Tuesday night’s Wake Forest Town Board meeting began with hearings on three possible town action and a general public comment section, four hearings in all in which people could give their opinions – and they did.
Later in the meeting, during consideration of the consent agenda which takes only one vote, the commissioners agreed to spend $15.2 million on four current projects and the future train station. Details will follow.
But back to the four hearings. The first was about the impact fees developers would pay to help build or rebuild or repair town streets and roads, a new set of fees. The consulting firm Benesch has just concluded a Multimodal Transportation Impact Fee Study including the possible fees developers could pay for single-family and multi-family development as well as commercial and industrial growth.
The report suggests a transportation fee of $4,431 per house for single-family developments and $6,748 for multifamily units and fees ranging from $4,431 to $14,085 for commercial and industrial developments.
That was not well received by developers and builders. Suzanne Harris with the Homebuilders Association of Raleigh-Wake County said the members were concerned because of other town actions (maybe the increase in the existing parks and recreation fees). If it is approved she suggested it be at the 6 percent level, and she asked the town to talk with local builders and developers.
Irene Butler, representing the Triangle Apartment Association, also asked that the fee be at the 6 percent level. There were seven other speakers. Mark Barker said he expected the fees to be approved but questioned how it will add to the cost of housing and urged the commissioners to “be thoughtful.”
The second hearing was about the draft Unified Development Ordinance which has been much discussed and will replace the current UDO. Irene Butler spoke again, saying the new UDO as a whole would add costs for apartment renters/buyers and arguing the number of EV charging stations would add unnecessary costs.
Angela DiPaolo asked that the UDO include enhancements for wildlife, even those downtown, and that the required trees, shrubs and grasses be native to this area. Joncie Sarratt praised Senior Planner Kari Grant, who led the revision process, and asked that the required lighting be in the warm zone, which is better for people and wildlife. Adrienne Lyne said the traffic generated by the planned charter school, Thales Academy, will create traffic hazards on NC 98 and Averette Road, and Carolyn Petagno expanded on the problems at that intersection, which will include the traffic at a nearby Food Lion and low water pressure. After a couple other speakers, Jennifer Bradley also spoke to future traffic problems at that intersection.
At the Downtown Plan hearing, Rodney Ivester spoke against the possibility of six-story buildings.
And finally during the public comment hearing, Pastor Paul Carrington speaking for Hope Baptist Church spoke for ten minutes about the recent PrideFest and appealed to the town to “stop such debauchery.” Margaret Watkins made inaudible comments at each hearing.
Now for the consent agenda. These were the construction projects approved:
** The winning bid for a greenway in H.L. Miller Park was $2,512,274.49 by J.M. Thompson.
** The winning bid for the Dunn Creek Culvert Replacement was $1,250,906 by Fred Smith.
** The winning bid for the 2025 Street Resurfacing Project was $5,464,566.40 by Blythe Construction.
Also, the town entered a joint use agreement with the Boys and Girls Club for Forrest Field and the gymnasium, where the town will pay $64,800 to resurface the gym floor.
Then the commissioners unanimously agreed to pay $6 million against the $24 million cost (the required 20 percent) of the cost for the mobility hub (train station) by April 1 of 2028.
The vote on the revised Downtown Plan was 4 to 1 with Commissioner Faith Cross voting no because she is opposed to anything over five stories. Commissioner Adam Wright pointed out that the proposed parking deck will be six stories but there are no buildings over five stories. Cross said she had received many comments against anything over five stories.
Planner Brad West and another man (both started their sentences audibly but dropped the volume as they spoke and became inaudible) spoke about the planned mobility hub in the Depot Parking Lot. They are looking for funding, probably a federal grant.
The commissioners also approved the updated special events policy with its motorized parade policy.
At the close of the meeting Town Manager Kip Padgett said the Ammons Foundation has pledged to pay for the new gym floor at the Boys and Girls Club, wiping out the need for the town to pay.
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19 Responses
Developers and builders have been riding on the taxpayer backs of residents for the last 30 years plus. Impact fees were discussed back then and the Wake Forest HBA said that this would cause people to shy away and move elsewhere. That was, and is a joke. While the developers and builders got rich, the citizens were left with an infrastructure mess. IMPACT FEES AR ABOUT 30 YEARS TOO LATE!
Just a couple points of reference here on the discussion-
1. On the Town “slowing down” the rate of growth it has done so in the past specifically on building permits. When a developer is granted “permits” for new homes the Town may grant 2,000 permits but they then staggered the creation of those homes over a time period such as 5 years. They also have not issued new permits to others so that has been done.
2. On the location of the train station there are many, many considerations that determine exactly where the station can be positioned and multiple locations have been considered. Not to get into the many details the list of places is really very limited, and the train is not going through Wake Forest downtown at a high speed as it is between Wake Forest and Petersburg, Va. That is not by accident but by planning many years earlier.
There is much more information available but hope this helps clear up some of the points of discussion with hopefully better information..
Hi Bob,
I saw that you were doing some repairs to the Wilkinson building and that Sue Holding’s son — I think his name is Tom — is getting the Holding Drugstore building in shape for a sale. Good news.
But if you want to lose all the customers who use the Depot parking lot, then by all means put the train station on that site. That parking lot feeds customers to all the stores for three blocks south. There are no alternate properties for a parking lot that size, and the future parking deck on Brooks has no shopping nearby. And no one is going to park on Brooks and walk three or four blocks to get to the spa or Tonic or Unwined. If you watch for half an hour, there is tremendous turnover in that parking lot, the 12 parking spaces next door and the seven on-street spaces.
