Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Hey, good evening. I call to order the 18 August 2026 Board of Commissioners meeting. At this time, I'm going to ask a special guest to join me up at the microphone, Claire Deo. She's going to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Please join me in saying the Pledge of Allegiance. Oh, OK.

So there you go. So you can broadcast.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

Thank you, Claire. Now you're going to have to get an agent after this because everybody's going to be calling and stuff. But thank you for sharing that and doing that with us tonight. Okay, so first step, approval of the minutes of the June 2nd Board of Commissioners work session minutes. Can I get a motion for approval?

Hold on. Mayor, I'd like to add an item to the agenda, actually. Okay. I'd like to have the age-friendly action plan returned to the agenda for tonight for consideration.

Do we have a second? Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed? The ayes have it.

For point of clarification, Mayor, was that approval of the adding it to the agenda or was that the motion?

That was for to add it to the agenda.

Okay.

Just want to make sure we're clear.

Okay. And now let's move to approval of the minutes for the June 2nd Board of Commissioners Work Session Minutes. Making a motion for approval.

Second.

All in favor, please. Aye.

Aye.

All opposed? The ayes have it. Thank you. Our next step is, let's see, I think I've got a copy of it. The resolution recognizing Elizabeth Bess Martinson.

Let me see. I think I've got it right here.

And what I'd like to do is, Ms. Martinson's not with us tonight, but I want to read this into the record. It's a resolution of appreciation for the service of Bess Martinson, resolution number 202645. Whereas Bess Martinson was initially hired as a communications specialist with the town of Wake Forest on 13 April 2010, was named graphics coordinator in 2016, and was later promoted to graphics manager, effective July 1st, 2022. And whereas with over 16 years of service to our community and a retirement date of 31 August, 2026, Bess has served unselfishly in her capacity for the good of the town of Wake Forest, making numerous sacrifices in personal and family ties, And whereas Bess has led the communication department's graphic teams with unsurpassed professionalism, fostering a goal-oriented and collaborative culture aligned with the town's strategic priorities and core values, and whereas Bess has earned tremendous respect from her team and coworkers, is recognized across Wake Forest and for her exceptional talents and is known for her willingness to collaborate, consistently promoting a spirit of mutual respect and teamwork throughout our organization, and whereas Bess has served with distinction as a champion for Wake Forest, significantly enhancing the town's status by designing and producing exceptional digital and printed graphics, and whereas she worked diligently to bring positive attention to our community by developing, protecting, and promoting Wake Forest's brand. Now, therefore, be it resolved by the Board of Commissioners of the Town of Wake Forest, North Carolina, that Bess Martinson is hereby officially commended by this Board on behalf of the citizens of Wake Forest for valuable and outstanding service rendered to the Town of Wake Forest in this official capacity as Graphic Manager. Be it therefore resolved that this resolution be made as part of the permanent records of the town of Wake Forest and that a copy of this resolution be presented to Bess Martinson this 18th day of August 26. Signed by me, Ben Clapsaddle, Mayor. The next I have, and let's make sure I got this all right. A proclamation recognizing September as National Service Dog Month. And I believe we have a guest with us tonight. And I did write it down. Oh, here it is. Elaine, please pardon me if I say this wrong. Elaine Avocado? Did I say that right? Yes. Oh, OK. You all can come right on up. We're going to come right up to the microphone. Are we ready? Are you guys?

Come on up right up here.

So that way we get all of you. Lou and Derek up here has taken pictures of you here now. Proclamation recognizing September as National Service Dog Month. Whereas the town of Wake Forest recognizes the transformative power of the human-canine bond and is committed to fostering an inclusive community where all residents are valued, supported, and empowered to participate fully in community life, And whereas service dogs are expertly trained to perform specific tasks that assist people with disabilities, promoting greater independence and confidence, mobility, and safety while enhancing their quality of life. And whereas for more than five decades, service dogs have helped people with disabilities overcome barriers and live more independent, productive, and fulfilling lives. And whereas National Service Dog Month provides an opportunity to educate the public about the vital role service dogs play, as well as the federal and state laws that protect the rights of individuals who rely on them. And whereas the Town of Wake Forest celebrates the contributions of service dogs and their handlers and encourages greater awareness, understanding, respect, and inclusion for all members of our community. Now, therefore, I, Ben Clapsaddle, Mayor of the Town of Wake Forest, on behalf of the Board of Commissioners, hereby proclaim September 2026 as National Service Dog Month in the Town of Wake Forest and encourage all residents to recognize the invaluable contributions of service dogs and to support a community where individuals with disabilities are welcomed with dignity, respect, and equal opportunity. in official recognition whereof I hereby affix my signature this 18th day of August 2026.

Hi, I'm Misty Dayo. I am the president of the Wake Forest Women's Club. And as Mayor Clapsaddle said, we are members of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, one of the largest non-denominational, non-partisan service organizations in the world. And in our federation, one of our focuses is the GFWC affiliate of Canine Companions. And so we asked for this proclamation today to make our public aware of the value of service dogs. And we appreciate the Board of Commissioners for granting that for us. And we appreciate you having us today.

Thank you so much.

Our next item on the agenda is a public hearing on legislative case RZ25-033832 Rogers Road rezoning. A rezoning request filed by Worth Mills to rezone 2.98 acres located at 3832 Rogers Road being tax county pins 174988. 4789 from Wake County's residential 30 R 30 to neighborhood mixed-use conditional district NMX CD mr. wave on Walker if I may interrupt real quick mr. mayor I need to recuse myself from items 4a 4b 7a and 7b from can't consider I can't participate in those items so notice sir

I think it requires a motion from the board to allow me not to step down. That's correct.

Is that correct? Yes.

Do I have a motion from the board to recuse? So moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Thank you, sir. The ayes have it. Thank you, sir.

Yes. Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners, Rayvon Walker, Planner 2 with the Planning Department. Before the applicant gives his presentation, I wanted to provide an update to the board that the applicant reached out to staff yesterday and offered some revisions to the proposed permitted uses for their petition. Here is the revised table of the permitted uses for this rezoning. The applicant has offered five more commercial and entertainment type uses and removed one specific one, which are shown in red on the slide. The changes were made to make the petition more consistent with the activity center community plan classification of the subject property. However, I wanted to note that staff still recommends denial, even when considering the most recent changes, because a list of permitted uses alone without a site master plan is not enough for us to support the rezoning as proposed. So with that, I can answer any questions you all may have.

Any questions for Mr. Walker?

If not, the applicant is here and has a presentation.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, Commissioners, Worth, Mills, with Longleaf Law Partners, 4509 Creedmoor Road, Suite 302 in Raleigh, 27612. I'm here on behalf of PRMS Investments LLC, who is the contract purchaser and the rezoning applicant for this case. Pablo Reeder and Michelle Sims are members of that LLC. They are present tonight. Also joining me are Morgan Cook, our traffic engineer with Kimley Horn, and Mike Davidson, our engineer with Timmons. I do want to note, before we go any further, that our team is open to a continuance or a deferral if there are comments from the public or the board that we can address at a later meeting. So to give you a sense of where this property is currently, It is owned by three siblings. The property is currently going through a judicial partition sale. PRMS Investments is under contract to purchase the property. Their intention is to develop it for a daycare center, as well as some neighborhood serving general commercial uses. We are requesting to rezone this property, 2.98 acres, from R30, which is a Wake County zoning, to Neighborhood Mixed Use Conditional District. There is competing recommendations within the community plan about this case, but in all of the recommendations, some limited low-scale commercial uses are contemplated. So 3832 Rogers Road sits between that stretch of Rogers, between Forestville Road and Marshall Farm Street. You can see Heritage Golf Course on the north side across Rogers Road. We are sort of to the north and to the west of two different townhome subdivisions. And you can see that Golden Poppy Court in the southwest corner of our site currently stubs to our southern property line. So the need for another daycare center in this location, I know it is no surprise to the board, but Wake Forest is experiencing significant population growth. I believe they've almost doubled population since 2010 from 30-odd thousand residents to over 58,000 as of 2025. We are seeing existing childcare providers experiencing capacity constraints experiencing wait lists sometimes wait lists up to seven to ten or seven to twelve months and we are seeing the most pressure on that sort of infant and toddler care provider so age is zero to three years old So in our view, the need for a new daycare center at this location near existing communities, the demand is there today. And demand has not kept up with Wake Forest's growing population of young families. This slide here shows the permitted uses that we have included in the formal submittal to Wake Forest Planning Department. You can see the list of uses here, all of which are sort of those smaller scale neighborhood serving commercial uses. But again, the ultimate goal at this site is to develop it for a daycare and for that sort of general retail commercial building separate and apart from the daycare. We have also offered additional zoning conditions. I'll pass these around. We've offered these at the planning board. These are conditions that go above and beyond just that use condition. And I'll highlight major topics in just a second.

