The Wake Forest Renaissance Centre, 405 S. Brooks St., will host the 2024 Wake Forest Film Festival on Friday and Saturday, March 1-2. Tickets to the two-day event are $20 and can be purchased online at https://bit.ly/WFRenCenTix, in person at the RC Box Office, or by calling 919-435-9458. Earlier this year, the Renaissance Centre invited filmmakers from our community and around the world to submit their vibrant, diverse, and original works and become a part of the 2024 film festival. Altogether, 81 films were submitted for consideration and 18 were selected to be featured during this year’s event. The complete schedule, including movie titles and times will be announced in the coming days and provided at http://bit.ly/WFFilmFestival. The two-day festival will spotlight passionate, creative, and thought-provoking movies by some of today’s most promising and accomplished local, national, and international filmmakers. Intended for filmmakers, film enthusiasts, and anyone who enjoys a good story,

The Wake Forest Inspections Department issues a monthly report about all new building permits and new businesses. The office issued 26 permits for single-family houses and seven townhouses in various subdivisions in December. Also there were 26 permits for multi-family units, all at two addresses in the Grove development, part of the Wegmans plan, on the north side of the Bypass. Michael Vaughan, an Inspections technician, explained what is being built. “These units are actually ‘2-over-2’ condos but for permitting they are considered multi-family. A 2-over-2 consists of two, two-story townhome style condos stacked to create a four-story building. For permitting, as of December 2023, all 2-over-2 homes will be permitted separately, per unit/address, versus our old style of only permitting the building as a single address.  This is to assist with individual inspections tracking per unit.” There was one new business in December, the Holding Village Amenity Center being

Based on the October, 2023 Monthly Development Report, WF Planning Updated November 29, 2023 The updated Wake Forest population as of July 1, 2023 was 56,681. That figure included the new homes which were approved for occupancy. When all the current approved apartments, townhouses and single-family homes are built the population will rise to 69,956. The town keeps a running tally of approved projects with counts of those completed. The best inspections current estimate is that between seven and eight people move to town each day. New plans on the list Item #1 on the list for at least two years has been White Street townhomes SP-21-06 requested by the landowner David Smoot with The Nau Company drawing the plans. The planning board members recommended 7 to 0 it not be approved, and instead the town board sent it back to the planning department and the owner for revisions. Since

The Town of Wake Forest is about to begin a major road rehabilitation and resurfacing project targeting over 20 local streets and roadways. The 2024 Road Resurfacing Project will consist of concrete work which will begin in mid-January, and asphalt work that is scheduled to start in March (weather permitting). The initiative will involve full depth patching, roadway repairs, and repaving, along with the replacement and repair of curb and gutter. Several black ADA ramps will also be replaced with yellow mats per national standards. On Monday, Jan. 15, and continuing weekdays from 7 a.m.-4 p.m., Fulford & Jones, a subcontractor of Fred Smith Company working on behalf of the Town of Wake Forest, will begin concrete work along the following streets: Affected residents will be notified of work in advance by door hangers. During the scheduled work dates, these residents will be prohibited from parking their vehicles along the