With some quibbles but no real dissent, the Wake Forest Planning Board recommended that the town commissioners – who listened to the public hearings and stayed for the discussion – approve the 415-unit Tryon subdivision south of Oak Grove Church Road and a 22-lot subdivision named High Point Bluffs next to Deacons Ridge and Cardinal Hills subdivisions.
This was the second go-round for Tryon. Adjacent landowners Frank and Olga McCoy sued last year after the large subdivision – 279 single-family lots and 136 townhouses on 131.49 acres – was approved by both boards. After hearings, Wake Superior Court Judge Donald W. Stephens remanded the matter back to the town board “to receive additional public comments and for consideration consistent with the procedures provided for such decisions.”
Last year several neighbors, including Frank McCoy, were at the public hearing to protest the rezoning. This year Frank McCoy was not present and only three people spoke about the matter, though Bob Horky did so in rather dramatic fashion. He walked to the podium carrying a gray plastic bag and plunked it down with a thunk.
“I have a great deal of concern about Kings Glen and this project,” Horky said. “Kings Glen has ruined my pond and has also affected my secondary well. I brought samples with this recent rain. Here is the sediment . . . coming off Kings Glen.”
Horky opened the bag and held up two small jars filled with reddish liquid, one from his pond and the second from his well. He went on to say that the Kings Glen developers keep saying it will be corrected and the state Department of Environment Quality turns a deaf ear. He recalled the hurricane of 1978 “flooded through here. It washed the road out at Austin Creek, but the water was clear. I don’t have any clear water any more.”
His daughter, Kathy Horky, said she remembers the clear water in the streams that flow into Austin Creek, and Stella Daniska said her tenant called the well water from the Daniska property “cloudy.”
The testimony from the neighbors led planning board chairman to ask Assistant Town Engineer Scott Miles to go to the podium to answer questions about the erosion control system in Kings Glen. Miles said he believed there had been some violations. Commissioner Margaret Stinnett asked about the strength of the stormwater retention program and said the five smaller streams all flow to Austin Creek, on to Smith Creek and then into the Neuse River. Mayor Vivian Jones said it appears Horky has a problem. “I would appreciate it if our engineering department would meet with him to find out” the extent of the problem.
Miles said he would be glad to do so and added, “They (Kings Glen developers) have been trying too help us solve the problem. Red lay doesn’t want to leave the water.” He said they would “see if there are additional measures that can be done.”
Kings Glen is a smaller subdivision – 92 lots for single-family homes on 34.2 acres – touching Tryon on its west side, and both subdivisions are being underwritten or developed by Greystone Development Group, a national development company. Both Tryon and Kings Glen are listed as “under development” on Greystone’s website along with two Raleigh projects, Club Villas at Wakefield Plantation and Olde Town.
Tryon will connect to Oak Grove Church Road by way of Copper Beech Lane, destined to be a collector street and recently paved by the Kings Glen developer, and both Tryon and Kings Glen will have access to Wait Avenue/N.C. 98 through Bishops Grant subdivision. The conditions approved by the planning board include an $80,000 contribution to the traffic signal on N.C. 98 at its intersection with Middlegame Way, the entrance to Bishops Grant.
The plan recommended by the planning board also includes removing 7.92 acres from the Smith Creek Water Supply Watershed by grading the land to slope toward the Austin Creek watershed, thereby providing about 33 more single-family lots. This is subject to approval of the stormwater management plan by the town’s engineering department.
When it came to voting on the Tryon plan, Chairman Bob Hill asked attorney Tobias Hampson at least twice if the planning board was following proper procedure. Hampson said he was “comfortable” with the proceedings and that proper procedures were followed. The vote was unanimous, 7 all, because members Chuck Mosely and Dehaven Fields were absent.
High Point Bluffs
There was no opposition by neighbors to the plan for High Point Bluffs, which will be reached by two rather intricate routes through the Deacons Ridge and Cardinal Hills subdivision. The plan calls for two cul-de-sacs lined by single-family lots and separated by a rather steep gully for Dunn Creek and a future greenway. The northern cul-de-sac will connect to Cardinal Crest Lane; the southern cul-de-sac will connect to Ledgerock Road.
Planning board member Thad Juszczak was concerned about construction traffic through the two established neighborhoods; fellow member Grif Bond repeatedly asked why there was not a through street linking the two cul-de-sacs; and Commissioner Stinnett wondered about the proximity of the smaller lots in this subdivision next to or near larger lots in the older Cardinal Hills subdivision.
Juszczak finally said that if no neighbors were concerned enough about construction traffic to speak at the hearing he would not be. Senior Planner Charlie Yokley told Bond that there would be no benefit to crossing the stream dividing the land except connectivity. He said there is a large flood plain along the stream. The town and developers try to avoid crossing streams because of the cost, he said, and the flood plain would make the bridge much longer.
Assistant Planning Director Chad Sary related the history of the 12.76 acres. The entire area south of Cardinal Hills and east of Deacons Ridge was rezoned by the Dameron family before the bypass was planned and built, he said, and this small area was split off and isolated with the land to the south now developed as part of Heritage and the Gateway Commons shopping center, although some land with stream-crossing problems remains undeveloped. A high bluff created by the bypass construction prevents access to High Point Bluffs from the south. Also, at least two decades ago, the master plan for Deacons Ridge put a cul-de-sac at the extension of East Holding Avenue where today’s planners would place a stub-out to the adjoining property.
The vote for this subdivision was 6 to 1 with Bond voting no. Both subdivisions will be considered by the town commissioners when they meet Tuesday, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m.