There should be a land preservation tax assessed on all real estate sales in excess of $2,000,000. The funds to be accumulated and used to purchase property for conservation purposes. Taking the property off the market from developers.
The taxes that are proposed do not address the main issue of development vs land preservation.
I moved here 13 years ago. It was a quiet laid back small town, maybe 23,000 residents. Heritage Wake Forest built approximately 2,500 homes from roughly 2000 to 2016. The population today is I believe close to 57,000 residents . Projections show continued growth in the next five years of another approximately 10,000 people. The small town feel is gone. The race to overbuild and over populate this once small quiet Town is on. Since the Town Board keeps pushing and approving development plans left and right, with the vision of GROWING the Town, maybe it’s time to consider MOVING from this out of control Town. The reasons for originally moving here have disappeared. Look at the massive tree clearing that took place on Friendship Chapel Road off of 98. It’s a pure and simple disgrace that this was permitted by the Town. I’m tired of hearing all the legal technicalities of why this and that was and is taking place. Stay and put up with this out of control growth, driven by a Town Board that believes in growing the Town to the Nth degree or let them live in their fantasy world and MOVE.
Your reporting and clarifications are greatly appreciated. Thank you for keeping us informed!
“inaudible comments”?
Can we get some clarification from Margaret? It’s about time you allow her to co-author your posts since she is there in person. Would be a great addition to your reporting on the town, ESPECIALLY as big changes are coming we need info on.
Thank you Carol. Very helpful reporting.
Please let the Pastor know that there was no “debauchery” at the PrideFest.
Amen.
Truth
Increased Parks and Recreation fees, Transportation fee for new homes of over $4,400 per unit, building a parking garage for a train station that the public does not want. Does it surprise anyone that the Town, which lets developers clear cut trees on acres and acres of forested lands, will do the right thing and finally listen to the public ? We who work for a living and raise families do not have the luxury of attending town board meetings to voice our opinions. A very simple solution, but the Town will NEVER use is a referendum vote which will allow the residents of Wake Forest a say at the table on these critical issues which impact our pocketbooks and housing costs. Is the Town Board tone deaf ?
You do realize the parks and rec fees and the transportation fees are put on the developers and builders of new homes, not existing residents, right? With all the new growth, new developments, new homes – someone has to pay for improving the infrastructure/roads/public spaces/parks that the residents rely on. The ones to pay more should be the giant developer corporations and builders who are making piles of money in this housing market. That’s exactly what these fees are. I don’t know what you’re complaining about, unless you feel resident taxpayers should field the costs alone.
Please actually educate yourself on these things before complaining to the town board who are doing the right thing this time.
If the Town imposes new fees on the developers and builders for the associated infrastructure improvements, who in the world do you think will eventually pay for these costs ? The people buying these new homes will, by increased home pricing. There’s no free ride.
As a resident who lives here already, that’s not really my problem. If increased costs prevents people from moving here in droves, that’s good by me.
Increased fees to develop land on developers and builders temporarily slows down growth, that’s also fine by me. Developers with more money will come eventually, but now they’ll be paying for infrastructure improvements.
And if the people who still really want to move here can afford it, good for them. They are probably of a higher income level anyway, they should help pay to improve the town they are moving into.
Slow down development temporarily + Slow down people moving here + Raise the median income level + Infrastructure improvements payed for = good for WF residents
The town fixed the issue of folks not being able to attend & voice their opinions on hearings a while ago. I got upset that they would not let me do a zoom call to speak during a public hearing when my kids were sick. They created engagewakeforest.org for that purpose. They put it in the Whatsup wf email, advertised it on multiple social media platforms. Mrs. Pelosi has mentioned this site in multiple articles. My friends & I have advertised it on our social media pages as well. The town can lead a horse to the river but they can’t make it drink it.
In NC we are more of a republic. We empower & charge our elected leaders to make decisions for us. We expect them to study matters & use good judgment when they make decisions. It doesn’t always work out in our favor but it is the way it is. It’s why it’s important to be an informed voter.
This all goes back to what does the state give the municipality the power to do. I could be wrong but I don’t think the train station is eligible. GS 160A & 153A mention a few items that are eligible if you are interested in reading through them. There could be more.
Thank you. It would be interesting if there is a way to stop the train station from being built in Wake Forest. Will look into it.
Just an FYI. Eventually there will be a high speed train running from Richmond to Raleigh. My thought is that if we have to have a high speed train barreling through our town, if we have a station, maybe it will slow down and stop. At least the citizens of Wake Forest would get some benefit from this federal high speed project that is approved and coming our way.
On the other hand, why not put that train station on Holding and South White St. It’s closer to the planned parking garage and there is some land there already, at least as much land as where they insist that the depot be placed. Just because there was a train station in that location 100 years ago does not mean it must be built in the same location today. Have they considered amy other location?
Hi Mary,
There have to be other places for the station. The plan I’ve heard about is that some of the original 1838 right-of-way, the curves, are going to be rebuilt in a more linear fashion for the high speed. That will open up land that can be used for the station and its parking lot.
The current Depot parking lot provides the customers to at least three blocks of White Street businesses. There are no alternatives to that parking lot.
Carol