Some peeks at the past

August 13, 2003: New historic district to be unveiled

The heart of old Wake Forest – from Oak Avenue on the north to Holding Avenue on the south; from west of Wingate Street to White Street – would become a new historic district if the town’s plans become reality.

Over 200 properties – homes, businesses and seminary buildings – are proposed to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A meeting about this sweeping plan will be held Monday, Aug. 18, at 7 p.m. in town hall and all area residents are urged to attend.

Planner Agnes Wanman said the major concern about a National Register district usually involves the difference between it and a locally designated historic district. In Wake Forest’s local historic district along North Main Street, North Avenue and South Avenue, owners must have permission from the Historic Preservation Commission before doing any exterior work that is visible from the street.

In a National Register district, Wanman said, there are no restrictions on your use or treatment of your property aside from normal zoning and building permits.

The locally designated Wake Forest Historic District is included in the proposed new district.

The town’s two other historic districts are National Register districts and are the Glen Royall Mill Village and the Downtown Wake Forest districts.

The town hired Ruth Little of Longleaf Historic Resources to survey the area and prepare the nomination. Wanman then made copies of the draft available to several people in town.

“Jean McCamy and the information her contacts provided were very helpful,” Wanman said. “Not so many people are knowledgeable about the part of town south of the seminary campus. Melanie Murphy also had quite a few comments, especially related to the schools. It’s unfortunate that we’ve already lost one of the buildings that Ruth marked as contributing, the old home ec building on the elementary school site. It was torn down this spring.”

Little will be at the meeting, presenting the proposed district, and Ann Swallow, the National Register contact with the State Historic Preservation Office, will discuss the National Register and answer any questions about the process of being listed.

The cost of the survey and proposal was $13,661, and Wanman said the town received a $8,500 grant from the state Historic Preservation Office to cover more than half of it.

August 13, 2003: Price Kerr Lake water, board says

At least get the cost of purchasing water from Kerr Lake, the Wake Forest Town Board told Manager Mark Williams last week at the close of its work session.

Williams has had one meeting with officials from Henderson and other Franklin, Vance and Granville county officials about obtaining water from the town from Kerr Lake.

Although Kerr water is an option for Wake Forest, Williams said he would “definitely recommend the Neuse (River) option because you don’t have the question of an interbasin transfer.” Obtaining permission to transfer water from the Roanoke River basin across the Tar River basin and into the Neuse River basin could take many years.

“You would have to have faith that we could resolve that interbasin transfer question positively.” It took years of court battles before Virginia Beach, Va., was permitted to withdraw water from Gaston Lake.

Further, Williams said, “Henderson doesn’t want to be connected with Raleigh – at all.”

Another consideration is cost, Williams and Deputy Manager Roe O’Donnell said. Once Franklin County begins to take the maximum it can from Henderson/Kerr Lake, “the pipes along U.S. 1 would be full,” Williams said, and Wake Forest would have to build another line from Henderson south. “It could be as much or more as the Neuse River alternative.”

Also, O’Donnell said, the town would have to buy capacity at the Henderson water treatment plant.

“I think we need to see the costs of this option,” Commissioner David Camacho said, the rest of the board nodded or murmured agreement and Williams and O’Donnell would work up some estimates.

The other two options for additional water are to allow Raleigh to take control of the water and sewer systems or to remain independent and draw up to 6 million gallons a day from the Neuse River using the old Burlington Mills intake. Estimates for the Neuse River option are now at $20 million.

There is a fourth option, Williams said – to sell the system to a private corporation. Williams said he has been approached about this.

“It’s not been done yet in North Carolina, but it has been done in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

“I really didn’t think it was something we wanted to look at,” Williams said, saying his concerns would be the quality of the water and wastewater, losing control of the system and the only recourse for customer complaints would be to the state Utility Commission.

And, Williams said, “How does selling our system solve our water capacity problem. They had no answer for that.”

Meanwhile, Williams said, “we are researching any and all possibilities.”

 

 

August 11, 2004: Water limit or new street?

Which is more important and needed: to continue the 50-unit-per-year building permit restriction imposed in 2001 to conserve water or agree to 200 units on the Dameron tract for the construction of Heritage Lake Road?

That is the question the Wake Forest commissioners will face Tuesday, Aug. 17, a question compounded by Andy Ammons’ request that same night for permission to build 387 homes in Heritage North on half of the Dameron land.

The Wake Forest Planning Board agreed 7 to 2 earlier this month to recommend approval of Ammons’ subdivision that will take four to five years to build.

Last month the town board’s comprehensive planning committee agreed to send the request by T. Barker and Christopher Dameron on to the full board because of the public benefit: the connector street between Heritage Wake Forest and the N.C. 98 bypass and the dedication of open space along Dunn Creek for future greenway development.

Other developments such as Bowling Green and Stonegate have asked for and received approval for more water taps (building permits) in a year, although never as many as 200 a year.

Also, the Damerons want the right to carry over any unused portion of the 200 units to following years, a condition that has never been approved before. The only other developer requesting carryover was D.R. Horton, who asked for 30 more to complete the smaller subdivision. It was denied last month on a split 2 to 2 vote with Mayor Vivian Jones casting the deciding negative vote.

Heritage North is already zoned R-5 (residential with a 5,000-square-foot lot minimum although the lots planned by Ammons are larger), and the remainder of the Dameron tract is zoned for multi-family and retail.

Part of another connector street, Friendship Chapel Road, would be built as part of the Heritage North construction.

The other items on the agenda for the meeting that begins at 7 p.m. in town hall are:

— a discussion about water capacity.

