(This news article from the August 4, 2004 edition of The Wake Forest Gazette will help people understand the background of the information about Friendship Chapel Road and the extension of Franklin Street in The Growth Rate in this edition.
(The town restricted builders to 50 single-family house permits per year to conserve its available water which was the Wake Forest Reservoir supplemented by water bought from Raleigh. That plan was in effect from 2001 through mid-2005 when the town and Raleigh reached an agreement under which the city purchased the Wake Forest water and sewer systems, water plant and reservoir. The town had to pay for a number of improvements and did so by the difference between the higher town water/sewer rates and those in Raleigh. All Wake Forest water/sewer customers now pay the lower Raleigh rates though those have risen through the years.)
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The Wake Forest Planning Board Tuesday night, August 4, 2004 approved the site plan for Heritage North, a 387-home subdivision just north of Heritage Wake Forest planned by Andy Ammons.
The 161-acre tract is about half of the 310-acre Dameron land lying east of Jones Dairy Road, mostly south of the N.C. 98 bypass and north of Heritage.
Key to the development of Heritage North and the rest of the Dameron property, which is zoned for multi-family and retail use, is permission for more than 50 building permits a year, the cap the town board imposed in 2001 to conserve the town’s water supply.
Barker and Christopher Dameron of Raleigh (Dr. Thomas B. Dameron and his middle child, Christopher) will ask the town board on Aug. 17 for 200 building permits a year. They say they need those to generate the cash flow to build Heritage Lake Road from Heritage Wake Forest to the bypass and a large portion of Friendship Chapel Road that will eventually extend from South Main Street to Jones Dairy Road.
Heritage North will not be included in the contract that Ammons negotiated with the town in 1999 in which he is now assured 400,000 gallons of water a day for Heritage Wake Forest.
Although no one spoke to oppose the request, town resident Stephen Stoller, who regularly attends the planning and town board meetings, asked how long it would take to build all the homes. Four to five years, Ammons said.
Stoller said he was also concerned about the adequacy of the water supply for this development and all the town. “It seems to be putting a bit of strain on the available water.”
He also asked if there has been any discussion about changing some requirements in the R-10 and R-8 zoning categories so that developers will not have to request R-5 zoning to get the setback and side yard flexibility.
Planning Director Chip Russell said he will bring several zoning amendments to the planning board, perhaps for next month’s meeting.
Planning board members Frank Drake and Kim Parker voted against approving the site plan. Chairman Bob Hill was absent.
The board also approved a change in the site plan for Heritage Heights, which was originally approved in December of last year. With the plans for Heritage North, Ammons was able to change the plans for Heritage Heights to increase the size from 20 to 22.6 acres, increase the lots from 39 homes to 49 and increase the road connections.
Both Heritage North and Heights are zoned R-5, a minimum lot size of 5,000 square feet, but the lots in Heritage North average over 12,000 square feet and those in Heritage Heights are 16,552 on average.
The board also approved the development plan for the Capital Commerce Office Center, a complex of nine one-story office buildings on the south side of Capcom Avenue owned by Edd K. Roberts of Raleigh.
A rezoning request for the Howard Cash property along South Main Street was withdrawn before the meeting. Russell said the applicant had decided to present a plan along with the request.
The meeting lasted about 40 minutes, one of the shortest in recent history, but Russell warned the members they would face a much longer agenda in September.
