract children and parents at the Joyner Park Community Center on October 21.
“From the outset of the pandemic, we said that once state restrictions were lifted, we’d resume hosting in-person events,” said Mayor Vivian Jones. “Following last week’s announcement by Gov. Cooper, we’re beyond thrilled that we can resume gathering in-person with our family and friends for so many of our favorite community events.”
The Wake Forest Town Hall is also opening up. Starting Tuesday, June 1, the town hall will transition to a normal operating schedule of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.
There will be more announcements about town-sponsored events in coming days, and many town organizations will begin sponsoring events.
Next week the Wake Forest Gazette will begin publishing a local events calendar again.
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In the Wake Forest Town Board meeting Tuesday night, the board:
*agreed to purchase land on North White Street at the corner of Spring Street and next to the Ailey Young House for $179,160. “This will help with what we want to do with the Ailey Young House,” Mayor Vivian Jones said. The current lot for the house is too small to accommodate visitor parking, for one thing.
*passed a resolution opposing the passage of four bills currently under consideration in the North Carolina General Assembly. About House Bill 401 and Senate Bill 349, the resolution says they would “increase the rate of gentrification in the Town’s Northeast Community therefore disproportionally impacting an African American neighborhood with longstanding community roots which is in contrast to current Town efforts to develop strategies that balance the need for additional housing options while allowing existing residents to remain.”
The resolution strongly opposed House Bill 496 which strips the town’s right to make decisions about trees on private property without the express consent of the General Assembly. “The town’s tree preservation policies have not prohibited the development of residential or non-residential development and strike a needed balance between property rights and the Town’s goal to maintain an urban tree canopy of 45 percent.”
The resolution says smartly that the town has a long-standing history of approving new public, private and charter schools in compatible areas of town, but House Bill 794 is well intentioned but does not protecting children from noxious uses found in industrial areas.
*voted four to zero (Commissioner Liz Simpers was out sick) to approve the plan for 13 townhouses called the Traditions Townhomes. The Wake Forest Planning Board had left it to the commissioners to decide where to place the required fence between the townhouses and an area of single-family homes. After criticizing the quasi-judicial process the request had to use, the three commissioners (Commissioner Bridget Wall-Lennon who was absent for the public hearing said she had not had time to fully review that hearing) voted as the planning staff had recommended, a 6-foot fence on the single-family side of the change in elevation.
*approved a purchase agreement with Truist Bank for $642,435 at 0.97 percent interest for four years to replace vehicles and equipment.
*approved a calendar of meetings for the remainder of 2021 in which the town board and the planning board will begin their meetings at 6 p.m. with the town board meeting the first Tuesday of the month for its work session, the planning board meeting on the second Tuesday and the town board holding its business session on the third Tuesday.
*agreed to waive the current noise ordinance temporarily in the Renaissance Area so that businesses which had suffered during the pandemic could hold outdoor music events to attract visitors and patrons.
*agreed to officially post a speed of 55 mph on the stretch of Capital Boulevard from the Neuse River to the Franklin County line, a move which had been overlooked when the town annexed that stretch of road.
*slightly changed the speed limits at two sections of Averette Road because of safety concerns.
*held public hearings for the annexation of the Legacy Center Church to be built on Rabbit Run and for the proposed 2021-2022 budget at which no one appeared to speak.
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