— a request by Dr. Norman F. Manning for annexation of his animal hospital at 992 Durham Road to connect to town water and sewer.

— three requests for annexation for portions of lots in Crenshaw Hall subdivisions, portions that were accidentally omitted when the project was annexed.

— a revised master plan for Heritage Heights, which is directly south of Heritage North.

— a development plan for the nine-building Capital Commerce Office Center on Capcom Avenue.

— a resolution to support the amendment to the state constitution that will be on the November ballot allowing self-financing bonds.

— a contract with W.K. Dickson & Co. for GIS services to map the town’s stormwater infrastructure at a cost of $120,000.

— a request by the Northern Wake Senior Citizens Association to extend the paved driveway at the senior citizens center around to building to assist Meals on Wheels in its deliveries.

— a resolution to exempt architectural and engineering services for the planned new town hall from the model code in order to discuss fees and use the information in contract negotiations.

August 11, 2004: More apartments on CPC agenda

When the town board’s comprehensive planning committee meets Tuesday morning, the four members will hear a request to increase the number of apartments for the third phase of Caveness Farms from 108 to 144.

The plans for Caveness Farms were approved by the town in 1994 for a total of 396 apartments. The first two phases that built 288 units are complete. Harry Mitchell, a vice president with Bass Nixon & Kennedy, the engineers, will ask for the amendment of the special use permit to increase the number of apartments by 36.

They will be built north of the existing apartments and just south of Richland Creek on the east side of Capital Boulevard.

Caveness Farms is owned by KF US-1, a corporation with a Rhode Island address that is owned by David C. Falk of Raleigh, a partner in Drucker & Falk real estate company, and Bernard Kayden of Harrison, N.Y. In 2003, KF US-1 was third in the list of the town’s top taxpayers, right after Weavexx and Heritage Wake Forest. In that year, the assessed value was slightly over $16 million, and the owners paid slightly more than $87,000 in town property taxes.

A second request will come from J. Mack Little of Raleigh to subdivide some or all of a 16-acre tract along Oak Grove Church Road just south of its intersection with Gilcrest Farm Road into six lots. Five of those lots, all in the town reservoir watershed, would be 2 acres or larger in size and sold for homes. The sixth lot will be reserved for future development. Little wants town water but will use a private septic system until sewer is extended along that road.

Little is apparently the agent and perhaps one of the owners of Wake Farms Limited Partnership that owns the land.

The comprehensive planning committee will meet at 7:30 a.m. in the Forks Cafeteria on Tuesday, Aug. 17. The public is welcome.

Commissioner David Camacho chairs the committee, which is made up of Commissioner Chris Malone and planning board members Bob Hill and Frank Drake.

 

August 17, 2005: Seminary roundabout approved

Tuesday night the Wake Forest Town Board voted unanimously to proceed with construction of a roundabout at the South Main Street and seminary campus intersection despite much higher costs than estimated.

The decision to contract with Lanier Construction is contingent on the company’s decision to go ahead with the contract without part of the bid, the resurfacing of U.S. 1-A. That issue still had not been settled Wednesday.

The commissioners also agreed with Deputy Town Manager Roe O’Donnell’s recommendation to exclude the resurfacing portion of the bid, leaving that project to the state Department of Transportation. “The resurfacing is a DOT responsibility, and they will have to do it eventually,” O’Donnell said.

The resurfacing would have smoothed out the numerous bumps and hollows in South Main and North Main (U.S. 1-A) from the N.C. 98 bypass, around the campus and up to Harris Road.

The southern part of South Main Street – from the bypass to Capital Boulevard – will be resurfaced this year once Lanier Construction completes the five-laning of the street from Capital to Ligon Mill Road.

There were only two bidders for what was originally a three-part project – the roundabout, the resurfacing and widening a 100-foot section of Stadium Drive. O’Donnell said a lot of contractors do not want to deal with such small projects.

Town engineers had estimated the three projects to cost $785,000, but Lanier’s low bid was $1,027,000, almost half a million more.

The plan for the roundabout includes a number of extras based on the Renaissance Plan. “We added quite a bit to the project,” O’Donnell said. “If we did a barebones, it would cost us about $100,000 less, but that would mean no stone walls, no landscaping, no brick pavers, a lot of things missing.”

“There was a reason we really wanted the amenities,” Commissioner Stephen Barrington said. “It does cost more, but I think it’s very important for us.”

“If we come back later and add the amenities, it will cost more,” Commissioner Rob Bridges said. “If we’re going to do it, let’s do it now.”

With the amenities and landscaping, the roundabout cost will be $415,000 with DOT participating to the tune of $175,000. O’Donnell said the seminary may be willing to help with about $50,000 or so for the landscaping. O’Donnell said the town would probably finance its portion with a revolving loan.

The commissioners agreed to go ahead with the widening of the 100-foot section on Stadium Drive, which the state has identified as a spot safety location and agreed to pay $10,000 of the estimated $25,000 cost.

In the area just west of the bridge, “The pavement stops, there is an oak tree and no curb and gutter,” Town Manager Mark Williams said. “It’s a question of safety. It’s hard to see at night.”

Commissioner David Camacho questioned whether the town might be “shooting itself in the foot” by not including the resurfacing and waiting for DOT to do it using the Moving Ahead funds that will dry up next year. Might DOT just use the money somewhere else, he asked.

“Resurfacing is never a responsibility of a municipality,” O’Donnell said, reiterating that the state will have to do it at some point. Wednesday he said he hoped DOT would bid the entire U.S. 1-A resurfacing from Capital to Harris Road as one project later this summer.