Please provide those to the town clerk. Sir, please provide those to the town clerk. Yes, sir.

Yes. So while the town clerk passes around that document, I will just go over and summarize these additional conditions that we have submitted tonight. These have been reviewed by the planning department over the course of our rezoning review process. First, we have set a maximum non-residential development of no more than 24,000 square feet of gross floor area. We have set a maximum residential development of no more than five dwelling units. Live work unit is the only residential use that's permitted in this conditional district. We have limited building height maximums to one story within 75 feet of all of our property lines and then two stories outside of that restricted area. We wanted to be mindful of our neighborhoods to the south and to the east. We have increased screening along all of our property boundaries, which includes a 8-foot opaque fence sort of around eastern western southern property boundaries We have playground and parking setbacks to each of the three adjacent properties We have a commitment to extend golden poppy through our site and then ultimately stubbing at the shared property boundary with that 3816 Rogers Road parcel immediately to our west. We are requiring a pedestrian connection to Golden Poppy, but we are prohibiting any vehicular connections to Golden Poppy. During our neighborhood meeting, neighbors were consistent in their opposition to any new traffic from this site using Golden Poppy or any of those neighborhood streets to our south. We also have a commitment to limit height of any pole-mounted lighting fixtures. We have a commitment to a frontage build out along Rogers Road of at least 35%, and a commitment to construct all of the recommended improvements in the TIA that was performed by Morgan, who will get up and speak to that in just a couple of moments. This is a concept plan that was put together by Mike Davidson at Timmons. This is not part of our rezoning submittal, but we have been tweaking this plan throughout the rezoning process. This is what is reflected in our zoning conditions. And it also reflects the conversations that we've had with NCDOT regarding the extension of Golden Poppy and the location of this driveway. So what you're seeing here, one full movement driveway along Rogers. Two separate buildings on the left side is the building for daycare. On the right side is the building for those neighborhoods serving commercial uses. Stormwater located likely along the sort of southern half of this site You can see the extension of Golden Poppy through our site and then stubbing to that property boundary you can see the pedestrian connection that we are requiring within our additional zoning commitments, but again, no vehicular traffic from this site would be using Golden Poppy and We think the community plan demonstrates a need for new commercial in this area as well. This is an excerpt of the land use plan designating this site as mixed residential. Our site is noted with the blue star. Mixed residential is going to recommend primarily a mix of different housing types, but it does list in the supporting uses both commercial corner store and professional service. So even within this mixed residential designation, there is a contemplation for some limited retail to serve these neighborhoods. And when you look at the sort of larger area of mixed residential around this site and look at the 2025 aerial on the right-hand side. Most of this mixed residential property has already been developed and is sort of part and parcel of the larger heritage community. And so this rezoning represents sort of limited opportunities to create infill commercial within this mixed residential land use area. We are also within an activity center. You can see on the screen that the sort of eastern edge of the Rogers Road activity center clips this site. The activity center itself calls for new commercial uses as places for folks to gather and sort of be the focal point of communities. While this property and this proposed project may not be bringing adults together, we are trying to walk that balance between new commercial infill along Rogers with balancing and mitigating any of those impacts to our residential neighbors. And then lastly, the commercial and industrial areas plan map. We are outside of the geographic scope of the Rogers Road corridor, but we are within that activity center highlighted on the screen. And the Rogers Road corridor area plan also contemplates for infill commercial uses, especially given the amount of traffic on Rogers Road. Is that really a suitable place for new residential uses? Now Morgan Cook will come up and walk through the traffic impact analysis that her and her firm completed.

Thanks, Worth. My name is Morgan Cook. I'm with Kimley Horne. Our address is 421 Fayetteville Street, Suite 600, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27601. I'm going to run you really quickly through our TIA timeline for this project. We collected traffic counts on May 29th of 2025. Our study intersections were approved by NCDOT and the town prior to our full TIA scope in order to get traffic counts collected before schools let out for the summer. Our full TIA assumptions were approved both by NCDOT and the town on June 16th. Our TIA was submitted on August 7th. NCDOT approval issued in late September, and they concurred with our TIA recommendations. And then our town approval was finalized in March of this year after some rounds of comments that town staff had. So some points of concern regarding the Golden Poppy Court and driveway locations. As you can see with that full red line there, kind of east of Golden Poppy Court, that's where our site driveway would be located. The blue line shows the future extension of Golden Poppy Court all the way to Rogers Road with that red line showing what we would extend through our property. The distances between the neighboring intersections of Rogers Branch Road to our full movement site driveway is a little bit over 1,200 feet, and the distance between our full movement driveway over to Marshall Farm is about 1,300 feet. NCDOT spacing requirements typically, and as quoted on your screen, They prefer no full movement crossings closer than about 1200 feet on divided highways, which Rogers Road and the ultimate plan is a four lane divided highway. NCDOT requirements for site distance at the site driveway will be met in order to obtain the driveway permit per NCDOT guidelines. As Worth mentioned, during neighborhood and past planning board meetings, neighbors have expressed a desire for Golden Poppy to be restricted to right-in, right-out access only to minimize traffic using that street to access the neighborhood. And also, as Worth mentioned, a pedestrian connection would be provided from the site over to Golden Poppy. This is our required offsite improvements, also with some notes there concerning NCDOT and town comments. So as you can see, we have two turn lanes, a left turn lane coming into our site, as well as that right turn lane, both about 100 feet of storage. And then we have 100 foot of internal protected stem for these turn lanes leaving the site. Um, over at Rogers branch road and Rogers road, there was some discussion with town staff about a potential family Lou for, uh, some future signalization. So that's still, um, in coordination there. Um, overall our daily site traffic, uh, only has an impact of about 3% on Rogers road, um, in the vicinity of our site. Again, here's our site plan. You can see that, um, full golden, golden poppy extension there to the north to Rogers road. Um, you can see our turn lane improvements on the site plan, as well as that full internal protected stem, um, for the site. You can see our pedestrian connections and you know, that future widening eventually for, uh, to allow that four lane divided road. And I'll turn it back over to work.

Thank you, Morgan. So just to summarize, this proposed zoning would add new commercial development to an infill property along Rogers Road, which, as you've seen in the community plan, has multiple recommendations for new commercial programming in those areas. We've offered a use condition and other zoning conditions at this hearing. that mitigate potential impacts to our residential neighbors. We have, in our view, blended the recommendations of the neighborhood supporting commercial uses within the mixed residential designation with the more commercially focused recommendations within the activity center, which is, I think, very difficult to accomplish. And lastly, we are extending Golden Poppy for its ultimate connection to Rogers Road, but at the behest of neighbors, we are not offering to put any new traffic, any new cars on Golden Poppy Court. So for those reasons, we think the request is reasonable and in the public interest. But again, our whole team is here to answer any questions. We are open to comments and feedback, and we appreciate the time to present to you this evening. Thank you.

