Mayor rebukes groups protesting PrideFest

Mayor Vivian Jones did an unusual thing Tuesday night during the public comment section of the town board meeting after a man, saying he spoke for a group, spoke for 10 minutes while showing slides he took at PrideFest.

She handed her gavel to Commissioner Keith Shackleford, also the mayor pro tem, and went to the podium in front of the commissioners and staff, saying she was going to speak as a town resident without title.

Over the past three or four months groups of people have come to the town board meetings to protest against Pridefest, she said, and she has received letters with the same views. Wake Forest should be one community, the mayor said.

“I am a Christian. How we make choices is important, trying to decide who is in and who is out is not.”

Jones quoted the bible and spoke about inclusion and loving those who are not the same as us. She ended by saying she hoped she would not receive anymore letters about PrideFest.

The festival was approved through the regular process for all events in town that are not town-sponsored events. The town board never votes on events, just the process for approval or disapproval, and the mayor only votes when there is a tie vote.

David Griffen, the pastor of a local church, also spoke about the differences in people. “Wake Forest is a cafeteria of diversity.”

Aside from the comment section, the October 15, 2024 session of the town board was lengthy – almost two-and-a-half hours, and diverse. The only item on the consent agenda was to approve the acceptance of a North Carolina Parks and Recreation Trust Fund grant award for $500,000 to build a skate park.

Karin Kuropas, the current chairman of the planning board, was elected for another three-year term. Adam Redler, the ETJ representative, won a full three-year term, as did Jordan Banks, a newcomer who will replace Sheila Bishop.

There were public hearings about three planning requests followed much later by the approval of the three by the town board.

The rezoning of 418 Jones Dairy Road to neighborhood business conditional use brought passionate arguments against by neighbors in the Heritage Hills subdivision because there is a wooded floodplain between their backyards and the David Williams project of two buildings and a parking lot.

“We all live in back of a floodplain, a highly sensitive floodplain,” Scott Lawrence said, adding there is a “potential vulnerability” for all 18 neighbors who are protesting.

Chris Lowe called Williams an “exploiter,” and noted the 32-foot drip in elevation from Jones Dairy Road to the farthest edge of the parking lot. He also said there is another property for sale “right next door” where Williams could build.

Margaret Watkins pointed out that there may have to be blasting to remove underground granite.

Later, during the discussion by the commissioners, the architect for the project noted that the sand filter 25-year flood treatment vessel will treat both water quality and quantity and release any flood waters more slowly than nature, reducing the threat of flooding in the floodplain.

The commissioners voted unanimously to approve the project, as they also were unanimous in voting for the Star Road annexation and the Johnson Automotive plan for the current truck stop at the Burlington Mills and Capital Boulevard.

The big issue for the proposed Hyundai dealership was the intersection of Urial Drive, a substandard two-lane road that is the only point of egress-ingress for all the traffic in the Shearon Farms subdivision.

Veronica Brown, the president for the Shearon Farms HOA, was once again at the comment section, emphasizing “what a mess it is of traffic” for the residents. When they can turn left to get on Burlington Mills Road they then have to deal with another left turn onto Capital Boulevard. She is asking for a traffic signal at Urial to help get traffic out of the subdivision.

Johnson Automotive and the developer of a townhouse community on Burlington Mills Road have both said they would include an upgrade of Urial and a traffic signal when they build, but there are no start dates. “Whoever builds first needs some sort of safe passage out of that road,” Brown said.

Assistant Town Manager Candace Davis asked the commissioners how they want to implement the increased parks and recreation impact fees paid by homebuilders. She said the North Carolina Association of Homebuilders had submitted several implementations, all of them stretching over several years.

Davis said the staggered implementation would be very difficult for the town staff. Commissioner Adam Wright then made a motion to begin the change on July 1 of this year at 80 percent of the consultant’s recommended fees for single-family and multi-family homes and introduce it gradually over five years,

Commissioner Ben Clapsaddle said he agreed with the staff, Shackleford asked about waivers for affordable housing, and the mayor, Davis and Interim Planning Director Jennifer Currin all said separately that the fees could be waived for affordable housing, including Habitat for Humanity.

Parks and Recreation Director Ruben Wall was present to hear the commissioners approve his department’s five-year master plan. Wall said all of his staff will have a part in making it a reality.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m.

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