Tuesday night the members of the Wake Forest Planning Board, with one exception, recommended the town commissioners approve the rezoning of 13.49 acres on Rogers and Forestville roads that could become the site of a Publix grocery store. The commissioners will consider and vote on the recommendation at their Nov. 18 meeting.
Steve DeRosa asked about one entrance. “Is that not at the top of a blind spot?” but Senior Planner Charlie Yokley said, “DOT is fine with that.”
DeRosa also said the board was being asked to approve a project with 46,200 more square feet of commercial space than allowed by the Unified Development Ordinance that will generate enough traffic on already busy roads to reduce their rating to D. “I can’t see that this is a viable project. This doesn’t sit well with me.” He voted not to recommend.
The master plan shows there will be a grocery with 49,000 square feet and 40,200 square feet in retail flex space, where it is anticipated there will be a day care, a bank, a fast-food restaurant and a sit-down restaurant.
Yokley explained that the board of commissioners can grant exemptions to the 50,000 square foot cap on commercial space in neighborhood business conditional use districts.
The planning department and the applicant, Columbia Properties from Marietta, Georgia, chose that zoning designation because, Yokley said, it allows the neighbors (and the public) to see what is planned.
DeRosa also was opposed to the right-in, right-out entrance at 2005 South Main Street, where Michael Slattery of Youngsville is requesting the rezoning to highway business conditional zoning to build a Valvoline Quick Oil Change.
Someone traveling south on South Main would have to find a place to make a U-turn to return to the business. “Where are you going to make a U-turn,” DeRosa said. There are no appropriate intersections between that location and Capital Boulevard. “I know how drivers are. They are going to make that [left] turn” across two lanes of oncoming traffic.
It was approved six to one. Shirley Sulick was absent and the seat for the extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ) is empty.
The planning board also approved the rezoning for the phase 2C of the Traditions subdivision master plan along East Juniper Avenue.
One Response
Two entrances into the Publix plaza makes complete sense if the one on Rogers road has a signal or a separate turn lane into Publix plaza. The entrances on Rogers should stay as a right in and right out to alleviate congestion. The Harris Teeter plaza should also be made into a right in and right out so the left turn lane from Forestville to Rogers can be extended and no traffic is crossing over Forestville. I can’t even count how many times there are near accidents with traffic crossing over the lanes on Forestville out of the Harris Teeter plaza. AND having a high school with inexperienced drivers added to the mix only exacerbates the reason for more orderly controlled traffic.
Now if only the city would buy the property behind McDonald’s, they could easily add an exit out of the HT plaza at the signal by the high school and solve a lot of the backups at Rogers and Forestville.