Any questions for either Mr. Walker or the applicant?

I was going to say, I got a question, I think, addressing the statement at the top, but it might be more for staff as a procedural one. It's been a while since we've had any kind of delay in an application. Typically, I think the applicant has requested like formally requested an extension But if we were to do it we'd have to table it but I want to make sure that we wouldn't run into any automatic approvals with that time frame I Know there's a time frame. We have to act where's the tabling count is the act?

You can table it what you do is leave the public comment open until the next regular session nothing would happen in the meantime if you if you took that route and

Okay, and then we would just have to table it to the date certain in September. Exactly. And then along with that, if we went that route, would the annexation go along with that, or would it be best to act on both together, I guess, in the same meeting?

That would be my suggestion. You don't have to, but that would be my suggestion to handle them both at the same time since they're very related. All right. Thank you very much.

Any other questions? So our next part, just make sure I've got this right, our next part is public comment at this stage on this particular issue itself, not on 4B, just 4A.

That's correct. Okay.

unless there's a motion that we have. But OK, so at this opportunity now, we have public comments or public comments on the hearing. And what I ask you to do is address it to the board, not to an individual. And I believe it's three minutes. That'll be based on the clock. And the first person I have on this is, and please, Miss Evelyn, if I've got this wrong, is Mr. Jim Hill is the first one that's speaking.

Good evening. My name is Jim Hill. I live at 3825 Wildbedrow Lane. It backs directly up to the property in question. My wife, Lori, and I have lived in that townhome for 15 years. I want to begin by saying that we understand and support the need for quality child care in our growing community. My concern is not with the daycare. It's concerned with the commercial daycare is appropriate for this particular location and what rezoning will mean to the established residential neighborhood completely surrounding it, right? For 15 years, the property directly behind our home has been residential. With a home, acreage, and mature trees, the property on the other side is also residential. That's the neighborhood we bought into, right? So changing 3832 Rogers Road from R30 to a neighborhood mixed-use conditional district fundamentally changes all of that. I believe there should be a demonstrated need before making such a significant change. Has an actual third party study been done on whether we actually need this child care facility? There's already numerous childhood facilities nearby. So the question isn't does Wake Forest need child care? Of course it does. The question is how many additional child care spaces are needed in this specific area and why does that require converting residential property directly behind an established neighborhood? Traffic is another serious concern. That study was over a year old. A daycare creates concentrated vehicle trips during morning drop off and afternoon pickup, exactly when Rogers Road is the busiest. And traffic isn't the only impact. We're talking about noise, outdoor players, headlights, parking, deliveries, trash service, lighting, tree removal, stormwater, loss of privacy, and a permanent transition from a residential setting to a commercial operation. There is also a neighboring homeowner who has relied upon a longstanding verbal agreement for driveway access along this property. What happens to their access? The issue deserves an answer before the property is rezoned. The property owner currently benefits financially from this more intensive zoning, but that benefit should not come by transferring the consequences to the surrounding homeowners. Before approving this, I respectfully ask the Town to require evidence of local child care capacity and demand, a detailed peak hour traffic analysis that's current, and clear current plan protecting adjacent homeowners from noise, lighting, traffic, and loss of privacy. We're not asking Wake Forest to stop growth. We're asking to make sure the growth is appropriate for the location. After 15 years of calling this home, we respectfully ask for you to preserve the residential character of our neighborhood and deny this rezoning request. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, Mr. Hill. Our next speaker is Mr. Doug Woods. Good evening.

My name is Doug Woods. I live at 1112 Golden Poppy Court. I'm the president of the board of directors for the Heritage Spring HOA. We represent 48 homeowners whose northern property line directly borders the new development, Heritage Springs Circle. I have two issues to talk about. One is Golden Poppy Court, the stub. And the other one is the proposed stormwater basin directly behind our homeowners. As far as the Golden Poppy Court stub, about five years, six years ago, the town of Wake Forest accepted our roads as public streets. And they removed all the speed bumps, which they normally do. And since then, we've seen an enormous increase in other traffic in our neighborhood. If you open the stub, it would create a greater and much greater influx of cut-through traffic that would be a serious hazard for all our residents. And I noticed on the map, it was the first time they presented that map of the development property, that they're only going to extend it so far. But obviously, the lines are continued right through to Rogers Road, which would not be recommended for our neighborhood. One parked car on our street, Golden Poppy, creates a one-way road. It's only 20 feet wide. So we would prefer that you not open this road to the development. The second part that I'd like to talk about is the stormwater basin. There's eight homeowners on the northern side of Heritage Spring Circle. And they go from 3801 to 3815 Heritage Spring Circle. Five of those homes are protected in the back of their yards. And I mean yards. They have a patio. It's about 20 feet wide, deep. And in back of that is a retaining wall, which over 210 feet of it is protected by a wall that is 7 to 10 feet high, because the property we're talking about is much higher than the homes that border it. This wall was built in 2007. And since 2007, we've had no problems. No water, no structural, no repairs. The wall was very well built. Any project that starts to build a retention pond behind that wall, it potentially creates a serious structural issue and weakens a well-constructed 19-year-old 210-foot wall. That would endanger residents. It would potentially cause the neighborhood unimaginable financial harm if that wall was to fail. So the Heritage HOA, me being the president, would not be in favor of that development as it's currently proposed. Thanks for your time.

Thank you, sir. Our next speaker is Miss Jennifer Wyatt.

Good evening. Can you hear me? Good evening.

Pull them down just a little bit.

Good evening, board members. My name is Jennifer Wyatt. I am one of the homeowners whose property directly borders the proposed development at 3832 Rogers Road that Doug just spoke about. First, I understand Wake Forest is growing. I am supportive of development when it's paired with responsible growth and a commitment to the surrounding community. That said, I want to express my concern about the proposed stormwater management area from a homeowner's perspective. At least eight homes directly border the property, including mine. We do not have traditional backyards. It's a patio, as Doug just mentioned. We essentially have the patio and a retaining wall, and that's it. I ask you to consider whether placing a stormwater management system, a retention pond, so close to our existing homes is appropriate, particularly the potential consequences, such as drainage issues, standing water, mosquitoes, property damage, and impacts on property values at minimum. So respectfully, I would ask, would you be comfortable with this residing so close to your own home? If not, please do not ask us to accept the same risk. My second concern is traffic and safety. St. Rogers Road already serves a high volume of traffic related to Heritage Elementary, Heritage Middle, and Heritage High School. Two of my children have attended all three schools, and I currently drive my youngest, who attends Heritage Middle. I know this traffic pattern firsthand. Adding daycare traffic at the same time introduces additional risk of an already congested street. Safety on our roads is deeply personal to me. Last year, my son was involved in a devastating car accident in which the driver lost his life. By a miracle, my son survived, followed by a long and difficult recovery that continues to affect him today. Now, his accident was not related to that location, but it has permanently changed how I view risk and safety. So when we identify potential safety concerns, we have a responsibility to take it seriously before tragedy has the chance to occur. I finally moved into this home last November after a long year, downsizing from my long-term family home in Heritage. An incredibly difficult year, this home represented a fresh start and a sense of peace. Today, I feel tremendous angst about what is being proposed just feet away from my home. I'm not asking you to stop progress in the community. I'm asking you to ensure that progress does not transfer its risk and consequences onto the families who already live there. So please only approve something that you too would be comfortable accepting behind your personal home. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Our next speaker is Mr. Kenneth Christie. And I see that you're signed up for both 4A and 4B, so our discussion now is 4A, sir.

