Tuesday night’s Wake Forest Town Board meeting began with a request from Anne Marie Selaya, backed by about a dozen Pineview Estates neighbors, to appeal the recent judge’s ruling that the town must issue a conditional use permit to Ninety Eight Associate to build 99 townhouses on the north side of the N.C. 98 bypass.
The commissioners did not discuss that request during the meeting. They have until Dec. 29 to file an appeal with the North Carolina Court of Appeals.
“Mr. [Tobias] Hampson, who represented the town, laid out a strong case and we feel this is a strong basis for an appeal,” Selaya said. “We know that it’s quite common for the Appeals Court to overturn Superior Court decisions.
“We also know that not to file for an appeal sends the wrong message. We want decisions by this board to have power.”
Selaya gave the commissioners a petition signed by 280 of the 292 people who were individually asked to sign. “Clearly the people of Wake Forest want you, our representatives, to stand up for what’s best for the town, to stand by your votes and take this to the Court of Appeals. What could be the harm? The twelve who didn’t sign gave a variety of reasons, but not one of them said, ‘I don’t think the town should appeal.’ The most common comment was, why wouldn’t they appeal and back up a decision the board clearly agreed would be in the best interest of the town.”
Selaya referred to the hours of testimony which included much about the negative impact the neighbors feared from the townhouse project. “You heard us and made your decision by a unanimous vote. We thank you for that. We would like you to hear us now. We implore you to not give up at the Superior Court level. The Superior Court is not the place to stop for a decision on land use issues. We need the resources of the appeals court to look closely at the law.”
She also said the Pineview group had only two weekends to get the petition’s signatures because in winter most people get home from work after dark.
2 Responses
This is a great article and very accurate as I attended this meeting. One thing I do want to add is that not only Pineview Estates residents were in attendance, also residents of Holding Ridge. This is an issue that will not only directly affect the residents of Pineview Estates, but also the large neighborhoods of Holding Ridge and Tyler Run.
I believe that we elect these commissioners to make important decisions on what is best for our community. We should not let an entity that does not have our community’s best interest at heart overrule that. Let’s also keep in mind that this whole issue is over a “special use permit”. That land was zoned for light commercial just like on the opposite side of the street. It was not zoned for residential, to pack in as many townhouses as possible.
Great article! I hope the board will consider our concerns and do what’s best for the town. It still needs to be the place to raise a family.