The Wake Forest Planning Board members saw a lot to like about the plan for Forestville Towns, 95 townhouses on the deadend section of Forestville Road reached only by a short street off Rogers Road. It is close to shops and restaurants; the U design makes it compact, leaving a lot of untouched open space; the developer plans to move a power line; and the active open space would include a bocce court and a volleyball/badminton court.
But there were down sides. Everyone was concerned about the traffic which would have to enter Rogers Road at the intersection where the Wake Forest Police Department stations an officer to direct traffic so that vehicles on the short street can turn right or left. Chairman Ed Gary very emphatically objected to the use of vinyl siding from personal experience, he said, and from the examples of fires locally where vinyl siding helped spread house fires. They questioned the traffic report which said there would be 35 vehicles exiting the project at peak hours. They also questioned the connection to Forestville Road by an unnamed street in the adjoining Holding Village subdivision. Then there was the alley which would make a third entrance/exit to Forestville Road at its T intersection with the short street, with Joe Kimray calling it “an accident waiting to happen.”
In the end, the eight members (Chad Sary was absent), decided against asking for a full traffic study which Thad Jusczcak said would just show what we all know. Instead they voted five to three for Colleen Sharpe’s motion that there be no vinyl siding, that the alley meeting the street would end in a cul-de-sac and that the required sidewalk on the south side of the street would be eliminated.
The plan now goes to the town commissioners, who sat in on the public hearing and then sat in the audience to listen to the planning board’s discussion. They will consider the plan at their Dec. 19 meeting.