Good evening, Board of Commissioners, Mayor. My name is Kenneth Christie. I live at 1111 Golden Poppy Court in Wake Forest, North Carolina. I've been here a long time. What you've heard from a few of the residents, and there's a lot more, the surrounding neighborhood would like you to, the Board of Commissioners, to deny RZ 2503 and 3832 Rogers Road, town of Wake Forest, rezoning and annexation. The long-leaf proposal for the neighborhood basically is asking for mixed-use conditional district, NMX-CD. Our rezoning is unacceptable for the following reasons. The original zoning plan and conditions were totally denied by not only the planning department, but also by the town of Wake Forest Planning Board. And some of the criteria I see as benchmarks to denial. It is inconsistent, to say the least, with the community plan for mixed residential. Mixed residential means residential is primary use. They want a supportive use as the primary use, which doesn't make sense to me. And I also showed, it was mentioned before, that figures one and two I included in my package also show surrounding housing going around above this site. It also must be denied because the current Town of Wake Forest zoning district, NMR, does not permit a variety commercial uses and conditions, which was laid out in the community plan consistency grid. The only negative was the RC4, in other words, for the commercial use. No was the answer on that. Must be denied because proposed 20 conditions are too vague indefinable, nebulous, and imprecise. It must be denied because it is totally inconsistent with the Wake Forest's UDO and community plan vision, the concept plan. It did not represent or does not represent the town of Wake Forest's residential mixed use, such as destroying and maintaining canopy, the lush canopy, and totally ignores, quote, ensuring sufficient infrastructure is in place. It must be denied because the plan ignores numerous and unresolved North Carolina road hazards. This TIA, I've been trying to get a copy of it to see what the wait times would be at the intersections they're talking about. I have not seen any data on that, and it is over a year old anyway. It must be denied because the plan ignores numerous and unresolved North Carolina Department of Transportation hazards. Matter of fact, the planning department had their response to this plan, and they've never been answered. Must be denied because the plan is lacking canopy coverages, 4 to 1 tree replacement, and must be denied because the planned property proposed cannot be annexed in the town of Lake Forest without rezoning and ETJ. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Miss Mary Woods?

Good evening. Thanks for listening. My name's Mary Woods, and I've been a resident of Wake Forest for 20 years. I currently live at 1112 Golden Poppy Court in a neighborhood called Heritage Spring, which you've all heard about. When the builder developed this neighborhood in 2007, the roads built were private. Over the years, our residents went through the difficult task of getting our roads converted from private to public roads of Wake County. That change provides us now with road upkeep, repairs, and snow removal when needed. What it did not do is change the width of those existing roads. As a result, Golden Poppy Court, which currently dead ends into the adjacent property being discussed tonight, measures only 20 feet in width. I did send some pictures, but I don't know if they're around. But I'll let you work on that. Thank you. A mid-sized SUV vehicle measures 7 feet 3 inches at its widest point, including the side view mirrors. I demonstrated the size in the photographs I provided, and hopefully we'll see those soon. But if you do the math, you can see two vehicles parked on either side of a street with a very limited alley between them. Also in that picture, you'll see the tail end of Golden Poppy that abuts this adjacent property that shows the proximity of the houses close to the street, as well as very short driveways, which just about cover allow parking for that resident. Conversely, a few blocks from this area, the extension of Marshall Farm Street, built in 2024, shows a road width of 25 feet near the Sanford Creek Greenway entrance. And beyond that point, Marshall Farm Street was expanded to 33 feet width. into that new neighborhood, Regency at Heritage. The width of this new road at 33 feet can accommodate a parked vehicle as well as two-way traffic. They fortunately had the space to do that. The space at Golden Poppy is limited to width expansion due to the very short driveways I just talked about and the proximity of the houses to the street. So all this to say that the proposed development of the Rogers Road land parcel is part of the future. I get that. But considering any type of vehicular access from Golden Poppy to this new development would negatively impact our neighborhood by imposing one- or two-way traffic down this very narrow roadway. I hope you will consider this as you discuss and debate how progressive growth in Wake Forest like this could disrupt or destroy an existing area and quite possibly cause more vehicular tension. We need to avoid any potential motor vehicle or pedestrian accidents. And that's about it. Thank you very much for listening. I appreciate it. And I hope that the photographs would be available for you if you have any questions.

Thank you.

OK, thanks.

That closes all the people that have signed up for the public hearing. This time I close the public hearing on legislative case RZ25033832, Rogers Road rezoning. We have our next public hearing is on contiguous annexation submitted by property owners, Donald Lee Edens, John Barry Edens, and Brenda Gale Edens Denton, located at 3832 Rogers Road, being Wake County Pen, 1749884789, being approximately 2.97 acres. Mr. Harvey Schwartz?

Good evening. Uh, there's no new, no new news report, um, on this annexation since, um, it was previously presented for sufficiency. It's associated with, um, the rezoning, uh, before you tonight. And so this is the next step in the process to have a hold of public hearing on it.

Thank you. And I do have a one person that signed up for comments and it's listed Mr. Christie, uh, again for four B.

I don't know where we're going with that, but we'll let it go anyway.

Pretty much on this is what I said before, but again, Ken Christie, 1111 Golden Papi Court, Wake Forest. My understanding of annexation is that if you don't rezone, you can't annex. So the first part is important to the second part. There were no site plans provided to us. The only reason I had any idea what the site plan was I went into the town's development, proposed development plan site and I went and did that. There were no responses to any of the staff comments for response on their statement, to the town's statement, which means that they don't want to answer the questions and they go into this point of conditions as the issue. The thing that bothers me the most is you don't have a site plan. You don't have any kind of planning going into this from the town. Therefore, what do you know about the impact of having something like this dropped on the town, and you don't know what it is? How do you plan for resources? How do you plan for utilities? How do you plan for police, fire department? All of these factors, the schools are right nearby too. But I don't know what's going on from that point of view. So my point is, no rezone, no annexation. One hand feeds the other one in that one. So let's not do the first one, and we won't have to worry about the second one, which doesn't make any sense to me. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. And with that, I close the public hearing on the contiguous annexation submitted by the property owners. Our next, we're going to move into public comments. And I just want to remind everybody, again, you will have three minutes. I'll wait for Mr. B to be back. We missed you. And if anyone would like to address the Board of Commissioners on an item other than the public hearing item during the time of public comment, you've signed up with the town clerk. Each speaker is asked to limit the comments to three minutes, and you provide copies of your handouts for the board. And again, if you have a handout or something, please submit it to Ms. Evelyn, not directly to the board. The board is interested to hear your concerns. Speakers should not expect the board action or deliberation on subject matter brought up during the public comment segment. And again, I ask you to address the board in total, not to an individual. And please keep, you know, we try to keep everything with dignity and respect as we discuss things. The first person I have signed up for general comments is Bailey DeBarmore. Did I say that right? I'd apologize if I didn't.

You did a great job, Mayor. Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners. My name is Bailey DeBarmore, and I live on one of the corners of Friendship Chapel and South Franklin Street in Holding Village neighborhood. I chose to build my first house here in 2023 because I believe in Wake Forest growth. But I've been watching a pattern that concerns me, and I want to walk you through what the research shows. This loop is a high volume through route between two major corridors in town. The South Franklin Street expansion increased the road from two to four lanes, and now an extension of Friendship Chapel Road, shown here in orange, is being built to connect Heritage Lake Road feeding into the same network. The town has identified this connection as important for townwide connectivity and traffic flow, but the town's growth and the town's infrastructure decisions have consequences that need to be managed now, not after we've had an incident. Three street signs have been damaged by vehicles. Five street trees have been hit by cars. These are incidents happening on pedestrian routes at school bus stop corners. Residents are scared. They wonder, when will it be me instead of a tree? That's the question that I'm asking you to help answer. I have three data points for you. First, crashes on curves are three times more common than on straight roads, and a key factor is speed. When drivers have long straightaways to build up momentum before hitting a curve, the risk worsens, and our loop has that problem. Second, speed matters for pedestrian survival. At 25 miles per hour, which is the posted limit in our loop, a parent walking their child to daycare has about 64% chance of survival. At 35 miles per hour, that drops to 49%. In 2024, when the town placed mobile speed readers on Franklin Street, anecdotally, we saw speeds up to 50 miles per hour during rush hour. Third, wrong-way driving on one-way streets is one of the deadliest crash types. We see it here regularly, and it's not random driver error. It's a confusing road design. Now, the town has tried solutions, signage, striping, speeding tickets. Enforcement has helped, but it's temporary. You cannot ask officers to camp on one street forever. So I'm asking one of you to make this your cause. The town took ownership of the street in June. I'm asking one of you to take ownership of the issue. Facilitate a coordinated and strategic plan about South Franklin Street. It's not about overriding policy or finding more money. It's about not wasting the money that you're already spending. Before the Friendship Chapel Road extension compounds the issue, Please help us make this area safe. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Our next is Mr. David Jarose. Hopefully I said that right.