O’Donnell also assured Bridges there will be no need for a detour during construction of the roundabout because there will always be lanes for steady traffic flow. The roundabout should be completed by the end of the year, he said.

 

August 17, 2005: Parker-Hannifin redevelopment OKed

Wake Forest’s commissioners spent several minutes Tuesday night thanking Jim Adams, the president of Millridge Companies, for proposing a redevelopment plan for the vacant Parker-Hannifin building before voting unanimously to approve the rezoning to conditional use highway business.

It is the first step in the process, which will include a public hearing and votes by the planning board and town board on the detailed site plan.

The conditions for the rezoning include dedicating 2 to 2.5 acres for a future fire station, a number of road improvements that are still hazy, and a neighborhood meeting before the site plan is sent to the planning and town boards.

“Our goal is upper end commercial and mixed use,” Adams said during the Aug. 2 public hearing. It is more than likely he will raze the building, he said, because of vapor intrusion, roof problems and unsuitable heating, air conditioning and electrical.

Because the site does have contamination from trichloroethylene (TCE), a solvent that was used to clean machinery several decades ago, Adams is limited in the business options. For instance, he said, there cannot be a daycare center or a hotel. However, retail stores, offices and similar businesses can be placed there.

Adams has a Brownfields agreement in place with the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Parker-Hannifin is committed to spending the money needed for the 24 or so test wells and the vapor stripping process to clean the underground water. Adams said they hope to incorporate fountains into the design to do the vapor stripping.

As for the road improvements, the final design will depend on the site plan Adams draws up and the plan to convert Capital Boulevard to a limited-access freeway between I-540 and the Franklin County line. The town of Wake Forest, the city of Raleigh and the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Agency are joining to undertake that freeway plan.

One of the sticking points is how to realign Wake Union Church Road with Agora Drive that leads to the Capital Crossings shopping center and can be extended through the now vacant land the seminary owns as development takes place.

At the planning board and Tuesday’s town board meeting, Cindy McGuire, who lives in nearby Tarlton Park, told the commissioners the present policy, which requires between 10 and 25 days of notice about a public hearing, does not provide enough time because of mail delays, weekends and other problems. “It still takes time to get a community together to get feedback and opinions.” She also said there was no date, time or place on the public hearing sign on the plant site and no sign at one corner.

McGuire, who is close enough to the P-H site to worry that her well may be affected, has followed the problem closely. She and neighbors did not object to the rezoning, but they are concerned about preserving a buffer along Kearney Road. Her well has been tested recently and is still fine.

Mayor Vivian Jones asked the board to discuss the question of notice at its Sept. 6 work session.

In other planning business, the board agreed to rezone 13 acres on Chalks Road to conditional use R-5, lots with a minimum size of 5,000 square feet, for a 34-lot residential subdivision and to rezone the adjacent 12 acres to R-20, 20,000-square-foot lots.

The board also approved a two-hour parking plan for the area around the high school and the seminary for weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

The only speakers at the public hearing on the parking zone were Beverly Whisnant and Donald Bates, both members of the Historic Preservation Commission. Bates outlined the work the commission has done in surveying the district residents. Ninety-five percent of the residents are concerned about parking and traffic on North Main. The mayor has written the state Department of Transportation asking trucks be banned from the street.

“Visitors and guests cannot find parking,” Bates said. “There are cars parked without regard to yellow curbs, driveways and corners.” In one instance, he said, someone pulled into a resident’s driveway, parked and went to class.

The HPC has talked to the seminary, and Vice President Ryan Hutchinson has assured them every seminary student has a parking place on the campus.

Hutchinson also offered the seminary’s help in enforcing any parking regulations. One of the town police officers works for the seminary’s security force during his off-duty hours.

Police Chief Greg Harrington said he should have hired a part-time traffic and parking enforcement officer by the first of October when the new regulations will go into effect.

The town will issue permits and two placards to each residence in the controlled parking zone, allowing them to park more than the two-hour limit.

Town engineer Scott Mills said the two-hour parking signs will be put up during September although enforcement will not begin until Oct. 1, a grace period that will also give high school officials time to inform the 2,000 students expected this year about the new regulations.

 

 

August 9, 2006: Town hall site again on the agenda

Wake Forest’s town board will tackle the tough issue of the site for town hall and a new police station/public safety building again Tuesday night.

They have moved the closed session discussion near the top of the agenda, right after the public hearing and comment. There is no indication they are any closer to a decision than last month, when the architect displayed three possible layouts along Brooks Street, and it was not discussed during Friday’s retreat.

One item that may not be discussed is a request for 60 building permits a year for the proposed Village at Wake Forest subdivision on the Calvin Ray property on North Main Street. “I think that project’s dead,” Planning Director Chip Russell said during the board’s work session last week. Someone asked if the pond was a problem, and Russell said, “It had nothing to do with the pond. I think it had to do with the owner.”

There may be a petition against another planning item, the rezoning request by Willfair Properties for 18.9 acres along Rogers Road that abuts the county-zoned subdivision Clearspring. Most of the Clearspring neighbors were at the public hearing last week, opposing the rezoning because of the requested density, conditional use R-8, and connecting their narrow portion of Clearspring Drive to Rogers Road, giving access through their subdivision to Chalks Road. The planning board recommended approval by a 6 to 1 vote.

The only public hearing will be about the contiguous annexation of the Willfair property.

The board will also be asked to accept a petition for non-contiguous annexation by Waters Edge Environmental for property on Shearon Farms Avenue off Capital Boulevard. Russell said the company wants to build a retail store to sell Oasis Pools.

