Several pending plans need quasi-judicial review

The only action for the Wake Forest Planning Board next Tuesday, April 1, is to review and vote on a text amendment in the Unified Development Ordinance, but the agenda also lists four major projects requiring quasi-judicial review that will be before the board soon.

The last agenda item is a presentation by Town Attorney Eric Vernon about quasi-judicial public hearings.

Neighbors have complainted that those hearings, which require sworn and often professional testimony, do not allow them to offer their objections and comments.

The four future projects are:

— A request by Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary for an amendment to its master plan.

— A review of phase three of the St. Ives subdivision master plan. St. Ives is off Kearney Road.

— A hearing for the Paschal subdivision, which would permit 17 single-family home lots on 14.37 acres on the north side of Durham Road. The applicant is Geer Street Properties, which last December failed to win approval for Olde Wake Forest, a 10-lot subdivision on North Wingate. The land is owned by Richard Paschal and his mother, Marguerite, and includes some of Paschal Golf Course and an open area often called the Paschal pasture.

— A request for a special use permit and amendment to the master plan for The Shoppes at Caveness shopping center which could be to build the Sam’s Club that was recently reviewed by the planning department’s technical review committee. The shopping center was approved in 2004 and the land was cleared and leveled, but the only action has been the sale or lease of four outparcels. Weingarten Investments owns the 35.8 acres separate from the outparcels.

The UDO text amendments follow recently approved changes in state law regarding board of adjustments and their standards for review. Staff recommends approval.

The planning board meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. in the second-floor meeting room of Wake Forest Town Hall. It is also televised live on Channel 10.