Good evening. David Giroux, 617 Young Forest Drive. I'm representing the Wake Forest Area Tennis Association. Flaherty courts are getting ready to be rebuilt. We've had a year knowing that they were going to be destroyed and hopefully rebuilt better. But we never made arrangements, and the town didn't really make arrangements for all of the tennis league play to go elsewhere. Currently, we have a joint use agreement with Heritage High School to play after hours, and when we tried approaching Wake Forest High School, we couldn't even get in the conversation. We were told that we had to go to the education board from Wake County and start there, but they're not going to listen to an individual, they're not going to listen to our association. I have two asks. Could you all make a recommendation to the school board to sit down with us and discuss having a joint use agreement where we can play on those courts? Granted, after hours, but tennis is huge in Wake Forest. We have several leagues that play at night. We do not have the courts. And currently now, the 50 guys that are playing on Tuesdays and Thursdays will be going down to Raleigh to play at Spring Forest Park. So all that is leaving Wake Forest. And my second ask is, I would love to be part of the reconstruction process, because the reason those courts failed is no one checked the compaction of the subsoil beneath those courts. As a geologist, you should see those courts. They're awesome. We have the biggest faults you've ever seen running across those courts, and it makes the game very exciting. But if you're going to spend $1.4 million to redo these courts, And thank you very much for finally putting water up there so we can have water fountains. Let's make sure that they're done right. So we would appreciate anything you guys can do to keep that sport here in Wake Forest. Oh, by the way, and the second thing, or the third thing, is the plan for Park and Rec used to have tennis courts as part of Joyner Park. That was phase three. And it disappeared. How do we get those tennis courts built over in Joyner Park, where all that property is, to continue, again, this great sport? So thank you all very much for your attention.

Thank you, sir. Our next speaker is Mr. Jennifer Amix.

Good evening. My name is Jennifer Amix, and I live on Calvados Drive in Wake Forest. On June 19, the town of Wake Forest announced its closure of the miles of the trails nicknamed the Shady 80 behind Heritage High School. Most of the hundreds of people who use the Shady 80 trails regularly for walking, running, or biking were infuriated not by the closure itself, but by the dishonest statements contained in the town's press release. I'm delighted that the town is finally paying attention to this important area. that contains wetlands and branches of Smith Creek that are critical in absorbing stormwater. Well over a decade ago, town staff carried out a lot of research on the soil and wildlife, and a forest management plan was developed in 2013 to protect this area from erosion, invasive plants, and wildlife enhancement. However, it was never funded. And in the absence of town management, many community members over the years have cooperated on those trails, carrying trash out and identifying areas of soil erosion, talking back and forth between mountain bikers and walkers, and even doing inventories of the plants on that property. My father was involved in the inventories with town staff years ago. And I, as walking those trails, kept an eye on those plants too. I was incredulous that the town claimed the area was never open to the public and claimed crews will again install no trespassing signage. As I said, hundreds of residents used the Shady 80 trails, especially around the Heritage area, off of Forestville or Rogers Roads, or those living off of Ligon Mill. I stayed off the trails on weekends because they were too busy, in fact, and they were never ever any no trespassing signs posted at any of the entry points to the trails. In fact, what were posted were the same signs you see on the reservoir trails, all around the reservoir. At the entrance to the trails, the town signage. So I asked about that signage. And increasingly, the responses from the town became more and more measured. I was told the signage was posted in 2017. The signage was a town's way of acknowledging that people were visiting the property and warned them against doing anything to harm or disturb trees, plants, wildlife, or streams. I was also told, although the property was never designated for public use, town officials were aware that community members were visiting the property. As long as no damage was being done, no one raised any objections. However, earlier this year, officials learned about the extensive use of electric bikes on the property. Upon inspection, officials found several jumps, some as tall as six feet, which is unbelievable, which presented significant safety and liability concerns. And then they talked about soil erosion that they also noticed. At that point, they said they installed the no trespassing signs and officially closed the property. So I just ask you to revisit those statements because they really undermine the credibility of the town when they're so false. Thank you.

Thank you. And that closes our public comment segment. We're going to move now to the consent agenda. All consent agenda items are considered routine to be enacted by one motion with the adoption of the consent agenda and without discussion. If a board member requests discussion of an item, the item may be removed from the consent agenda and considered separately. The three items that we have, 5A, B, and C, approval of resolution to schedule a public hearing and certify the sufficiency for petition requesting contiguous annexation submitted by property owners town of Wake Forest at 0 Devon Square Boulevard. Approval of resolution to adopt the ADA transition plan and approval of resolution for 2026-2027 Board of Commissioner appointment. Do I have a motion? Make a motion for approval. Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. The ayes, it's unanimous. The ayes have it. Thank you. Our next is we'll move into, we have no legislative items this time, but we have some planning items. Sorry, I didn't know if you were going to stay with us on 7A or 7B.

I'm about to step back down. I was waiting for you to say that's where we were. I'll miss you.

Planning item 7A is consideration of the contiguous annexation submitted by property owners Donald Lee Edmonds, John Barry Edmonds, and Brenda Gail Edmonds-Denton, located at 3832 Rogers Road, being Wake County PIN 1749884789, being approximately 2.97 acres. Our staff presenter on this, of course, was Mr. Ari Schwartz. I don't know if you have the staff had any additional comments they want to make at this time. Do we have any comments from the board or questions from the board for the staff? Silence on my left and right. Do I have a motion from the board?

I guess I do have a question. Again, I think this has happened in the past. If the annexation is denied, then automatically the rezoning comes off the agenda, correct? That's right. OK.

All right, I'll just get to it then. I'll just say, one, I definitely want more daycares in this city. But I think I can agree that with the concerns of the citizens, they make a strong case that this isn't the exact best spot for it. And with that, I'm going to recommend for a denial or I guess propose denial. Motion make motion make a motion. Oh, yes, you know with the inconsistency statement With the wild that's right with the inconsistency statement Do I have a second

I want to make a statement. Can I make a statement? Absolutely. Okay. First of all, being new to all this, this definitely has been, I'm trying to find the right words, but educational, a learning experience, and listening to all sides. I really do understand the residents' concerns. And just to get to the point, I agree with Adam.

So is that a second?

Is that a second to the motion?

That is a second.

Do we have a motion on the table for denial of the consideration or the annexation? Do we have a second? Do we have any additional comments from the board?

I guess I'll just ask this because the applicant brought it up. Is there, I guess, any thought that tabling this for 30 days would change the outcome?

I'm just asking a blunt question. Sure. I would say no, and I think it's fair to the applicant to say why. I think the retaining wall is an issue. I can absolutely see that going south real bad. And then also, I just think the traffic concerns are not going to be mediated the way that they want. Um, also like, I mean, the only thing I would say is, you know, I, I've lived right behind a school and I mean a school or like a daycare kind of the same thing cause it was Franklin Academy. So, um, you know, I, that piece doesn't bother me, but I think the, the traffic in the, the, the stormwater being right up against that retaining wall is an issue.

