On Sept. 18 back in 2003
This is a regular feature about Wake Forest in 2003 when the Wake Forest Gazette began publication.
Ammons purchases Athey plant, names it The Factory
A year after Jeff Ammons took to heart the message on the for-sale sign, “Be creative,” he turned that vision to action on Sept. 4, purchasing the former Athey Products plant on South Main Street for $4.4 million.
From now on it will be known as The Factory although the Sports Factory was once considered for the name as was the Entertainment and Sports Factory.
Ammons said he waited until he had completed the leasing before he made the commitment final.
And he has a stellar lineup of tenants, starting with the food vendors.
The Armadillo Grill and the Village Deli will share a new building in front of the old manufacturing plant.
Just inside the door, there will be a pizza restaurant with a terrace for outdoor dining.
On the other side as you enter, Goodberry’s will scoop up frozen treats.
Baby Sweet Pea, a children’s clothing store, and Works of Clay, a participatory pottery shop, will also be in the front part of the building.
Along the side of the building, there is a large space for a fitness center and in the back of the building and along the other side will be space for a ballet school, music lessons, a pro shop for sports equipment, gymnastics, an indoor soccer field and two basketball courts. There are a few smaller areas still available for lease.
The tenant with the most space, two full-sized hockey and ice-skating rinks, will probably be the last to open for business, Ammons said last week, because he will want to open in the fall of next year when hockey and ice-skating season begins.
There will be four entrances to the sports and recreation facility from the various parking areas.
He does not believe there will be any visible work on the building for at least a month or so because he still has to obtain a building permit from the town. The different venues will open as the tenants complete their remodeling/renovation, Ammons said. “I would like to open early next spring, but it will probably be July or August before everything is open.”
In the past, when Athey produced street sweepers, one of them was often positioned in front of the building and spotlighted at night.
In the future, Ammons plans a water feature with sculptural figures at the entrance to the building.
Ammons has also applied for a county grant of $1.5 million to build a youth baseball complex on vacant land behind the factory. Last week, he said that application was still being considered – at least he had not been told no – but he had no other information.
Jeff, the younger brother of Heritage Wake Forest developer Andy Ammons, is the president of Ammons Building Corporation. He lives near Falls Lake with his wife and two young daughters.
Athey was once a leading industry
Athey began in Wake Forest in 1965 at a time the town was soliciting industry to take up the economic slack caused when Wake Forest College moved to Winston-Salem. At one point, the street sweeper manufacturer had 310 employees, and in 1995 had $40 million in sales.
That was a high point. Between 1995 and 2000, the company went through difficult times and kept reducing the number of employees. Finally, on Dec. 1, 2000, most of the workforce, 125 people, was suddenly laid off, leaving only 32 people on the payroll. Although a few people were called back, Athey closed its doors in June of 2001 and declared bankruptcy.
The winning bidder for Athey Products was Five Star, which paid $12.301 million for the company where most of its management had once worked. Five Star, which is in Youngsville, had been formed in 1996 by several former Athey employees. The company was later purchased by Federal Signal Environmental Product Group, a company which owns Elgin Sweeper, another Athey competitor.
Wake Forest developer Jim Adams and his partner, Jim Goldston, purchased the building and 38 acres early in 2001. They named it the 1839 Grandmark Center and planned to build a commercial park there. Last year Adams would not say what they had paid.
In 1999, before Wake County revaluated its property and before Athey went bust, the plant and land were listed as number three among the top 50 taxpayers in Wake Forest. KF-US1 LLC, the corporation which owns Caveness Farms apartments, and Weavexx were number one and two. Athey was listed as having an assessed value of $6.8 million.
By 2002, the land and plant now owned by 1839 Development LLC had dropped to number 25 and had an assessed value of $3.6 million. The plant had been stripped of all equipment by then.
As a sidelight, Heritage Wake Forest had the highest assessed property value in town at $17.5 million in 2002. Weavexx, which will end its Wake Forest operations this fall, was number two at $15.4 million assessed value for the plant and number 32 for the $2.5 million value of the property owned by Weavexx Corporate. In 2002, Home Depot’s property was assessed at $6.2 million, and Target’s property at $3.4 million.
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Hedrick, Luddy argue school bonds
Tuesday night, Wake Forest’s Merrie Hedrick, a former county commissioner, and Bob Luddy, businessman and backer of the highly successful local charter school, Franklin Academy, urged the Wake Forest Town Board to support (Hedrick) or to spurn (Luddy) the $450 million school bond issue on the Oct. 7 ballot.
The commissioners, and particularly Commissioner Chris Malone, were concerned that Heritage High School will not be built with this $450 million although it had been included on an earlier list. “I can’t imagine being promised something and then having it yanked away.”
