Town board divided 2-2
Tuesday night Mayor Vivian Jones got to do something she has rarely done – cast the deciding vote on the 2022 version of the town’s Community and Land Use Plan. With Commissioner Chad Sary absent, the commissioners were tied 2-2 twice.
Commissioner Adam Wright made the initial motion to approve the plan, seconded by Commissioner Nick Sliwinski. Commissioners Jim Dyer and Keith Shackleford voted no. Before the vote Shackleford said he was concerned about some wording in the current description of the former country club property as “abandoned” because people are using it and because it proposes that only land east of Horse Creek and north of the three ponds can be used. Dyer had asked if that meant the owner was denied the use of the land.
Assistant Planning Director Jennifer Currin said it could be used as open space and that the Community Plan is a “guiding document.
She suggested changing three words in the description of the old country club property – “will not develop” – to “primarily focused” east of Horse Creek.
Dyer made the motion to adopt that wording seconded by Shackleford, and this resulted in another tie vote.
The mayor then said she would break the tie and explained why. “I don’t see anything wrong with changing the wording.” She said she had been reading the document as it changed for months. “There are things I’ve read that I would like to change.”
And then she voted in favor of the motion as amended.
Before the vote there was a lengthy public hearing about the Community Plan with strong support for the plan and for leaving land and trees untouched.
Jim Adams, a local developer and now part of the development team for the Joyner/former Wake Forest Country Club, asked that the current language in the revised plan be changed to allow for higher density housing on that property. Currently it calls for a conservation subdivision with lower density and fewer homes.
Mindy Hidenfelter, an Urban Forestry Board member, asked that the town preserve its tree canopy and connect the urban forests in town by using pathways.
Wanda Mukherjee said the plan would guide land use for the next 10 to 12 years and thanked by town’s planning staff and its communications department. “They set up meetings and people showed up in droves. She added, “We don’t have to chew up and grade every square foot of Wake Forest.”
That last statement was echoed and amplified by several other speakers who wanted to keep the forest in Wake Forest along with the deer, squirrels and rabbits. One speaker said the golf course is not abandoned: “It is serving its best purpose now.” And George Lundy asked, “Is there a legal obligation or are you legally bound to let the developers develop?”
Green space, trees and the former country club were not the only topics. There was a lawyer present asking that the Powell property on Durham Road be rezoned because it is lies in the mapped route for the extension of Ligon Mill Road. A young man who lives on Winding Way off NC 98 said there is a greenway trail planned that runs through and divides his property, coming within 60 feet of his house.
And Samuel Hodges, the president of Church Initiative, and Stacey Woodhouse and a minister who never gave his name were concerned about the current zoning for their respective properties on South Allen Road. Church Initiative now owns and operates from the old Wake Forest Hospital and wants to be able to expand, perhaps with a new building, in the future. The minister and Woodhouse own the former Wake Forest Rest Home and want to be able to sell the property for an apartment building or some other use.
The meeting began with 11 proclamations that included one to Virginia Jones, who was hired on March 19, 2013 as the director of the town’s human resources department. She will retire later this month or early in May. Another one was to declare May 14 as St. Baldrick’s Day in Wake Forest when the group, which raises funds to fight children’s cancer, will be at Strike and Barrel to raise more money. May will be remembered as Mental Health Month.
Two were for individuals. Rebecca Stallworth Inge was honored for returning to Shaw University at the age of 74 to finish the degree she began as a teenager. And Pidie Forte Lucas Green was honored on her 90th birthday – the mayor went to her party. She is a native Wake Forester who moved to New York City and owned a restaurant where she met many of the famous names in the Black human rights struggle. She has now retired and lives again in Wake Forest.
Two public hearings drew no speakers. They were to annex the property of George and Martha Mackie at 1423 Deerfield Crossing – site of the former Wellington Mobile Home Park – for future development and to annex Traditions Townhomes on Traditions Grande Avenue.
In the consent agenda the commissioners voted to update the town’s record retention policy, to appoint members to the Historic Preservation Commission and the Technical Advisory Board, to accept a state grant for waste reduction and recycling and to add a full-time paralegal.
During the commissioners’ comments at the end of the meeting, Nick Sliwinski noted that May is Mental Health Month and, struggling with tears, said, “As someone who has struggled with mental illness for twenty years, my only advice [for others] is seek help.”
Then Jim Dyer seconded that plea by saying he had just presided at the funeral of a veteran who committed suicide and had spent the last six days weeping with the family. His advice, too, was seek help.
