Tuesday evening, Dec. 12, the Wake Forest Planning Board heard a request to build 25 townhouses along Farm Road and Farm Ridge Road where six rental houses now stand on three acres.
Dr. Kevin Neshat, a dentist and oral surgeon, owns an office facing South Main Street as well as two other lots to the south facing South Main Street and six lots on the south side of Farm Road.
His plan is to build five joined townhouses on the south corner of the intersection of South Main Street and Farm Road with the other 20 along a reconfigured (narrowed) Farm Ridge Road and Farm Road. The existing houses and sheds would be torn down and the land consolidated into one ownership.
The main topic of the planning board’s members was the traffic on South Main and whether there would be a new left turn lane on Farm Road, something not included in the current plan. Planning Department Director Courtney Tanner told them there is a current study of traffic and access on and to South Main, and she warned them that the Farm Road intersection “may no longer be full access.”
Jimmy Broadway, who lives with his wife a few houses north of Farm Road, said he strongly opposes the plan, calling it “pure greed” to put that many townhouses on Farm Road and adding to the existing congestion. His wife has been rear-ended twice within a block of their house. “Something has to be done to stop this madness.”
Loretta Townsley was concerned for the families living in the six rental houses, and said there is plenty of land in other places. “Please reject this for the good of all.”
After a long discussion that included the parking Neshat wants in the plan for his staff at the dental office, Michael Almquist summed it up in a long motion to approve that included the South Main traffic near the extra lane for a left turn to Rogers Road, street lights, a fire hydrant, the playground in the open space, the poor connection between the sidewalk in the plan and the current one in South Main, when to give notice to the current renters, the HOA, and whether the townhouses will be for sale or rent. The motion was approved.
The second public hearing was a request to rezone an acre of land on Stephen Taylor Road from Franklin County’s Residential 30 to Wake Forest’s GR3. The goal is to get an extension of current water and sewer lines to the land owned by Louise and Edward Smith which they are cutting in half to provide a lot where their daughter, Marion Jordan, will build a home. The land is partly in a Wake Forest subdivision on Haltwhistle Street.
Both Jordan and Louise Smith said they are also helping a niece who wants to build a house on her land across Stephen Taylor Road. The request was approved unanimously.
At the beginning of the meeting, Elaine Shepherd and Matt Davis, the new planning board members who will take their seats in January, were introduced. Also Tanner awarded certificates to Michael Hickey and Michael Siderio, two members whose terms will end on Dec. 31.
Karin Kuropa, the current chairman, was re-elected along with Almquist as vice chairman.
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