Commissioner Thomas Walters took a different tack, asking Hedrick, “Are we getting adequate representation in Wake Forest compared to the other parts of the county, not from a political viewpoint but from dollars spent?”
Christina Lighthall, director of facilities and construction for the school system, said Heritage was not included because overcrowding in high schools is worse in the southern part of the county. “You all need elementary seats more critically than a high school,” Lighthall said, noting that four elementary schools are planned for the area north of Raleigh.
As for representation, Hedrick asked, “Do you have a county commissioner from Wake Forest or Rolesville?”
Luddy asked the town board not to support the bond issue because “it is time we look at other alternatives, and one of the key alternatives is charter schools.” Franklin Academy has close to 800 students, 800 students the county school system does not have to provide for.
In 1999, Luddy said, after a bond issue was defeated, the county school board went on record as favoring charter schools. But, Luddy said, Superintendent Bill McNeal and a board member spoke against authorizing more charter schools when the General Assembly was considering that bill.
“We need choice and public charter schools,” Luddy said. Luddy unsuccessfully ran against Kathryn Quigg for a seat on the Wake County school board in 1997.
“If they raised the cap on (the number of) charter schools, could we pass the $450 million bond issue and include Heritage High School,” Malone asked, noting that his children attend Franklin Academy.
“Yes,” Luddy replied. He added, “I would contend charter schools are superior.” He also said charter schools “represent pretty severe competition” for public schools. Charter schools receive both state funds for teachers and supplies as well as the county’s supplemental pay for teachers and programs. They must operate with those funds but without having a publicly funded building.
Malone also reiterated what he said during a work session two weeks before. “We should stay out of it.” He said he had worked for school bond issues in the past and probably would again. “I just don’t think we should be telling people what they should do.”
“Each time we approve a residential development we are contributing to the need for more space for our children,” Commissioner Velma Boyd said. “I teach and I experience the need every day. I watch the children being crunched into spaces, I see the need for more resources. I feel this is a reason to endorse” the bonds.
“I can support adequate funding for our children,” Commissioner David Camacho said, “but I’m wondering if Wake Forest schools are getting their fair share.”
The question of the $35 million bond issue for library construction, also on the Oct. 7 ballot, drew no controversy. Doug Longhini, Wake County’s community services director, said the planned regional library somewhere in the Wakefield area will add 170,000 books in northern Wake County and reduce the overcrowding in the Wake Forest branch library.
In the end, the commissioners voted 4 to 1 with Malone dissenting to approve a resolution supporting the passage of both bond issues.
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Town board candidates state their views, reveal finances
(The Wake Forest Gazette proposes to interview the four candidates for the Wake Forest Town Board on various issues during September and October. This is the first in a series that may not appear every week.)
Wake Forest voters will elect three commissioners on Nov. 7, and there are four candidates for those seats: Commissioners Velma Boyd and David Camacho, Stephen Barrington and Mark Traveis.
Boyd is a physical education teacher at Wake Forest Elementary School, Camacho owns a local residential construction firm, Barrington is a realtor with Sperry Van Ness and Traveis is a manager in a hotel firm.
This week’s policy question and some about the campaign were sent to the candidates on Sept. 9 via e-mail with a request to return the answers before the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 16. By noon Wednesday, only Boyd and Barrington had returned their responses. The responses from Camacho and Traveis will be published next week.
The question for this week was: Town Manager Mark Williams says the town will have to begin to restrict its growth to 4 percent annually beginning in 2005, regardless of whether the town hands over ownership of its water and sewer systems to Raleigh or remains independent. The town has been growing at 8 percent, even 12 percent some years, since the early 1990s.
Do you agree the town should put a damper on growth? If you do, what techniques do you think would be possible and palatable, and how would you assure that they would be fair?
Velma Boyd
Boyd answered: “Statements by Mr. Williams that the town will have to restrict its growth to 4 percent annually is not based solely upon ownership of the water and sewer systems. Consideration is given to the availability of resources and infrastructure, as well as the ability to provide services and to upgrade and construct new facilities.
“The Comprehensive Planning Committee,” Boyd continued, “was formed at the request of the Board of Commissioners and has been a valuable asset to town planning for prioritizing requests for new development. The Comprehensive Planning Committee reviews all proposed development and annexation requests received by the Planning Department and prioritizes their submission to the Planning Board and/or Board of Commissioners based on the location of the development and (italics, bold in statement) the real public benefit of the development.
“The following criteria are used to give consideration for location of development,” Boyd went on.
- Does the proposed development achieve fill-in and/or reuse with existing use?
- Is the proposed development contiguous (adjacent) to the town limits?
- Does the proposed location fall within the town’s extra-territorial jurisdiction?
- Does the proposed development fall within the town’s Urban Service Area?
- Does the proposed development fall within the town’s water supply watershed?
