In a very short meeting Tuesday night the Wake Forest commissioners approved an $8.8 million contract with ClarkNexsen architectural firm in Raleigh to design and build the much-needed community house at E. Carroll Joyner Park on Harris Road. The money will come from the parks and greenway bonds voters authorized in 2014.
Sixteen firms responded to the town’s request for proposals, and the selection committee cut that to three firms. The committee – Public Facilities Manager Mickey Rochelle; Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources Director Ruben Wall; Inspections Department Director J.J. Carr; Senior Code Enforcement Officer/Commercial Plans Reviewer Tim Edwards; and Chris Bass, a purchasing agent in the finance department – met with all three firms and a majority chose ClarkNexsen.
There is an additional $2.3 million available in the bond monies, and that is hopefully going to be spent for an ADA compliant playground with a water feature, a spray ground perhaps, and a cover for the stage at the amphitheater. Whether the $11.1 million can stretch to cover everything is the question.
Wall is definite that the building has to include three full-sized basketball courts to help handle the 90 teams who now play on the single court at the Flaherty Community Center and in various Wake County school gyms in town.
The document from ClarkNexsen about the contract included the three basketball courts, a suspended walkway above the gym, a teaching kitchen, wet and dry locker rooms, a large multi-purpose room to hold 200, at least two small classrooms that can hold 30 with tables, an art room/studio, an employee break room and an oversized entrance lobby. The restrooms will be accessible from inside and outside.
On the site ClarkNexsen plans the playground with a water feature, a nature center/classroom, storage for rental bikes, additional parking and the amphitheater stage cover.
ClarkNexsen will also determine the building site, though the conceptual plans for phase 2 of the park showed the community center in the northwest corner at the back of the current parking lot.
How will it look? “We have told all architects that we want to continue the theme at Joyner using stone and other materials to balance the “farm” theme,” Rochelle said. “We want to have a building that is pleasing to look at, functional for our needs, and also adds to Joyner, giving citizens a place they want to visit.” There will be several opportunities for public input on the building design and appearance. The project may be completed in 2018.
The town board approved resolutions recognizing local Purple Heart recipients and WW II veterans as well as recognizing the week of Aug. 7 as Purple Heart Week. They will be read at the Wake Forest Purple Heart Dinner on Aug. 6.
Five high school students were named to the Youth in Government Advisory Board: Kasey Clift from Franklin Academy, Isabella Marin from Millbrook, Yara Mahmoud from Franklin Academy, Xachary Gill from Wake Forest and Abigail Nacional from Heritage.
Mayor Vivian Jones asked town residents to thank state Sen. Chad Barefoot for the two grants he helped provide to the town from the current state budget just approved. Both are for downtown revitalization and total $144,340. Jones said the money may be used for a project suggested when the update of the Renaissance Plan is complete in the fall.
She spoke briefly referring to the recent shootings of police officers in Dallas, Baton Rouge and Tuesday in Kansas City. “We are fortunate to live in a community where most people care for each other and for our police officers. [The officers] are true public servants who only want to serve and protect each of us.
Commissioner Anne Reeve said she had spoken with some Wake Forest officers who return the appreciation of the people of the town. “They like the community, like serving here.”
The commissioners, mayor and Town Manager Kip Padgett then went into a closed session to confer with town attorney Eric Vernon, announcing there would be no decision or action after the session.
