On Thursday night, Nov. 9, Wake Forest Planning Board Director Courtney Tanner presented the planning department’s proposal for the watershed on Smith Creek that feeds into the Smith Creek Reservoir.
The proposal is to zone the watershed as Conventional Residential, which includes zoning at GR3 (three houses per acre) to GR10. Tanner said that the uses would only include GR3 zoning with the encouragement for conservation principles with pedestrian and bicycle connections to “enhance access to the reservoir.”
A summary of the need for the zoning said that the former watershed was not eligible to have Raleigh Water and sewer until the latest amendment to the overall Raleigh-Wake Forest merger agreement was adopted earlier this year. People living in the watershed area now can request water and sewer service if they also request annexation to the town. This could lead to haphazard development. “Doing nothing increases the likelihood of non-compatible uses,” Tanner said. The information provided to the five commissioners also said, “Additionally, the conservation design principles would not be applicable for the larger tracts of land.”
The reservoir is no longer a source of drinking water because Raleigh Water owns the Wake Forest water and sewer system and provides the town’s drinking water from Falls Lake. The watershed lies to the north of Oak Grove Church Road and is still identified as Wake County land on the county’s mapping system.
The watershed is 584 acres in Wake County with additional acreage in Franklin County, where it is very lightly developed. The largest landowner is Andy Ammons, who bought 250 acres in 2003 for $4 million. The other large landowners north of the reservoir are Willis Dean and a corporation called Poge, both of Raleigh. A slice of the watershed on the west side of the reservoir is open space for the Traditions subdivision and is inside Wake Forest.
Tanner had already described the planning department’s proposal to the town planning board, which voted four to one to deny recommendation to the town board. Instead, the planning board members recommended “the Commissioners should consider adding a land use option that is more rural than Conventional Residential to the Community Plan if the Community Plan is amended.”
The town board took no action on the proposal Thursday night, saying they want parks and open spaces with mature trees. They asked for guidance.
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One Response
The BOC is constantly ignoring the recommendations of the town planning board which is very frustrating to residents. Residents will be out in force at the next meeting, November 21, as they were at the last meeting, to make their voices heard. We oppose the proposed land use guidance in the Community Plan Amendment and request that the Town of WF add a “Rural Residential” land use designation and incorporate the Smith Creek Watershed protections as set forth in the existing Town UDO, which provides similar zoning & benefits as the current Wake County density requirement.