“The CPC also determines the real public benefit that is included but not limited to:
- Road improvements and/or connections
- Open space and/or greenway connections
- Water/sewer line availability
- Impact on services and infrastructure
- Participation in infrastructure improvements
- Affordable housing initiatives
- Conformance to adopted town plans
“The functions of this committee, in my opinion,” Boyd concluded, “are to provide prioritized data and input to the Planning Department, Planning Board and Board of Commissioners regarding the appropriateness of proposed development and growth in Wake Forest. Its recommendations may very well temper the overall rate of growth depending on whether or not the development in question is in the overall best interest of the Town of Wake Forest.
“This candidate does not view this as ‘putting a damper’ on development but rather a means of providing responsible growth.”
Boyd has set up a campaign e-mail for the convenience of town residents. It is ElectVBoyd@aol.com.
Stephen Barrington
Barrington’s response was: “Mark Williams stated that 4 percent annual growth is reflective of ‘population’ and not of commercial development. My response below reflects this acknowledgement.
“The town’s continued population growth patterns should correlate directly with a comprehensive plan that addresses what we, collectively, want Wake Forest to look like in 10, 15, 25 years. Undoubtedly, population growth patterns will be dependent on and affected by infrastructure capacity. It is incumbent upon the town to be creative, outside-the-box thinkers in identifying and securing solution options to the infrastructure capacity as it correlates with an established comprehensive plan.”
Campaign contributions and concerns
Barrington says he has raised more than $3,000 in contributions, the level at which candidates must provide detailed financial reports to the Wake County Board of Elections. Barrington’s campaign treasurer is Heather Holding.
Barrington said he has been knocking on doors and meeting with town residents and business owners. He has had a fund-raising event, and he plans to mail campaign literature to residents.
Boyd said she has not made any formal fund-raising efforts and does not plan to use more than $3,000. She has $200 in contributions and $200 of her own funds in a campaign account.
She said she had been identifying and asking town individuals to help with future events. The extent of her activities, Boyd said, would depend partly on the “intensity of the other candidates’ campaign activities.”
What are the concerns town residents have told the candidates about?
Boyd said those concerns “include traffic, rezoning and design standards for commercial and residential development.”
Barrington said he had heard nine concerns: unplanned growth and the need for a comprehensive plan; higher paying job opportunities; historic and cultural preservation; support for downtown revitalization; the costs of water, sewer, electricity and gas; road widening for congested areas and road extensions for increased traffic dispersal; additional means of communication between the town and residents; the need for creative thinking for town problems; and increased support for local schools.
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Second conservation subdivision proposed near reservoir
Wake Forest’s second conservation subdivision around the town’s reservoir received an initial stamp of approval Tuesday morning from the town board’s comprehensive planning committee.
The approval means Contentnea Creek Development Company can proceed with zoning and annexation requests for the 117 acres east of the reservoir and north of East Wait Avenue (N.C. 98). The tract is a flagpole lot with only a short section of road frontage east of Mackie Park and Shenandoah Farms subdivision. Most of the land lies north of those two properties and just east of the reservoir. It is the former Gay property and will be called Bishop’s Ridge subdivision.
The sketch LaMarr Bunn, a Raleigh land planner, presented to the committee showed 44 acres, all of them on the reservoir side of the ridge line, preserved undisturbed while the 190 lots would be clustered on 67 acres. The pole part of the land, about 10 acres from the road to the home sites, would be a mix of office and retail uses.
Contentnea Creek is also developing Eden’s Glen west of town near the intersection of N.C. 98 and N.C. 50.
“It would protect the water supply for Wake Forest and set the standard for a conservation-type subdivision,” Bunn said, adding that an allowance of 50 building permits per year “works well for us.” The homes would be in the $160,000 to $225,000 price range with most around $200,000.
The subdivision would also have town sewer. Developer Steve Gould will build a sewer line along Jones Dairy Road, and Bunn said they would extend that line along N.C. 98.
Planning Director Chip Russell said the layout was a model for a conservation subdivision because the undisturbed land is all in one large area.
The committee members – Commissioners David Camacho and Chris Malone and planning board member Bob Hill – voted to send the project forward for more planning and a place on the planning board agenda. Committee chairman Sherrill Brinkley was out of town.
The comprehensive planning committee was set up by the town board to consider development requests and approve or disapprove them based on location and public benefit. The committee meets as need arises.
The only other conservation subdivision that has been proposed is for land on the west side of the reservoir, part of the Ammons tract, but no formal action has been taken. Andy Ammons and his land planning consultant, Chuck Flink, appeared before the planning board this summer to explain the concept and methodology for conservation subdivisions.
The only other action the committee took Tuesday morning was to delay an increase of the water allocation for Jim Adams’ Stonegate subdivision on Forestville Road. The town has restricted all subdivisions to 50 building permits a year. Adams has sent in a request for 125 permits for 2005 and the years beyond until the 600-home development is complete.
