Planners reject Wake Union plans once again

Tuesday night members of the Wake Forest Planning Board turned down two requests for homes at Wake Union Place, one with 85 to 90 townhouses and one with 300 apartments.

A cadre of eight or nine professionals backed Michael Birch, a partner in the Longleaf Law Firm in Raleigh which specializes in difficult real estate and development law, when he made the case for the two plans on behalf of RREF BB 2012 LTI-NC SIC II, LLC, the owner in Miami, Florida, and Rialto Capital Management in Atlanta, Georgia.

The plans have been under review by the Wake Forest Planning Department since January. A similar plan which combined the two requests for the townhouses and apartments was rejected by the planning board on Feb. 6, 2018. When the plan went to the town board two weeks later, Birch asked to be able to resubmit the plans with “substantial changes” and the commissioners agreed.

The new plan added a park area somewhat near the townhouses but across a roundabout of Wake Union Church Road, the future service road (45 feet wide back of curb to back of curb), that also runs through the townhouse project. The planning staff wrote that “. . . fronting townhomes along a service road on both the north and south sides of Wake Union Church Road does not create a walkable context. Not only will the residents have to cross a service road to access the nonresidential developments in the area, they will have to traverse the service road to access the park open space added to the plan.”

It was difficult to see what had been added to the plan for the 300 apartments in 12 buildings except for a walking trail around the large retention pond – one expert told the board it would look like a lake – that also extended across the back of the commercial area that was approved in 2016. The applicant has agreed to a right-turn lane on Kearney Road but when he estimated the length as four cars, a large part of the audience burst out laughing.

Some of the experts were not helpful. Karl Hudson with Boundary Commercial said, “It’s going to be tough to fill 180,000 square feet of retail space,” the size of the commercial area. He also said that the demand for retail space has declined, a local Costco was “recently vacated” and “everyone’s going south to Wegmans.” He blamed a lot of the problems with Wake Union Place on the uncertainty about the US 1-Capital Boulevard freeway plans.

The retail section has been under contract without a sale twice. When asked if Rialto would build Road C which traverses the property if the townhouses and the retail center are not built, Birch said they would have to “phase the infrastructure as needed.”

Neighbors told the town board and planning board about the difficulties in making turns on Kearney and Wake Union Church roads.

Two women gave more lengthy presentations. One was Karen Mallo, a St. Ives resident – the St. Ives subdivision is immediately northwest of the proposed townhouses – a city planner and on a Town of Wake Forest transportation committee. The other was Cindy McGuire, who lives in Tarleton Park subdivision across Kearney Road from the Wake Union site who has been fighting for her subdivision’s safety since a cleaning solvent used by Schrader and other owners of the now-razed plant was found to have contaminated groundwater under Wake Union.

Mallo came prepared with two PowerPoint presentations, one for each. Along with pointing out how the requested residential mixed use zoning is appropriate in a high-density urban setting with schools, businesses, retail and other uses close enough for walking or biking, this is a suburban setting. “It is not pedestrian-scaled.” She said the townhouses would increase the service cost borne by the town and county to provide trash pickup, schools, fire and police protection. She also said the townhouse area, which is within the Falls Lake protection area, has an impervious material cover of 76.7 percent, “which exceeds the maximum impervious amount allowed.”

For the apartments, Mallo said, “This is urban zoning in a suburban area.”  She said the design is grim, with buildings close to the road, minimal setbacks and no landscaping. She was concerned about the traffic on the two roads, Kearney and Wake Union Church, with several driveways on both with more traffic turning left and right. She showed a car on Kearney as it is now with tall mature trees on the Wake Union site for the apartments. The buildings would tower over the road, and Mallo said there is no guarantee the developer will restrict the height to three stories. “Buildings and parking lots can be changed.” And the plan “is not in the best interests of the town of Wake Forest.”

McGuire’s concern was also about the trees. “They are going to clear cut all the buffer zone (along Kearney) for us.” She also said she had a heavy heart because “I feel our concerns are not being addressed as much as those from St. Ives.” She said none of the Tarleton Park issues were addressed in the last neighborhood meeting. She said she wanted people in the apartments to “see the trees and not our backyards.” McGjire also asked if some of the apartments would be rent-restricted and available to the elderly and low income, asked about the aesthetics of the buildings, worried about the dust and 18-wheelers during construction.

The planning board members did not even discuss the townhouses, just voting unanimously on member Grif Bond’s motion to adopt the recommendation of the staff to deny.

On the apartments, there was no immediate motion. Member Karlene Turrentine said she had issues with the buffer, with three-story buildings, with the service road “that goes through the middle of the property going nowhere.”

Chairman Ed Gary summed it up, saying the retail section may not happen, “what then happens to the streets?” He said he was concerned about the lack of buffer – “trees take forever to grow” – and, “I question the scope of the entire project.” He urged the developers to rethink and to come up with a mixed-use project.

Member Thorsten Hamp called the project “very disjointed,” and said rethinking that area would be beneficial and would be a buffer to the residential.

Joe Kimray’s motion to deny was adopted unanimously.

The audience, somewhat reduced because it was 11 p.m., applauded.

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Almost overlooked Tuesday night were two other hearings. One was about a text amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance that allowed a developer to use up-to-date flood hazard information about infrastructure. Former town planner Charlie Oakley, now with McAdams, said it would mean the difference between a bridge and a large culvert. It was approved unanimously at the end of the meeting.

The second was about Marshall Village, a number of small rental homes Herbert K. Marshall built during the 1950s on what is now Star Road. He also built a large brick home for himself and a second home for family members. There are now 12 houses and a trailer, all rental, in the property David Wilson, owner of Capital City Stow-N-Go, bought in 2018.

The request was to rezone the property to conditional use highway business, Harry Mitchell with the Mitchell Design Group, said. He and Wilson said they wanted to add self-storage units and auto sales to the uses the planning department recommended.

Senior Planner Courtney Jenkins pointed out the land is clearly visible as one approaches Wake Forest on Capital Boulevard and should be treated as a gateway to town with a use that provides a “sense of arrival.”

After Carol Pelosi asked where the current renters could find new homes, Wilson said he initially meant to remove the houses but then began learning about the families and repairing the houses. He is trying to get it rezoned so it will be salable, but said the changes to Capital Boulevard may push that out several years. He said self-storage “is not something I would do.” Also, he has promised the families he would give them notice, a year or so, before they would have to move.

The planning board voted to approve the rezoning with auto sales as a permitted use but not self-storage.