Tuesday night the Wake Forest Planning Board and town commissioners were ready to hold three public hearings about proposed subdivisions, but only one of the three plans was ready.
The largest subdivision, Westford Place with 248 single-family lots on 100 acres, asked for a second postponement to May because the “application is still not ready.” Mayor Vivian Jones objected, saying, “This whole thing’s been dragged out.” There had been only one postponement for the subdivision plan but more than two postponements for the associated annexation request, as Assistant Planning Director Charlie Yokley said.
The medium-sized subdivision, Oak Hills on West Oak Avenue where 55 single-family lots are proposed on 26 acres, has a problem with GIS and boundaries, namely, the correct limits of the Duke Energy power line next to the property and whether the entrance from West Oak is partially in the power line.
In this case, because there was at least one person in the audience who was there for the hearing, Planning Board Vice-Chairman Ed Gary opened the hearing, leading to a lot of questions about storm water management and the size of streets. Commissioner Margaret Stinnett asked about offsite street improvements on West Oak and West Chestnut. “Little tiny Chestnut is a driveway.” The Wake Forest Fire Department is represented when the technical review committee meets, and it had no problem with the street.
The project’s engineer, Mike Crowley, said there were two different GIS readings about the power line location and he now has someone surveying the property. There will be a full hearing in May.
Several people were in the room and many spoke during the hearing held on the master plan for the small subdivision, East Perry, on East Perry Street with 12 houses and one street planned for 2.37 acres. After all the hearings, the planning board voted unanimously to recommend approval to the town board with three conditions which included a barrier at the stubbed street on the north side that would block the light from headlights on the street from shining into the windows and doors of a duplex immediately north of that street.
Rick Barton owns that duplex and the flagpole lot to the north of the subdivision lot, and he said he did not understand why the town wants a stubbed street there when he has no intention of selling and the duplex is within 15 or 20 feet of the end of the new street. Later Planning Director Chip Russell said that years from now someone else will own that lot to the north and may want a different access. Building a cul-de-sac, as Barton wants, would cut off any possibility of accessing the land to the north through the new street. (An example of a cul-de-sac with a house at the end that cuts off access to adjoining land is East Holding Avenue in the Deacons Ridge subdivision.)
The neighborhood people who spoke were mostly concerned about the increase in traffic recently – the nearby East Juniper Avenue is now connected to Traditions subdivision – and the safety of the children who play near streets and walk in the street because there are no sidewalks. Grace Landry, who has five children, said the traffic has doubled or tripled. “At the stop sign, people don’t even stop.” She said she wanted to prevent a child from being killed.
Eugene Monroe of Raleigh is the pastor of the Spring Street Christian Church and his concern is the lack of a sidewalk on that street. “It’s the only street that doesn’t have a sidewalk. Anyone who wants to walk around the neighborhood has to walk in the street.” There will be a number of new members coming to the church this spring and summer with the new programs there, he said, and they will have to walk in the street with cars speeding down Spring.
Josephine Wiggins said there are no street lights near her home on East Perry Street and “Its real dark when I come home.” Mayor Vivian Jones asked if there was no street light or if the street light was not working, and Wiggins said there is no street light.
Michelle Lopez reiterated the traffic problems in the neighborhood. “You can’t pull in or back out of your driveway because of the people constantly driving through. Somebody is going to harm a child. There’s traffic late at night, always loud music. I’m really concerned.”
Almost an hour of the meeting was spent on the public hearing about text changes in the Unified Development Ordinance, which Yokley said were requested by the planning department because experience in the years since the UDO was adopted has shown they are needed.