The commissioners will also:

• Appoint candidates to one seat on the Historic Preservation Commission and two seats on the Human Relations Council.
• Review the master plan for the Northern Regional Center that was unanimously recommended by the planning board.
• Consider the bids to build the Olde Mill Stream Greenway.
• Consider a contract with the Trust for Public Land to purchase the 70-acre Clinebelle land on the north side of the Neuse River.

 

August 9, 2006: DuBois president will not meet commissioner

During Friday’s town board retreat, Commissioner Velma Boyd-Lawson said she had arranged to meet with Lawrence Eugene Perry, president of the National DuBois School Alumni Association, over the weekend on behalf of the town board and the Koinonia Foundation, where she is a board member.

It never happened, she reported in an e-mail to board members and reporters Tuesday. Perry, who lives in Baltimore but visits here often, did not return her phone calls until late Saturday when he suggested meeting after church Sunday. She called him after church, and he did not return that phone call.

“So ends my attempts to initiate any dialogue with him. Any other attempts will be made on his part,” Boyd-Lawson concluded.

The town has contributed to the renovation of buildings on the DuBois campus and pays for the water, sewer and electricity. Koinonia is helping one program and has provided other grants in the past.

Perry’s refusal to meet with Boyd-Lawson echoes his refusal to speak with the editor of this newspaper or keep all alumni members informed. The interim director for the DuBois Center that Perry hired, George Jones, said recently he was “not permitted” to speak with the editor.

There are a number of rumors about the center in town but none of them could be confirmed or disproved because of the policy of no information.

The center does have a revitalized food bank, thanks to Glendine King-Jeffreys and other volunteers. It is open two Thursday mornings a month in the renovated gym on North Franklin Street. Senior citizens are served on the second Thursday and all other needy people on the fourth Thursday.

The food bank is receiving a total of $3,000 from the Koinonia Foundation in monthly installments, and King-Jeffreys said they use that to purchase food from the N.C. Food Bank. More food comes from donations and the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, but King-Jeffreys says they could use more donations.

The gym is also the home to two programs operated by the Banks Kerr Family YMCA in Wakefield. The summer program, Camp High Hopes, is winding up this week. The Y plans to continue its after-school tutoring program that also uses community volunteers.

Another program remained when Bettie Murchison resigned as executive director at the end of February, the contracted alternative school for youngsters who had been suspended from Wake County schools. The school needed to remain at the center because the instruction is based on a computer program, Novanet, which is overseen by experienced teachers. The computer lab is in a wing of the renovated shop/ag building. The contract ended at the close of school this spring.

Bill Poston with the Wake County Public School System said they want to continue to offer the alternative program in Wake Forest. The school system will soon begin accepting proposals from interested organizations.

 

August 8, 2007: Neighbors praise developers

It has to be in the category of a man bites dog story, but Tuesday night several neighbors to the south of the planned Carriages at Bishop’s Grant praised the developer, Contentnea Creek.

At the same time, they said at least one well has run dry and they already have trouble turning into and out of Old Murray Road next to the Bishop’s Grant entrance on N.C. 98 (Wait Avenue). Bowling Green subdivision to the south of N.C. 98 also plans an entrance on the highway to line up with that from Bishop’s Grant. A turning lane Contentnea Creek had promised was nixed by the state Department of Transportation. The neighbors have large lots and wells.

The planning board recommended approval of the project by a split vote with Tom Cornett, Steve Stoller and Peter Thibodeau voting no.

“They [the developers] have honored their commitments and have been very responsive during the development,” Greg Hoit said. As a member of the town’s Greenway Board, he had asked for an east-west greenway “and they are going to implement that.”

“I’d also like to thank Dan [Sullivan[ and his team,” Dale Wiggins said. “We’ve been able to work out all the issues.”

Jean McCamy warned anyone eyeing her property along N.C. 98. “There will be no development. I’ve been told one of the developers said ‘she will not live forever,’ and that’s true.” Despite stubbed roads toward her property, she said she will not allow it to be developed. McCamy said the developers have been “very, very cooperative, but I continue to be concerned about the traffic.”

Becky Parsons said her husband planned to speak “but he’s dealing with the well. The developers have been awesome. They came and rebuilt our driveway far better than we would have.”

But her concern was the underground water for their well. “We noticed a difference with the clear-cutting.” A former owner clear-cut the land where the subdivision is planned. Parsons said the increased density and impervious surfaces would impact the water.

The traffic study requested by the town showed it would be very difficult to turn left from the Bishop’s Grant entrance on N.C. 98 but it would not warrant a traffic signal until there is more density. Lamar Bunn, the Contentnea Creek planner, said they had agreed with the town’s request to donate $15,000 toward the $60,000 cost for a signal.

“Bishop’s Grant has become a very expensive project,” Bunn said. “We want to try to bring in a project we could market in the $270,000 to $325,000 range.”

Bishop’s Grant was approved for 165 single-family homes and 48 townhouses. About nine homes are built and occupied, and the construction plan for the townhouses has not been approved yet.

Commissioner Margaret Stinnett looked at the plan and commented about “all these tiny little lots.” The average lot size will be 5,500 square feet. The carriage houses in the interior will have their garages face a common alley between the houses.

Thibodeau wanted to delay action on the plan until the developers provide larger detailed maps. Those provided were a quarter of the size of the usual maps. His motion failed when the vote was four to four. Mike Martin was absent and chairman Bob Hill had left for a family emergency.

“I still have a concern about 150 homes on 33 acres with our water supply situation,” Stoller said. And, “We have always insisted there be two entrances and exits to any development. I’m not sure a private road really meets that need.”