Russell said Adams has builder who is buying most of the development and building several neighborhoods with different price points. “It would be difficult to develop with just 50 (homes per year),” Russell said. Neither Adams nor the unidentified builder were at the meeting.
“Without some other public benefit other than the access to Forestville Road,” Camacho said, “I’m a bit leery of committing to that.” The access to Forestville Road was the Greenville Loop, approval for which was hotly contested by residents in
Malone was ready to agree to the request. “By 2005 we’re going to have this water issue solved or resolved and we will be able to commit to that water.”
Camacho said it was a bigger issue even if the town has a new water source in 2005. “Where do you draw the line? If this doesn’t have any public benefit, then it seems like it’s going to be impossible to impose any 50 limit on anyone else.”
Russell said there would be water limitations whether the town lets Raleigh own the water system or remains independent.
The question also is, Camacho and Hill said, that if the town agrees to give more water to one developer, where is the fairness for the next developer in line?
The three men decided to hold the request until Adams and the builder can present their case.
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Neuse River Foundation releases Profile of a Polluter
Chronology follows history of Raleigh’s treatment plants
Two years after it began to treat Raleigh’s wastewater, the Neuse River Wastewater Treatment Plant was in trouble.
The state began investigating after a canoeist noticed cloudy water in the Neuse in October of 1978.
The plant superintendent and the city’s public utilities director quit.
In August of 1979 the city was fined $25,000 for illegally dumping over 700 tons of waste into the river.
Part of the reason the illegal dumping took place was because equipment in the plant malfunctioned. And why was that? Because it appeared that shoddy construction materials had been used. The EPA was concerned because federal grants had paid for 55 percent of the plant’s cost.
Does all this sound a bit familiar, given the events around the wastewater plant since January of 2002 when partly treated – or perhaps totally untreated – wastewater was released into the Neuse? City officials failed to report that 2002 spill to the state as required, then reported it as 5 million gallons, later changing the number of 42 or 62 while the city attorney, who investigated on his own, said the figure was really 97 million gallons.
Treatment plant employees who talked to Upper Neuse Riverkeeper Dean Naujoks said the plant released something that “looked like chocolate pudding.” Plant director Marc Fender and Utilities Director Dale Crisp said the water released had been cleaned and only some microorganisms were released. Fender later admitted there had been multiple bypasses, sending untreated wastewater into the Neuse, through four years – all of them unreported.
Readers will find a pattern of city officials saying one thing while plant workers say another. Another pattern is that city officials deny any responsibility for an event until a report or another incident shows they must take responsibility.
Wake Forest officials will decide this fall whether to continue negotiations with Raleigh for the city to take ownership of the town’s water and sewer systems. For that reason, Wake Forest residents should be very interested in the way in which Raleigh has built, maintained and operated its water and sewer systems.
The 19-page chronology assembled by the Neuse River Foundation and its Upper Neuse Riverkeeper, Dean Naujoks, looks at the public record for both the Neuse River Wastewater plant and the E.M. Johnson Water Treatment Plant on Falls of the Neuse. The information is taken from newspaper articles, letters to and from state officials and documents at the state’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
The chronology illustrates how long city officials have known about the problems of ground contamination from spraying treated wastewater sludge on fields.
In 1990, geologist Charles Welby from North Carolina State University, began an investigation to determine if nitrates in the wastewater plant sludge sprayed on fields were having an adverse effect on the groundwater.
Before he could complete his research, city officials said they had received enough evidence elsewhere and would not need the Welby study. However, that same year the state’s Division of Water Quality was notifying Raleigh there were unsafe levels of coliform bacteria, nitrates and metals in the groundwater under fields near the wastewater treatment plant.
Beginning in 1999, state officials begin urging Raleigh to purchase additional land for its sludge applications. There were fines in 2000 and 2001 for spraying excessive sludge. Raleigh took no action. The state now says Raleigh’s sludge has become one of the most serious cases of groundwater contamination in the state.
Also, although Raleigh has recently purchased 100 additional acres for its spraying program, it still has only 1,200 acres while Cary, with a much smaller wastewater treatment plant, owns and uses 2,900 acres to apply its sludge.
Raleigh also has the greatest volume of raw sewage reaching surface waters in the state. In 2002, according to the chronology, 15.5 million gallons of raw, untreated human waste spilled into the waters in Wake County. That figure was twice as high as any other county in the state, and the greatest amount, far more than half, came from Raleigh’s sewer lines.
The chronology is available on the Neuse River Foundation’s Web site at http://www.neuseriver.org in the section titled Raleigh Public Utilities. There is a foreword by Naujoks before the chronology. You can also e-mail Carol Pelosi at cwpelosi@aol.com and ask for a copy by e-mail.
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