On Tuesday, Sept. 14, the newly reorganized Wake Forest Planning Board met at 6 p.m. for a training session and then met at 8 for their regular session.
There were two agenda items: a rezoning request by Middleburg Communities for multi-family zoning on the 36 acres of Wellington Mobile Home Park, and a request by town commissioners to rezone three properties on South Allen Road to general residential 5.
The agreed on the rezoning for the 36 acres, though Thomas Ballman and others questioned the private road linking Wait Avenue (N.C. 98) and Jones Dairy Road, the parallel onstreet parking because there is no provision for parking near the houses, and the six-foot distance between houses because they will be on a single tract, not individual lots.
Chris Joyner said he was concerned by “so many (rental houses) in a small space,” but he later said it would be “an interesting plan for the town.”
Middleburg plans to build The Hamlet, an all-rental cluster of 260 units – single-family and duplex – that will appeal to people who want to live in a house but do not want to care for it. Here will be an in-house team to do all repairs and maintenance. Board members agreed it would fill a gap in the town’s available housing.
The second hearing was trickier. There are three affected properties on the west side of South Allen – a newer house used as a beauty shop, the former Wake Forest Branch Hospital (now owned by Church Initiative) and the former Wake Forest Rest Home (now owned by Life Church PCCF Inc. since 2015 and it is for sale.) The three are zoned neighborhood mixed use.
That zoning allowed an unnamed company to apply for a building permit for a four-story apartment building for seniors. That permit was thwarted when the board of adjustment denied the request for a necessary variance.
The appalled neighbors in Cardinal Hills signed a petition to the town board, asking that the rest home property be rezoned to stop such large development. The town board responded by asking the planning board to rezone all three to general residential five. (This is an over simplification.)
Whoa! said Steve Grissom, the president and founder of Church Initiative. The GR5 zoning would severely hamper any expansion plans and limit or deny any repairs. The attorney for Church Initiative, Iris Maddox, said it was like the town would be putting its hand in the nonprofit’s pocket and pulling out much of the value.
Sam Hodges, the vice president, recounted how the town many years ago had helped the nonprofit by rezoning the building and five acres so it could get funding to buy the empty building.
Attorney Kate Jones, representing the 36 neighbors who signed the petition, just asked the board to rezone the old rest home property to preclude any other request for an inappropriate use. She is also a neighbor and a signer.
After a discussion, Michael Hickey got a second for his motion to recommend rezoning rest home to GR5, leaving the other two as NMX. He had earlier said their zoning might change with the Community Plan update. The vote was four to three.
The town board will consider both at next week’s meeting.
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