Contentnea Creek intends to pave but not curb and gutter Copper Beech Lane, a dedicated public access that is a privately-maintained gravel road leading south from Oak Grove Church Road to the land in question.

Stoller repeated his concern about the amount of water the subdivision will use.

Since the developer will not provide wells or access to public water for irrigation, the impact will be less, Planning Director Chip Russell said. “If most of our developments were like this we wouldn’t be having the issues we are now.

“In December our peak use was 2.3 million gallons a day. In July it was 4.1 mgd. Most of that [increase] is being used outside. That’s the impact irrigation will have on your system,” Russell said.

“So the solution is to build houses on very small lots with no lawns,” Stoller said.

Thibodeau echoed Stoller’s concern about water use and the problem people to the south are having with the wells running dry.

In other business, the planners approved an amendment to the zoning ordinance allowing an apartment on the second floor of a commercial building in the neighborhood business district, the master plan for The Well, a coffee house and church on South Main Street, and an increase in the number of lots in the Heritage Commons commercial subdivision.

 

August 8, 2007: Lake shrinking under hot sun

We are sweating under August’s hot sun, losing water, and so is Falls Lake. Without extended rain soon, much of Wake County could face stricter water-use regulations.

Surface evaporation and a lack of inflow from the streams that usually feed the lake are combining to shrink the lake each day.

Early Wednesday morning, Aug. 8, the unofficial lake level was 248.31 feet above mean sea level, down well over 3 feet from its normal level of 251.5 feet.

The water supply for 400,000 people is also shrinking. Falls is the sole supply for Raleigh, Wake Forest, Rolesville, Garner, Knightdale, Wendell and Zebulon.

On Monday, when the lake level was 248.5, Terry Brown, the water control manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Wilmington District, said, “Both water supply and water quality storage in Falls Lake is nearly one-third depleted.”

Brown also noted that the average inflow thus far for August is -74 cubic feet per second “which will no doubt become larger with the upcoming hot days ahead. The lowest inflow month in the previous 79 years of record was 1997 with an average inflow of -47 cfs.”

The Corps uses the water quality water in the lake to release enough water to maintain a target flow 254 cfs at Clayton. The Neuse River both above and below Falls Lake is suffering from a lack of inflow from its feeder streams because of the dry conditions.

Brown projects there will be only 56 percent of the water supply left in Falls by the end of August and that will drop to 43 percent by the end of September.

Raleigh stands ready to impose more restrictions on water use if weather forecasts continue to show only scattered showers. Last week Dale Crisp, the city’s Public Utilities Director, was ready to indulge in a dream of a low-grade hurricane which would move into the Triangle with low-velocity winds and clouds heavy with rain.

Monday the Raleigh City Council voted to allow the city manager to declare Stage 1 water restrictions in which lawns may be watered by irrigation systems or sprinklers only once a week, vehicles may be washed only on weekends and the fines increase substantially.

Tuesday night, Wake Forest’s Deputy Town Manager Roe O’Donnell said the water use in town has leveled out. Both here and in Raleigh people are apparently observing the permanent water rules: No watering on Mondays and alternate watering the rest of the week based on the address number.

August 8, 2007: Wake Forest’s growth listed by Forbes

            Wake Forest is number twenty in Forbes magazine’s July 16 list of the fastest growing suburbs across the country.

The magazine took U.S. Census data and compared the growth of suburbs between 2000 and 2006. The suburbs included cities, townships and villages with more than 10,000 people in 2000.

According to the survey, Wake Forest grew from 13,080 people in 2006 to 22,651 in 2006, a 73.2 percent increase.

Wake Forest’s planning department says the town’s population is now over 25,000.

Holly Springs is number eighteen on the list with a 74 percent increase in the six years, from 10,017 to 17,425 people

Apex, another booming town, is number sixty-three on the list, growing from 21,042 to 30,208 residents, a 43.6 percent increase.

Last month, Raleigh officials said population estimates rank the city as the fiftieth largest in the country.

From July 1, 2004, to July 1, 2005, Wake County’s population grew by 29,082, meaning about 80 people moved in each day.

 

August 14, 2008: IDC to dissolve, give town $2 million

Tuesday night the Wake Forest commissioners will agree to dissolve the Industrial Development Corporation and receive the $2 million-plus from the IDC’s sale of the former Parker-Hannifin site.

The question is: What does the town plan for the money?

About six months ago, John Rich, one of the two remaining IDC board members, said he and John Wooten Jr., the other member, were interested in setting up a foundation using the money as the start for an endowment. The foundation, never really described, would be similar to the Trentini Foundation, Rich said, in that it would benefit the town. The Trentini Foundation awards scholarships each year to Wake Forest-Rolesville High School seniors.

The question of how the town will use the money was posed to Mayor Vivian Jones and Town Manager Mark Williams by e-mails Tuesday, Aug. 12, and their responses indicate the money’s use may – or may not – be revealed next week.

The actual amount in the bank is $2,213,000, but some of that will be retained by the IDC to pay for any costs associated with winding up its affairs.

The IDC was formed in January 1964 by the then-town board and charged with floating the bonds to purchase 33 acres of the former Jenkins farm from Josephine H. Holding and then build the manufacturing plant that was leased to first Schrader Bros. and then all the subsequent owners as companies were bought and sold.

Wooten has been an IDC board member since it was formed. He was an instrumental part of the committee, along with then-Mayor Wait Brewer, which persuaded Schrader to move to town. Wake Forest was suffering a serious economic decline after Wake Forest College moved to Winston-Salem in 1956 and U.S. 1 was rebuilt in 1954 to bypass the town. Wooten was the agent on the ground in charge of the construction while the plant was built.

