Planners, neighbors agree to reject townhouse plan

The best organized public hearing before the Wake Forest Planning Board seen in years – and one of the shortest – helped the five board members recommend denial of a 140-townhouse infill project Tuesday night, July 11, 2023.
The Rogers Road Townhouse plan will now go to the Wake Forest Town Board for consideration, probably at its August business meeting on August 15.
During his explanation for the project by Tom McGrath, a lawyer with PoynerSpruill in Raleigh, McGrath explained how the developer, Chris Bostick, had altered plans based on the comments made by the neighbors and had “consultations . . . (with) members of the board of commissioners.”
The Wake Forest Planning Department staff, led in this case by Senior Planner Tim Richards, had examined the plan in detail compared with the town’s Community Plan and Unified Development Ordinance and recommended that it be denied by the planning board. The Staff report says this plan “is generally inconsistent with the adopted 2022 Community Plan,” that the “streetscape dominated by curb cuts, driveways and garage doors, made worse by the narrowness of the lots” is also inconsistent with the plan, and called out the “inconsistent, lopsided streetwalls” on the plan’s major street.
And then the neighbors began with PowerPoints, PDFs and slides.
Lucille Dyer said the bedrooms on her Golden Poppy street would back up to narrow alleys serving the front-loaded townhouses (the town prefers back-loaded townhouses). “We were wanting some single-family houses.” And, the land for the development “is now the only green area left until you get to Rolesville.”
Ken Christie brought the visual statistics of how the housing growth is impacting the safety of town residents. The intersection of Rogers Road, Forestville Road and Heritage Lake Road had 11 accidents in a recent month, three or four accidents a week, he said.
James Rogalski said the townhouse project “benefits one group, the people in the front row,” referring to the lawyer, engineer and others planning the development. “It is going to increase traffic through neighborhoods.”
The project is landlocked so the developers plan to connect with Forestville Road by going through Woodstaff Avenue and with Rogers Road at an intersection where NCDOT says it will permit right turns only and that is very close to the driveway of an adjoining church. The developer is planning to connect to Orange Cosmos Avenue which ends at Marshall Farm Road which can lead to Rogers Road.
Brian Assessors talked about the danger of the greenway intersections with local streets where children are walking and riding the bikes to and from school and the only warning signs are on the greenway.
Elaine Shepherd spoke for her neighborhood so had 10 minutes where others had three. She and her neighbors fear the residents of the proposed townhouses will try to use the facilities – parks, playgrounds – in Bridgeport and other subdivisions since there are so few in the proposed plan. She noted the lack of transition between Bridgeport with its single-family homes and the tightly-packed townhouses proposed. The tract the developers want to develop has an unnamed stream running through it as well as steep differences in height where the developer plans retaining walls.
“The main road in Bridgeport is already crowded,” Shepherd said. With the apartments to the north, Meridian with 264, she said they are so tall those residents can look into bedrooms in Bridgeport. A new commercial area brought a brewery with an outdoor area. There is no screening – no shrubs, trees or fence between that open area and the back yards of Bridgeport houses. “We see people walking around, people smoking.” Streets flood when it rains. And, she said, the developer has not finished the subdivision and has not handed over control of the HOA to the homeowners. Of the land next door, she said, “We want it turned into a park.”
Mark Smith remarked the planning board had heard a “pretty consistent message.” He also mentioned the possible cost of the proposed townhouses, $400,000, and said that the local schools are all capped out so those future homeowners would have to drive their children to more distant schools.
Robert Pettyjohn is a longtime area resident on a part of Rogers Road not yet developed. He began about saying his family on starlit nights used to go out and lie on their backs on the road and watch the stars. He talked about Andy Ammons and his development of Heritage. “Consider what Andy Ammons did. He showed us how to do things elegantly and still make a profit. Pettyjohn said he likes to drive Heritage Lake Road because it is so pleasing. Finally, “This thing as it stands should not be built there.”
After a few comments by planning board members, the motion was to not approve the Rogers Road Townhouse project and the vote was unanimous.
Currently there are only five members of the board who all faithfully turn up at meetings because two members resigned. You can apply for one of these seats. See how farther down in the Gazette. The deadline for applications is July 28, and the town board will appoint the two new members at their August 15 meeting.
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