Town will spend $1.6 M on streets

Friday, during the Wake Forest Town Board’s annual planning retreat, Engineering Director Eric Keravuori outlined a $1.6-million plan to rehabilitate town streets ($1,000,600), extend and connect Royal Mill Avenue ($327,000) and Forest Drive ($160,000), repair curbs in South Forest Business Park ($87,400), and restripe Retail Drive ($25,000).

Keravuori said every street in town was inspected and prioritized for repairs. They found 59 street segments which scored 80 or less and will be rehabilitated. For the most part, that will mean the broken, cracked asphalt will be milled out and filled in. He also noted that the City of Raleigh plans to do a number of maintenance projects for the water and sewer system it owns, plans which will entail “tearing up the streets.”

Connecting the two parts of Royal Mill Avenue to make it an east-west route between North White Street and Traditions Grande Boulevard is something the Wake Forest Police Department wants, Keravuori said. And the short section of Forest Road off Ligon Mill Road will connect it to Wake Drive and South Main Street.

He was questioned about other connections such as the two sections of South Allen Road, which is planned, and the connection of Ligon Mill Road with the N.C. 98 Bypass. That last, he said, is waiting on future development to build the last section of road, which is complete within the Reynolds Mill subdivision. “Some future connections are waiting for other conditions” to be met, he said.

Commissioner Margaret Stinnett wanted to know about some needed traffic signals. Keravuori said the signals at Heritage Branch Road and Rogers Road is “in the pipeline,” being designed but without what he called fancy poles because the nearby CSX rail line may be realigned when the southeast high-speed rail project is approved and funded by Congress. Also, he said, the Heritage Club Avenue and Heritage Lake Road intersection does meet the requirements for a set of signals but he did not give any time for that.

Assistant Town Manager Candace Davis was asked about the schedule for the Stadium Drive Complete Street, and she said as soon as the town obtains the right-of-way necessary from the owners of North Forest apartments they will be able to go forward.

South Franklin Street will be extended from its current deadend north of Rogers Road to the N.C. 98 Bypass before the Holding Village developers can get a building permit for the 400^th dwelling unit. “They’re not there yet, but they’re getting closer every day,” Planning Director Chip Russell said.

How will the town raise the $1.6 million? Finance Director Aileen Staples answered that and how to fund several other projects when she spoke after Keravuori.

The town has a debt total of $28.7 million, which is $25.4 million governmental activities, $600,000 water and sewer fund which will be paid off this May, and $2.7 million for the electric fund. There is another $20,770,000 of future debt for projects authorized in the November 2014 referendum which has not been used. Those funds will be issued as general obligation bonds which the town will purchase as needed for the projects. Staples said the town’s percentage of debt to its property valuation is 1.0225 percent, under the town’s policy of keeping debt at or under 2 percent and well under the 8 percent allowed by the state.

Staples and Town Manager Kip Padgett work to structure the town’s debt to remain under a $10 million threshold. For instance, this current fiscal year the town plans to borrow money for equipment and vehicles (just over $1 million), Holding Park Pool renovations ($2.5 million) and the street rehabilitation project ($1.6 million) for a total of $5,123,170.

In fiscal 2018 the debt taken on will be an estimated $9.3 million for the senior center expansion, the E. Carroll Joyner Park Community Center and equipment and vehicles. In 2019 the new debt will total $8.9 million for several greenway projects and the Joyner Park project as well as equipment and vehicles. In 2020 the debt is estimated to be $6 million for streets and sidewalks. All the projects aside from equipment and vehicles were approved in that 2014 bond referendum.

In the near future – 2019 to 2021 – the town will also face renovating or replacing the current public works operations center on Friendship Chapel Road for an estimated $27.5 million. Staples said the debt service impact will be split between the general and the electric fund and the funding will come from either installment purchase agreements or limited obligation bonds where the surety is the asset that is being financed.

In the near future, Staples will be speaking with the Local Government Commission which oversees debt and spending by municipalities about the current debt as well as the future debt and the town’s options. She plans to complete a five-year debt forecast for the 2017-2018 budget and will recommend allocating part of the property tax rate for a debt service fund as well as retaining a financial advisor.

During his first months as town manager, Padgett proposed the big fix for town streets – quickly bringing them up to the town’s standard and providing a regular maintenance schedule afterward. At that time, early February last year there were 97 miles of town-owned streets; there are now 99.55 miles.

He said then that 16.1 percent of the town streets needed work, 3 percent had settling issue (slumping) and 63 percent had alligator cracking. A 2015 survey found 61 potholes.

The study and plan of action along with the financial plan presented Friday were the result of his proposal which was quickly agreed to by the commissioners. (See the Feb. 3, 2016 issue of the Gazette for the full discussion.)