Other original members of the board died, moved or resigned. Rich was appointed to take attorney Ellis Nassif’s seat after Nassif resigned, and no one was appointed to fill the other vacant seats.

Schrader paid off the 20-year bonds in 1984 and the IDC board offered the property to the town, but the town commissioners refused the deed, preferring to receive the property tax revenue.

The IDC therefore continued to own the land and plant and lease it to Schrader and then Parker-Hannifin for $1,000 a month while the company paid all taxes, insurance and maintenance. The lease was for 40 years, renewable annually.

Beginning in 1986, the IDC contributed $10,000 a year toward downtown revitalization and economic development efforts by the Wake Forest Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Revitalization Corporation. The town board authorized the payments before they were distributed.

After Parker-Hannifin closed most of its operations early in 2002, the IDC board stopped the contributions to build a nest-egg against any possible legal costs as the property was sold.

Although there were at least two other would-be purchasers, local developer Jim Adams, through St. Ives 220 Commercial LLC, was finally able to buy the property in the middle of 2006. The plans for a shopping center on the site, Wake Union Place, are being reviewed by the town.

All of the buildings have been demolished and crushed with the exception of one shell of a building that is contaminated with trichloroethylene (TCE). A part of the site as well as groundwater off the site is also contaminated with the solvent.

TCE was used to clean grease from the machines and was dumped in the ground – a common industry practice then – by Schrader in the 1960s and 1970s. Parker Hannifin, which has been attempting to clean the groundwater for at least a decade, has posted an $11-million bond and has a Brown Fields agreement with the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources to maintain the test wells on and off and property and to continue the vapor-stripping process to remove the TCE.

Adams paid $2.9 million for the property and has spent at least $600,000 to raze the buildings. Current Wake County tax records show an appraised value of $3.1 million.

August 14, 2008: The Growth Rate

In a reversal of the original vote, the Wake Forest Town Board voted four to one on July 1 to approve a special use permit for Quail Crossing shopping center on the N.C. 98 bypass at the Jones Dairy Road intersection.

Update: Despite at least one rumor to the contrary, Food Lion LLC will build a Bloom grocery store at Quail Crossing shopping center at the intersection of Jones Dairy Road and the N.C. 98 bypass. Karen Peterson, who is with corporate communications for Food Lion, confirmed the grocery store last week and said two more Bloom stores will be built in Wake County, one in Raleigh and one in Morrisville. There is no opening date yet, and it generally takes at least a year for developers – in this case JDH from Charlotte – to complete the construction plans, have them approved and get all the necessary permits so that they can break ground.

Update: Grading is underway for the Corporate Chaplains of America new office building on the N.C. 98 bypass and Siena Drive, and the steel is going up for the Stecker Building Two, retail flex space behind the Porter Paint store on South Main Street.

Update: As promised, the Gazette is publishing the monthly tree count. In July, the town electric department removed 22 trees and trimmed 33, urban forestry removed two trees and trimmed two, and the street department removed one tree. The number of trees planted? Zero, but it is fair to say the best time to plant trees is in the late fall or winter. Also, members of the town’s Urban Forestry Advisory Board have been assigned sections of town, and they will be driving and walking those sections to identify dead trees in the right-of-way and on town-owned land that should be removed and replaced.

Subdivisions in progress

                This is an incomplete list but gives readers a taste of the residential building underway in town, which had a population of about 5,700 in 1990, over 26,000 now.

• Holding Village, Wake Forest’s first Traditional Neighborhood Development, will have 1,300 homes of all types, a village center with retail stores, a greenway and an amphitheater on the 256 acres that was once part of the 900-acre Holding dairy farm. One of the first steps will be to extend South Franklin Street south of the bypass. It will eventually meet the part of that street built in Heritage. The development will be between the N.C. 98 bypass on the north, the CSX rail line and Friendship Chapel Baptist Church on the west, Heritage Wake Forest on the south and an undeveloped tract of the former farm on the east.
• Bishop’s Grant on Wait Avenue (N.C. 98 east) will have 48 townhouses and 172 single-family homes when built out in 2010.
• Austin Creek on N.C. 98 east of town will have 430 single-family homes and 196 townhomes when complete in about 2015. Beazer Homes is the builder.
• Bowling Green, which will connect internally to Austin Creek subdivision and have entrances on N.C. 98 and Jones Dairy Road, will have 283 single-family homes and 94 townhouses in 2010, when the project is slated to be complete. The land for the N.C. 98 (Wait Avenue) entrance has been cleared.
• Homes are being built in Saddle Run, a 34-home subdivision on Chalk Road.
• Heritage North will have 387 homes when built out in 2011 or so. It lies along Heritage Lake Road.
• Reynolds Mill on Forbes Road and the future Ligon Mill Road has begun construction of the 125 single-family homes planned in the first phase.
• Shearon Farms has nearly completed its single-family section and has begun the 372 townhouses and apartments planned for that subdivision along Capital Boulevard just north of the Neuse River and south of Burlington Mills Road.
• Heritage South and Wildflower are jointly planned subdivisions south of Rogers Road. Heritage South will have 444 single-family homes. Wildflower, approved in 2004, will have 111 single-family homes and 165 townhouses.
• Dansforth on Burlington Mills Road was approved in 2001 for 313 single-family homes, most of which have been completed.
• Thornrose, which is connected internally to Dansforth, is on Forestville Road, and almost all its 187 homes have been built..
• Stonegate at St. Andrews on Forestville Road was approved in 2004 for 691 single-family and multi-family lots. About 400 single-family homes and 217 multi-family homes remain to be built.
• The Registry at Bennett Park will be 31 single-family lots along an extension of West Holding Avenue, bounded on the west by Richland Creek. The master plan was approved in June of 2007. There has been clearing and some grading, but no other work has been done.
• The Meadows, a subdivision with 104 single-family homes on 38.58 acres on the west side of North Main Street, was rezoned in June of 2007. The subdivision is being developed by First American, an Apex firm. It will connect to Barnford Mill Road in the Olde Mill Stream subdivision and have an entrance on North Main Street.
• Olde Wake Forest, an eight-home infill subdivision bounded by North Wingate, West Juniper, North College and West Pine, was approved by the town board on March 18, 2008.
• Olde Chestnut Townes, 33 townhouses on West Chestnut Avenue to be built by Bark Development, was approved by the town board on Feb. 19, 2008.

