A grant of $289,622 will allow the Town of Wake Forest to proceed with the purchase of 13.7 acres along Smith Creek to protect its waters and provide more park space in town.
The Wake Forest commissioners voted Tuesday night to accept that grant from the state’s Clean Water Management Trust Fund which, unfortunately, will not cover the cost — $595,472 – of purchasing the land from Dr. William Hedrick. Fortunately, the town will probably get a county Open Space Grant for the remaining amount, Mayor Vivian Jones said during the board meeting. “We have it on pretty good authority that we’re going to get that money. If we don’t get it and don’t have the money, we’ll turn it [the state grant] back in.”
The Hedrick land lies at the end of Old Crawford Road and is immediately south of 80 acres the town owns and intends to use in its natural state as a park. The town’s purchase will allow it to better protect Smith Creek’s waters.
(The Hedrick purchase is one of two ways Assistant Town Engineer Holly Miller has been working on to protect the creek. The second is to purchase about 220 acres in Franklin County that is the headwaters for Smith Creek. The land is owned by the Ammons family and Poge LLC and both are willing to sell with a price tag of $3.6 million. Last fall the town received a $529,920 grant from the CWMTF and is waiting to hear if it gets a $2.6 million grant from Wake County.)
The town commissioners also agreed to a contract with Stantec Consulting Services for $161,000 to update the Renaissance Plan for the downtown area. It is a different company than the one that drew up the Renaissance Plan in 2005, but the same person at a different firm will be the lead consultant, Craig Lewis. The cost of the plan will be paid over two fiscal years, the current one and the 2016-2017 year. Commissioner Margaret Stinnett fretted about the cost, and Planning Director Chip Russell agreed it continues to be more expensive, $50,000 per consultant contract several years ago, then $100,000 and now $150,000 and more.
Without comment about the reason, the request for a rezoning and master plan change for an adult community in Traditions was withdrawn from consideration. The planning board recommended approval two weeks ago. The public hearing about the annexation of the 128 acres at Gilcrest Farm Road and Royal Mill Avenue was continued.
The board did unanimously approve the master plan for the Envision Science Charter School along Gilcrest Farm Road at Oak Grove Church Road. (The Gazette mistakenly said the school was on Traditions Grande Avenue, but that road becomes Gilcrest Farm Road shortly before the school site.)
Rose Godfrey, who was hired as a dispatcher for the Wake Forest Police Department in December 1989 and retired Jan. 1, 2016 as the Telecommunications Supervisor, was honored for her 27 years of service with a resolution and a plaque while Police Chief Jeff Leonard stood at her side.
The commissioners voted to amend the town ordinance which prohibited the carrying of concealed weapons in parks because a new state law restricted local governments from having such ordinances. Thus you can carry a concealed weapon in any town park.
Caddell Street, a one-way dirt track with a sharp corner only one block long between Spring Street and Pearce Avenue, can now be two-way and will become two-way later this year after Barnhill Contracting can begin construction.
There had to be a second vote Tuesday for members of two boards because of a problem with the original vote. Paul Eitel and William Mitchell Jr. were appointed to the design review board and Wayne Pratt, Liz Johnson, Jacquelyn Logan and Sandy Smart were named to the historic preservation commission. Eitel and Mitchell were original members of the design review board and were appointed to their second terms. Smart was appointed to his second term on the historic preservation commission; the other three were appointed to their first three-year terms.
At the close of the regular meeting, the mayor, commissioners, town manager and town attorney went into a closed session to discuss litigation filed by Bob Johnson’s Cameron Park company and to evaluate new Town Manager Kip Padgett. Padgett said Wednesday the commissioners voted after ending the closed session to increase his salary by $5,000. He began work on July 6.
The suit by Johnson, who owns several downtown properties including The Cotton Company, was filed in 2012. In it Johnson says he has deeds showing he owns the land between the block of buildings that house The Cotton Company and B&W Hardware. The town says it is part of the dedicated East Owen Avenue. It was repaved and the parking reconfigured as part of the South White Street Streetscape project.
A trial on the matter began in Wake County Superior Court in February of 2014 but the judge became ill that night, the trial was abandoned and a second date was not set until last year. The date for the second trial is Feb. 1 in Wake Superior Court.