No, I don't disagree with you again. I just wanted to ask the question because it was brought up. You know, and I will say I'm not sure if it would change my mind at this point either. You know, so I guess I'll just leave it at that. Sure.

Any other comments or statements from the board or questions? We have a motion to deny the application. All in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Aye. All the ayes have it and one recuse. The ayes have it. Uh, Kip, just make sure that, uh, I'm not going to go down because of that, uh, decision and consideration for the legislative case for rezoning, uh, is also, uh, is, is, is not an issue at this stage.

That's correct. Because it's not annexed into the town, you have to remove the rezoning request.

Okay. Do we need to have the motion to do that or is it just a automatic, sir? It's automatic. Okay. Thank you very much.

And just to confirm for the clerk, the vote was three to zero to deny the annexation. Is that accurate, commissioners? Correct. That is correct. Because we do need all three of those votes. All right. Thank you.

Okay, we'll move now to administration and financial items. Consideration of a resolution authorizing submission of an application for North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreational Trails Program. Ms. Michelle Daniels is up. Okay, sure.

Good evening, Mayor and Commissioners. My name is Jack Cassidy. I'm the Grants Program Manager here at the Town of Wake Forest in the Budget Management Department, with Michelle being my director. I'm here to request your approval to apply for the Recreational Trails Program Grant from the North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation. This grant for $100,000 will support the construction and completion of Smith Creek Greenway, Phases 2 and 3. A long-held priority of the town, Smith Creek Greenway creates 2.5 miles of paved trail, filling a key gap to connect the Greenway network of Wake Forest with the Neuse River Greenway. I'm here tonight by the requirements of the grant, which is to get board approval for two elements. A, to approve the fund matching requirements of the grant, which are 25%, so $25,000. And B, to commit to the project being complete within a three-year time frame. Regarding the funding match, the town's obligations have already been met as bond funding from the 2022 bond referendum is budgeted towards the project this year. Additionally, the town has won funding through the Locally Administered Projects Program, or LAP, from the NC Capitol Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. And B, regarding the time frame, the requirement of this grant fits within the already projected plans of the planning department. Construction is expected to begin this fiscal year with estimated completion in 18 to 24 months. With that, I request your approval. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have about the grant or the project itself.

Questions for the board?

Motion to approve. Second.

Any other comments or questions for Mr. Cassidy? Silence on the left and the right. Okay. So all in favor of authorizing the submission, please signify saying aye. Aye. Aye. Four ayes. The ayes have it.

Excuse me. Mr. Mayor, can we confirm who first moved first and second, please?

Commissioner Slowinski motioned. I believe Mayor Pro Tem Shackelford.

Thank you. Seconded. Shackelford.

He's back. Okay, thank you. Now we're going to go down to other business. First, you should have received a copy of the June and July tax report. No, June tax report. Do we have both, June and July? Okay. I'm looking at two different sheets of paper. I apologize. Do you have any questions on the tax report? Nope. Okay. The department monthly reports.

I have a question.

Please. Looking at the July report, and I think this might have been answered at a previous meeting, but I just wanted to get a clarification. On that report, the active aging, July 2025, it had 4,388 individuals. But then July 2026, it has 2,300 active members. So just how did we go from 43 all the way down to 23. I think Commissioner Cross had maybe answered this a couple months ago, but I just wanted to get a clarification on that.

You're correct, Commissioner Hupp. Commissioner Cross addressed it. We switched from the registration systems, so cleaning up files or participant information that was outdated, duplicated, or deceased members. That was helping us reconcile the numbers.

Great. I just wanted to double check that. Thank you.

Any other questions or comments for the staff? OK, we have a new insert on it on the request of the Mayor Pro Tem on, I wrote it down here, the act of aging question.

Correct. And really, I'll have two motions, Mayor. After our conversation at the work session on the Age-Friendly Action Plan, consideration of it afterward i think it sounded to me like there was a lot of consensus coming from the commissioners and everyone felt strongly about i think this pursuing this goal and so i wanted to go ahead and make a motion to extend the contract with ann welton at the current rate which is i think a thousand dollars per month through 2029 in our capacity as consultant for the age friendly action plan that's my first motion

I have just a quick question on that for Nathan and Kip. So the contract is over, so it's not an extension of it. It has to renew the contract. Is that correct, or is that yes or no? I mean, I'd make sure that we're following the legal requirements here.

If the term has expired, the parties can agree to enter into a new contract that begins on a date the day after the other term expired. But to answer your question, you need a new contract. The current contract doesn't hold as it's written. It has expired.

It has expired. So I will withdraw my motion and restate it as... Motion to renew the contract with Ann Welton for $1,000 per month through 2029 in her capacity as consultant for the Age-Friendly Action Plan.

I will second that.

Okay, so we have a motion to renew. Say that one more time.

To renew her contract, our contract, the town's contract with Ann Welton at the now current, well, I don't know if you want to call it current rate or not, but it was $1,000 per month through 2029, which would be the expiration date.

of uh the plan as far as through execution so i want to just again i just want to make sure that that we're legally sufficient in this nathan that it's since uh we would have to go into and open up the contract the whole contract procedure to make sure it's correct we can't just make a motion here saying we're granting it am i right or wrong or or whatever whatever the legal to make sure that we're legally uh sufficient in this motion Believe the motion as stated will allow us to do the appropriate paperwork Were it to be approved Okay, so we have a motion for us to go into a Contractual procedure with Ann Wilton and Is that brought back I just questioned is that brought back in front of the board or is that just They say yes, and we go forward just want to make sure

You can approve the contract now. If you want to hear anything more on active aging, I think that was the other issue that came up during work session was a couple more details. But as far as this contract is concerned, you can approve it now. And we will proceed accordingly.

OK. All right. We have a motion. And we have a second. Do we have any other comments?

I have a question. So we are looking to have in until 2029 $1,000 a month to consult with the current committee, is that what we're looking for?

There's a second motion.

Not having a discussion about individuals that can be on that committee? I guess those different discussions?

I have a second motion that will address the committee and continue use of the plan. Because now we're at the execution stage, remember? And so I do have a second motion to address the committee part of that.

So let me ask a question here. Procedurally since we gave guidance to the board I mean to the staff in order to come up with Guidance on the committee and us and everything on the activation we gave guidance to return to us at our work session on the The first of September so are we were sending that does this motion resend that I Or do we have to make another motion to resend our instructions to Ms. Lisa and the staff on what they're putting together for us? Because I think that may answer what Commissioner Hupp. Mayor, I'll answer that.

So I can actually combine both my motions into one if that's helpful. But, yes, essentially we will no longer need that evaluation and review of all those things because we can just move forward with what we already have in place.

Again, I go back to the lawyer, is that legally sufficient?

Yes. The plan that was previously approved by the board that set all these things in motion and included a contract with Ann Welton can proceed as you all decide tonight, as it already is. The one additional piece of paper that needs to be in place is the contract with Ann Welton. Otherwise, the programming is in place, and Ms. Hayes can correct me if I'm wrong, but the programming is in place and can carry on exactly as it already is without any further instruction from the board.

Okay. Any other comments or questions? I guess I'm just going to, I guess, clarify my understanding of this. This is so that we can authorize a contract with a consultant, namely Ann Welton through 2029, to be a consultant to assist staff, not a committee, but to assist staff in implementing the age-friendly community plan. Correct?

Correct. Fantastic.

And we're not talking about the committee at all, so we've separated that again. We're just talking about a consultant to the staff.

Correct, Mayor, and I have a second motion that will address the committee.