Subdivisions in review

• About 100 homes would be built in a new phase of Flaherty Farms subdivision if the plans are approved by the planning and town boards. On Sept. 18, 2007, the town’s Comprehensive Planning Committee agreed Millridge Companies could move forward with the plans, still preliminary, based on the public benefits of the construction of a portion of the North Loop and the infill character. There will be no irrigation tied to the town’s water system.
• Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2008, the Wake Forest Planning Board recommended the town board approve the master plan for The Reserve, a cluster subdivision for 37 single-family lots on 74.05 acres near Oak Grove Church Road on the east side of the Wake Forest reservoir. The clustering would allow the land on the west side of the ridge line to be left undisturbed.
• Bishop’s Landing, a 93-home subdivision on 35 acres between Wait Avenue (N.C. 98) and Oak Grove Church Road, was recommended by the Comprehensive Planning Committee on March 18 for review and a water allocation of 40 units a year. The subdivision is south of The Reserve and east of Bishop’s Gate.
• The Comprehensive Planning Committee has approved a water allocation for an unnamed subdivision of 96 single-family homes on the 39 acres that once were Triangle Metro Zoo (formerly ZooFauna) in Franklin County. Although the CPC recommendation was made in June, do not expect development soon because Wake Forest and the City of Raleigh have to first hammer out an agreement about water and sewer service to this area. Youngsville and Wake Forest reached an annexation agreement last year under which Wake Forest can annex land in a swath in Franklin County. Because of geography, Wake Forest can serve that area while Youngsville would have to use sewer lift stations. Raleigh has refused to extend water and sewer service there until Wake Forest persuades Franklin County not to use the intake on the Neuse River at the former Burlington Mills plant as its water source.

Future shopping centers

• In a reversal of the original vote, the Wake Forest Town Board voted four to one on July 1 to approve a special use permit for Quail Crossing shopping center on13.48 acres in the southeast corner of the N.C. 98 bypass and Jones Dairy Road. The original vote on June 17 was three to two to deny the permit. Attorney Lacey Reaves filed an appeal in Wake County Superior Court the next week on behalf of the developer, JDH of Charlotte. Faced with a very possible reversal of their action, Commissioner Frank Drake, one of the original negative votes, met with Reaves and a JDH representative and voted for the permit with some additional conditions.
• The master plan for Wake Union Place, the major shopping center planned for the former Parker-Hannifin site on Wake Union Church Road adjacent to Capital Boulevard, may be presented to the Wake Forest Planning Board sometime this summer or early fall. There have been two community meetings about the plan. The plan shown at those meetings calls for Wake Union Church Road to end at the southern edge of the center site. A new street, not named, will turn west beside the Sleep Inn, then turn to the north adjacent to the St. Ive’s subdivision and end at the northern edge of the property. In the future, plans are to extend it north to Jenkins Road. A second street, running east and west, will connect the first street to Capital Boulevard at the existing traffic signal. Twelve retail stores in a strip design and five out-parcels were shown during the two community meetings. The plan does include the two-acre site for the west side fire station between Kearney and the new unnamed street, with access only on the unnamed street. The center is a project of Wake Forest developer Jim Adams, Interface Properties of Boca Raton, Fla., and the national firm Weingarten Realty Investors.
• Clearing is underway for the second and third phases of Wake Forest Crossing shopping center on Capital Boulevard. Kohl’s department store will be the anchor for this new section. Lowes Foods is the anchor for the first phase. When complete, there will be a second entrance/exit on Stadium Drive west of the seminary cemetery.
• There is also clearing underway for Gateway Commons shopping center at the intersection of the N.C. 98 bypass, Jones Dairy Road and Wait Avenue. Lowes Foods and Ace Hardware are the announced tenants.
• Purnell Place on the east side of Capital Boulevard north of Harris Road was approved by the Wake Forest Town Board in August of 2007. The developer, Regency Center of Raleigh, plans to build 80,000 square feet of retail and commercial space in three buildings, and there will be four out-parcels. The anchor reportedly will be a Harris-Teeter grocery store.
• On Nov. 8, 2007, the planning board recommended approval of an increase in the height of the hotel developer Daryl Cady plans for La Scala on Star Road just north of Living Word Family Church. Plans are for a 60-foot high, four-story, 90-room hotel near the road facing a 28,800-square-foot office building. Behind those buildings will be a large ballroom/convention building.
• The Wake Forest Planning Department is also reviewing the master plan for La Scala phases two through four on 85.5 acres along Star Road. It includes 239,200 square feet of office space, 375,250 square feet of retail space and a 40,000-square-foot hotel. The zoning is highway business.
• The Shoppes at Caveness Farm is apparently for sale. The shopping center has an approved master plan, one done when the land was rezoned to highway business, and Weingarten Realty Investors, the current owner, had announced Steinmart would be one of the tenants.