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3 Responses
Since McAdams Engineering sat on the steering committee for the first Draft of the Community Plan, it should surprise no one that the original text called for Mixed Residential use (high density), had text lifted from the developers pan and made it priority 1 for development. You decide if that is coincidence.
Caroll Joyner bought this property for a song exactly because it could not be developed under the existing PUD/SUP. He did not purchase the right to develop. He is trying to use his money to massage the town staff, policies, zoning, and UDO for HIS benefit. He is joined by McAdams Engineering, Toll Brothers, and Jim Adams who will all profit. This has nothing to do with his RIGHTS. He is seeking to get something for nothing. Just listen to the nothing burger discussion justifying the vote to change the wording. See Amy’s comment above on “taking”. Just a few quick bullets, but there are many more to shred the thin plea for Jim Adams.
1. The community plan is policy, not law so there is no “taking” of land. This is a legal term used to intimidate the Board. The “plan” is the community vision—not the developers ticket.
2. There are two zoning overlays on the land that restrict development: watershed and Highway Business District. The town has the authority and established both. The first expresses the town requirement for business development location and is predicated on traffic control and quality-of-life. The watershed overlay is to comply with state/county watershed requirements. Neither of these is illegal. Towns also establish standards for open spaces and parks which prevents the owner from building on that land. For the town to establish cluster development standards (which existed in previous editions of the UDO) is also not illegal. There is no “taking” as implied by Jim Adams. This is simply the condition of the land the owner bought. If you buy swamp land you can’t complain that you can’t build houses on it.
3. The Town can decline to even hear the development proposal because it does not constitute a quality development that supports the town’s goals. That means it would never make it to a public hearing. Or the Town could decide that it is too early to consider development of this land because of the Capital Blvd improvement project and unknown impact to the Highway Business zone. Neither of these is illegal.
Rick,
I completely agree with your summary. We surely thought, with the Planning Department’s recommendation and the Planning Boards unanimous approval, the Community Plan would be adopted as written. It was hard to believe a single thin complaint from the developer, rejected by the planning department, would influence some on the Board of Commissioners and the Mayor to amend the expressed communities will and desire for this land. The impression I had listening to the dialog, and the subsequent vote, made me feel as if the entire process of getting community involvement, engagement, and feedback to guide and develop the Community Plan was just a canard. I walked away with the notion that some of the elected leadership were more interested in appeasing one individual with no ties or interests in a piece of property other than how much money can be made versus the impact to the surrounding property owners and the expressed desires of many citizens in the town of Wake Forest to stop poorly planned land-clearing, high-density development that continues to cover the Town of Wake Forest landscape. It was as if some on the Board of Commissioners and the Mayor cared less about what the citizens of Wake Forest wanted to see in the future growth strategies of the town than their own inserted interests and opinions…a sad realization that so few control the future of so many.
There have been two attempts to develop this property in recent years by the previous owner, and both times the town refused to hear those requests. One of those requests to develop this land ending up going to the North Carolina Supreme Court, where the Town’s decision not to hear the proposal for development was successfully upheld. In both requests, the town stood firm in holding the PUD/SUP attached to this land. The Town can do the same today and decline to even hear the development proposal because the PUD/SUP is still attached to this land. Additionally, the Town could decide that it is simply too early to consider development of this land because of the Capital Boulevard Improvement Project and the unknown impact to the Highway Business Zone along the front of this property. The Town can just refuse to consider the proposal as they have done twice before, and that decision has legal standing with State of North Carolina. There is absolutely no reason to rush into the development of the former Wake Forest Golf Course property at this time.
I personally would like to thank the Planning Department and the Planning Board for listening to citizens of Wake Forest in the development of the Community Plan. I can only hope our elected officials will respect and ensure that the desires and wishes of the many are not discarded to appease the selfishness and greed of a few.
In Mugler vs Kansas 1887, the Supreme Court established that land use may be regulated without compensation. It also established that when ALL RIGHTS were NOT removed & the land could be used for other purposes it did NOT constitute a taking. A regulatory or implied taking is legally defined as ALL economic uses of land have been taken. Therefore impairing the value of the land does NOT constitute a taking.
Off-season I heard Mrs. Claus sells houses. I have obtained plenty of useless knowledge about my spouse’s profession in the 8 years we have been married. How long have Santa & Mrs. Claus been married? Covenants never come up in conversations?
The other dude is an attorney. This matter was basic law 101 for him. Pulling crap like this for you or spouse’s professional gain is WRONG on so many levels! We did not elect either of you for the purpose of furthering your career or your spouses.
C’mon law boy & Santa! The other two guys are supposed to be clueless about this crap! Santa keepthis up & the people will send you back to the north pole.