Okay. Any other questions? So I have a motion, and just help me out when we do this, that we continue with the have a paid consultant on age-friendly plan, and we have a second for that. No further questions or comments? How does the board vote? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? No. So we have three approve and one no. The ayes have it.

And then, Mayor, my second motion is to continue the Age-Friendly Action Plan Committee as established with a couple of revisions. One, the committee can elect a chair and vice chair, but the chair and vice chair must be town residents. And two, the mayor shall have the authority to appoint an additional two members to the committee in addition to the appointment of a commissioner as ex officio. And this, in fact, would replace the board's request for guidelines as we proposed or requested at the August meeting.

We have a motion. Second. We have a second. Comments, questions?

Comment.

Sir.

So keep the current committee. with the potential of adding only two individuals at the discretion of the mayor. Is that what I understood? So no individuals who have an interest in it

could quote unquote apply like if we had a committee or board whatever the right words is is that what i understand so the mayor will have the power of appointment uh the committee itself will be will be able to elect members uh to the committee pretty much as as they have already done but now you have a chair and a vice chair which i do not think was in place before

And then the other question would be how long are the terms for the individuals that are currently on and then any individuals that would come on in the future?

Well, let's pull that out. We can look at it. But to be clear, what year is it, 2026? So we know at the very least we got three-year terms. Okay. Thank you. Residency requirements? Uh, for the vice chair and chairman, um, that is in place. Um, and of course you would have the authority to point to more so.

So, uh, but, but again, that doesn't know resident requirements. I can bring somebody in from Chapel Hill. I mean, it's a structural question that we've asked the staff. Uh, if we make this, which it sounds very similar to other. commissions and committees that we have that we do the structural setup the same way. I'm just curious on that. I'm not sure if I'm articulating it right.

No, Mayor, and I'll say this. If there's someone qualified to assist our staff and the consultant in implementing this plan that happens to live in Chapel Hill, I'd be all for having them on that committee.

A member of the committee or just advising the committee? I mean, there's two different things. I mean, we bring in people all the time that are experts to come in and talk at our various committees. Again, I'm just trying to get clarification.

I'm looking at the system that was in place where we hired Ann Welton. She formed a committee as a function of her consulting with the town. They produced a fantastic document. I have looked at that thing over and over. I have talked to some of those members just in passing, and they are very proud of the work they've done. I am a fan of continuing that in and of itself. I think this motion just formalizes a committee rather than having one materialize. So again, I look at that in a way that a chair and a vice chair who are residents of Wake Forest, with your discretion and an ex-officio member from this board as a liaison, I think allows that committee to be nimble enough to be able to implement the ever-changing needs as staff sees them. And quite frankly, staff will take direction from this board. as to how to proceed with the implementation of that. So I think I understand what you're saying. I think this is different than something we've done in the past, but it is the right plan for the right situation to help our staff implement the plans that were brought up through the age-friendly committee process through all of this.

So another comment I want to make is when I read that document twice myself, one of the concerns I still have is they talk about, I'm going to just say youth, right, whatever that age might be, but when you look at the committee, don't see youth right and so how do you implement that into this committee that we're looking to have and youth does not mean high schools right it can be 20 30 30 year olds so I'm just saying that was a concern that I have with the current situation that we have I mean I will just say that like

If we want to have a spot for you spot, like an actual 16 to 18 year old in high school. I mean, we do that on our other boards. Um, I'm fine with that, but as far as like. You know, and I mean, the mayor is going to have the opportunity to appoint somebody. So, I mean, he could put somebody like that on. As far as going back to do they have to be Wake Forest citizens, I'm on the tech board. One of the guys from the tech board is actually in Roseville. And, I mean, he does great at it. So, I mean, it's, I think helping the city and donating their time and trying to do better, I'll take anybody's help.

Just a comment. It smells like, it looks like, it barks like, it walks like, whatever our other commissions and advisory boards that are out there. And whatever we're going to call this, I would just ask, again, that we do this as part of a process that we make sure that we are complying with our ordinances and that we have a process that's established rather than, well, Clapsaddle's going to pick two. Utes to be on the board, or Clapsell's going to pick somebody from Chapel Hill or something, that we do comply with the number of people, the way the town is set up, and I'm just asking that We're going to do this based upon our gut feel that this is the best plan that's ever been there. Now, I'm not saying it's not. I'm just asking that the process be established. And if you guys choose, because I'll be quieter and let you vote, but my comment is that we should have the process in and the staff review that we make sure that we're doing this correctly. Because it's not just today with Ann Welton or anybody else that's in the position. It's what's going to take place in the next five, ten years. because those decisions and points that they're going to bring forward is going to impact this town. And the other question I have, based upon what you said, Commissioner Slowinski, is, okay, they're going to consult with the town staff. Which department? Which staff member? Now, we're all making this, I don't know what the, I don't know what that is, but I would ask our town manager to make that decision and to make sure it's set up and that we give those instructions, you know, that we work out those details and then present it back to the staff. uh... just to say they're going to consult the staff well that's a lot because you know last time I checked we're a government entity and we pin the rose on someone and we're open about what our processes are just like we are in every one of our advisory boards and uh... and committees so if a citizen asks what where what are the uh... the documents what are the minutes who voted what are the voting requirements et cetera et cetera they have the right uh... for that and I just asked at the Under the town manager's guidance that that we finish that process and make sure that it's correct And I'll be quiet at that stage here.

Well, I guess to to your question What would you envision this committee voting on? Outside of perhaps a chair and a vice chair what would this committee be voting on because I they would just be there to help staff implement a plan, not create another new plan, not to steer any directives or funding or any of that comes before this board.

If you look at what they lay in there and about what goals and objectives are, they're asking, and I'll just make one, the top of my head on where how we're going to do transportation and transportation of our seniors and so forth what's a transportation plan and if they talk about that you know they will then come forward with some plans or ideas and somebody has to vote that comes out of it it's not just you know the consultant coming forward just like everything else that comes out of our advisory boards And that's just one topic that's out there. How do we do things that are making sure that our parks are age-friendly that are out there? And that cost and everything on that goes back to his dollars. Both effort, whether it's manpower, staff, which is dollars, which is are we making sure that our budget and our capital improvement plans are covered? And that, again, those procedures are in place to make sure that we are correct on how we are going to vote on what the future and future spending of this town is. And, again, where does it go and how is it done? That's all I'm asking. I'm not asking that. I'm just saying that if we're going to have a process that's in place. Because right now, we're just going off of, yeah, I think it's a good plan, which the plan is very similar to the one in Sacramento, California, because they're AARP type of objectives. And does that fit into our town? I don't know. About 10,000 other towns have a very similar kind of outlay. And how do they rank order that? Now, those are just my thoughts on it, but there is the motion that's on the floor. I've set my piece on it. I'm sure that we'll take it forward. We'll call the vote. We'll call the question. So we have a motion. And if you would state it again, sir, because you wrote it down. I didn't.

Well, it's rare that I write something down, Mayor. The motion, again, is to continue. The Age-Friendly Action Plan Committee, as established with a couple of revisions, the committee can now elect a chair and a vice chair. The chair and the vice chair must be town residents, and the mayor has the authority to appoint two additional members to the committee, as well as the commissioner who serves ex officio.

And we had a second.

Correct. And I will just ask one other question because, Mary, I believe you brought it up. I'll ask it of the town manager. Does that comply with ordinances that we have in place to form such a committee?

I think this one's a little different because it's not a true advisory board by ordinance. It was more of a, I guess, a hybrid.

But the board is within current ordinance by doing what we're attempting to do here?

Yes. Correct.

Thank you. Just one quick question. So you're giving the mayor, whoever the individual is, the authority to appoint two. How do we replace, and what are the terms? And the way you set that up, what are the terms of our members of the club?

And how do you envision? Mayor, I can strike that part from my motion if you want.