Future restaurants

• Wake Forest planners have held pre-application meetings with representatives from The Olive Garden restaurant chain.
• The development plan for the Sonic restaurant was approved by the town board May 20. The lot for the restaurant at 1925 S. Main St. was formerly the site for two model houses built by Carolina Model Home Corporation. JOROMI Properties LLC, a Raleigh corporation, bought the land for $580,000 in July 2007. The zoning is highway business.
• The town has issued a construction permit to Fallcreek Construction to build the Mellow Mushroom at the corner of South Main Street and Wake Drive. Several large trees on the lot will be saved.

New stores and services

• Construction for Bob Luddy’s newest private school, Thales Academy at the end of Heritage Trade Drive, is well underway with plans for the school to open this fall.
• The Wake Forest Town Board approved special use permits for a daycare center, The Learning Experience at 1212 Heritage Links Drive, and an auto care store, Precision Tune at the junction of Rogers Road and Old Forestville Road, on July 15.
• The planning department has issued a development permit for a miniature golf course at The Factory.
• Assistant Planning Director Ann Ayers still does not have the complete plans for a Walgreen’s drug store in the southwest corner of the N.C. 98 bypass and South Main Street (U.S. 1-A). The developer does have state Department of Transportation approval for a right-in, right-out access to the bypass.
• Ayers also has not heard any more from Mark Wallace of Wake Forest who had planned Rapid Strikes Family Entertainment Center on 4.5 acres on Rogers Road between the entrance to The Factory and its ball fields and the CSX railroad line. The original plan was for 32 bowling lanes, a laser tag room, a game room and a party room.
• Some of the national stores said to be looking at Wake Forest areC. Penney, Marshall’s and T.J. Maxx.
• The Wake Forest Planning Department is reviewing building plans for an Aaron Rents Furniture at Wake Pointe Shopping Center (Wal-Mart).

Government projects

• The Wake Forest Town Board has approved a development plan for an ABC store in the Crescent Pointe commercial subdivision on Galaxy Drive. The existing ABC store will be closed.
• Plans for a new elementary school on the east side of Capital Boulevard will go forward now that the county commissioners have approved the purchase of the 29-acre site.
• The grading on the south side of the N.C. 98 bypass near Richland Creek is for the town’s second electric substation.
• The extension of Siena Drive from the Cimarron subdivision to the N.C. 98 bypass has been paved and opened.
• The development plan for the new Wake Forest Town Hall was approved on Nov. 20. Groundbreaking was on May 22 and Town Manager Mark Williams says the building will be complete in the fall of 2009 in time for the final centennial celebration.
• Thompson Construction is building Heritage High School on a 110.5-acre site on Forestville Road. The school is slated to open in the fall of 2009, and the Wake County Board of Education wants it to house the Wake Forest-Rolesville High School student body while that school undergoes major renovations in the 2009-10 school year. The site will also have a town park with ball fields.

Commercial projects

• The clearing at the intersection of Brimfield Springs Lane and the short western extension of Ligon Mill Road is for Ligon Mill Office Park III planned by local developer Lloyd Mattingly.
• Clearing is complete for The Stecker Building Two behind the Porter Paint Store at 1219 S. Main St. It will have 9,311 square feet for retail and flex space.
• Clearing is underway on Rogers Road for Heritage Professional Park West, which will hold offices. You will see the work as you head east on Rogers just after you cross the CSX rail line.
• Steel Dynamics has built the frame for David Williams Jr.’s spec flex office and retail building between Rogers Road and Heritage Trade Drive.
• Although Ben Hudson had expressed interest in expanding Barrett’s Produce at 829 S. Main St., Assistant Planning Director Ann Ayers said she has not seen any development plans.
• The Wake Forest Planning Department staff is reviewing the construction plan for the Gibson Office Park at the corner of U.S. 1 (Capital Boulevard) and Burlington Mills Road.
• A very new development is 900 Franklin Street planned for a mix of uses: retail, restaurant, personal service and office. The project would be on 1.1 acres in the northwest corner of the N.C 98 bypass and South Franklin Street. The zoning is for the central area of the Renaissance Plan. The plan has been approved by the town board.
• Steel Dynamics is constructing a $6.95-million medical office building at 1912 Heritage Branch Road, the future home for the American Institute of Healthcare & Fitness Wake Forest. It will offer a comprehensive approach to health care for people of all ages. The owner is Heritage Medical Office Associates LLC. See the Oct. 25, 2007, issue of the Gazette for more information.
• Although there is a sign along the N.C. 98 bypass saying there are retail opportunities for Siena Station, Assistant Planning Director Ann Ayers said no plans have been submitted yet for that parcel, which is on the north side of the bypass. You can go to the Gazette archives for 2006 and see the full story about the rezoning for the tract in the Feb. 1 and Feb. 22 issues.
• Heritage Center, a four-lot commercial subdivision at the corner of South Main Street and Rogers Road, has its entrance on Rogers Road. The street named Heritage Center Drive was to have connected to Farm Road but a nitrogen gas line in the area squashed that plan because it would have been very expensive to relocate the line.

Church Projects

• The master plan for the first phase of The Stephenson Center was approved by the planning board on April 1 and by the town board April 15. The Wake Forest Baptist Church, the applicant, plans a church and family life center on the 12-acre tract. All access for this phase will be from Wake Union Church Road.

Send your questions about growth to 556-3409 or cwpelosi@aol.com