Once again it was the traffic congestion on Rogers Road that decided the vote Tuesday night. The Wake Forest Planning Board voted five to four to reject the plan for 95 townhouses on the deadend section of Forestville Road even though they liked the plan.
Back in December it was much the same story. The planning board was split five to three when the members voted to approve with conditions – no vinyl siding, no entrance to the street from an alley and no sidewalk on the south side of the street. The town board, after hearing Commissioner Brian Pate cite the traffic problems he sees daily, voted three to two to deny the rezoning and master plan.
Both boards, planning and town, sat through the lengthy public hearing. The town commissioners have the project on their March 20 agenda and will make the final decision.
The problem is that the deadend section of Forestville Road behind the Real McCoys sports bar has only one direct approach to Rogers Road. There is a police officer there during the morning and afternoon rush hours because there are more than 20 businesses along Heritage Trade Drive and a parent has to drive every child enrolled at Thales Academy to and from school. Add to that all the buses and parents driving children to Heritage Elementary and Middle schools and Heritage High School.
It was suggested the townhouse residents could go through the Holding Village subdivision next door to reach South Franklin Street and then Rogers Road at an intersection with a traffic signal. And the Holding Village developer will have to complete South Franklin to meet the NC 98 Bypass within the next few years. That link will alleviate some of the traffic problems on Rogers.
Rynal Stephenson, a traffic engineer with Ramey Kemp & Associates, strongly defended his traffic study showing only 30 vehicles would be leaving the townhouses during a one-hour period during morning rush, but some of the planning board members were not convinced.
The vote was unanimous to approve Jeffrey Triezenberg’s request to rezone two small parcels, together only 0.36 acre, from neighborhood business to residential mixed use. Triezenberg said his partner, who was with him in a wheelchair, has had a stroke and it is difficult to get him from their current home to their business, the Distinctive Designs florist shop. Trieaenberg intends to build a one-story house behind the shop that had once been a small convenience store.
The spokesman for the Woda Group was also able to win approval for its request to rezone 4.2 acres on the south side of Durham Road between Walgreens and the Waffle House from highway business to residential mixed use. He said the group plans to build affordable housing on the site. The vote was seven to two to approve.