No, I'm just trying to figure out, OK, so is it until we pass away? Is it until I get tired of it? What is it?

So Mayor, I'm going to push back a little bit now. So if you're going to have that conversation, then I think we need to pull out every single ordinance, every single document where we've established a committee and established how long the term was if we're going to do that comparison. At this point, you call the questions. I'm just asking. I know.

I know. What I think is a very legitimate question.

But you are clearly fighting this.

No, no, no. We'll go in to call the question because I'm just asking so we have it that everybody knows how we.

If we need to come back before this board to make a clarification, we absolutely can do that. Okay. I mean, we absolutely can do that. I don't think this is a contentious event. Again, like I said the last meeting, we all seem to be in consensus on this thing for the most part. I can't speak for Commissioner Huff because I don't know how much he agrees with it versus disagrees with. But at the very least, I got the sense at the last meeting that at least four out of the five commissioners were in consensus on pressing forward with this. Right? So at this point, I don't know why it has become so contentious. And if you feel like, hey, your commissioners are dropping the ball in some way and not planning appropriately, I can tell you that I know my colleagues on this days will make that correct if that's the case. I assure you of that.

OK, so let's call the question. All in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. All opposed? No. We have three ayes and one no. The ayes have it. Now we're going down into commission reports. Commissioner Wright.

thank you I went to Friday night on white last on Friday I think Danny Commissioner Hupp did our MC and did a great job all right it was a overall peaceful event looked wonderful I think the rain chances kind of kept everybody Not out there. And then also yesterday I went to the service awards that they give out, the breakfast, which was awesome. The Austin T. Smith, thank you, awards. Also went to the governor's mansion for the signing of a veto yesterday. So that was kind of cool and didn't never happen. Never been down there for that. Thought it was interesting. Thought it was pretty cool. And that's about it.

Thank you, Commissioner Slowinski.

Thank you, Mayor. Yesterday evening, I attempted the Northeast Community Coalition meeting. A lot of great information came out last night, but two things I wanted to highlight. Number one, I don't see Michelle back there. She can't. Okay. So Michelle Michael, our fantastic historical planner, brought forward the East End Historic District that was, I believe, accepted onto the North Carolina study list, which is the first step to being part of the National Register of Historic Places. So I believe it was something like 53 parcels. I have an outline here if anyone wants to take a look at it. And I'm sure Michelle would have that information. But there's a lot of work. It's a couple-year process. But So going through the process, again, to get it on that study list is a big first step in getting it on the National Register of Historic Places. So I thought that was particularly interesting. Another presentation came from Betty Murchison. And through, I believe, the state budget process, there was money in the local projects to start a workforce development hub in Wake Forest that is going to train people for career tracks like skilled trades, technology and entrepreneurship, a couple of different partnerships in the area. I have spoken with the town manager to see if there's any way the town can You know provide space for these to for these classes to take place if there's any way we can we can help build this up But I know that miss Murchison is extremely excited about that as am I On Saturday, I had the honor of attending the Purple Heart Dinner, which is always a very humbling experience. I'm always happy to be able to attend that. And yesterday morning, I attended a roundtable working meeting. at the Chamber of Commerce with Congressman Brad Knott. I think most of us were in attendance there and had a great discussion on a wide range of issues, from transportation and economic infrastructure to health care and what that looks like in Wake Forest. So all in all, a very busy day yesterday. And again, just as a reminder, September 26, you'll hear me every two weeks from here until then, from 1 to 4 is the Mental Wellness Fair at the Renaissance Center. And Mayor, I believe that's all from me.

Thank you, sir. Commissioner Hupp. Thank you, Mayor. So I know a lot of this is about town stuff, but I'm going to say something personal. Happy 22nd birthday, wherever I look, to our youngest daughter, Sarah, who turned 22 today. So happy birthday to her. She's in Charlotte. Commissioner Wright, you're right. Friday Night on White was a great experience. Definitely getting in front of the camera was nerve-wracking, but enjoyed that with CBS 17 and the support, and then obviously the music by the Amazing Lounge Lizard Band. Try to say that three times fast. Forget that. As well as a couple other individuals who attended the core values program yesterday, had a great discussion with Representative Knott. You know, I know I'm new, but I did talk to him about the need for a hospital. And I know everyone up here has talked about it for years. But, you know, it's very personal to myself and my wife being a nurse practitioner. She told me many times how people come from up north and we need something. So we're advocating. People say that we're not advocating for it. I can assure you it's been happening for years, not just recently. I spoke with the Kiwanis Club recently and had that great opportunity. I actually went to their bingo night, which was, if you haven't had an opportunity, go to bingo. You can win $20, $30. I did not win. Don't worry. No money was exchanged here. This coming Saturday, I am going to attend the City of Raleigh Affordability Housing Conference in downtown Raleigh. I'm trying just to educate myself, right? So it's not just about enjoying the weekend and doing nothing, but actually supporting this town and trying to learn more for myself and for the town. This Thursday, and I apologize, there is a lot of my here, but this Thursday, Commissioner Cross and I will be having like a coffee, Commissioner Donuts with Danny at the Active Aging Center. And then also Commissioner Wright and myself on the 29th will be having a event as well at the Plant Cakes Bake Shop. So just going back to my 90-day plan, I'm sticking with that. So I want you to reassure that when I was appointed, I wasn't just appointed. I was appointed with a plan, and I plan on continuing doing that. And then lastly, I just want to take a quick moment. I've been on the job eight weeks. And during those eight weeks, I've met a lot of great individuals. I do want to point out one individual that works for us, Juan Garcia. He works in the IT department for the last five years. Had a great conversation with him when I first started. And, you know, this individual drives a good distance, and he loves working for the town of Wake Forest. So when you talk to staff and they tell you how much they love the town of Wake Forest, we here at the board, as well as the mayor, appreciate that. So Juan, thank you for all your work that you do. Glass, it's Amigo. And that's all I got.

Thank you, sir. Mayor Procter.

Thank you, Mayor. I'll be brief. I just feel compelled to just kind of share an observation or share some thoughts with my time. I think I saw in the paper last week another municipality had gotten into some very newsworthy stuff and so I and we've seen that a lot in the last couple years between a neighboring municipality and one across 540 and I just want to say that that I am thankful for being on this board and our board having the climate that it has and having such great leadership when it comes to upper leadership for our town staff especially Because we are not experiencing some of that. We may disagree, but we just disagree on the topics. We don't continue to take that personally or to take it beyond that conversation. And I appreciate it about the board. I think that should be said because it's not always the case as we're seeing more and more today.

Thank you, sir. Ms. Evelyn, anything for the board?

Nothing tonight, Mayor. Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Kip, anything? Just one thing, Mayor. It's never too early to remind you all, but your next year's retreat is January 15th at the Renaissance Center. And so if you haven't gotten a schedule yet, we'll send you one.

And we're not having a video or sunglasses or anything, are we? Thank you. Just had to make if Kerry's watching. I just had to make a jab Harold's I think is uh is overseas on vacation, but Go ahead Matt.

We indulge me by the way. I like a new name place whoever was possible for these. Thank you very much.

They're awesome Thank you, thank you sure a lot of things in Commissioner Shackelford, I absolutely agree we may not I enjoy working with each and every one of you and I will tell you it's good to have discourse and it's good to have these talks and I know that we are all worried and care and love this town and we want to do what's right for our town. So if any time that you think that I'm a little heated I will apologize up front but we all and I appreciate each and every one of you for your thoughts on what we're trying to do for this town. And it's not easy. I understand that. But thank you. Thank you, each and every one of you. A couple things here. I've got to thank the Wake Forest Purple Heart Committee for putting on the Purple Heart Banquet this past Saturday. And to make it even more important to myself and a lot of young veterans, it is the 35th. 35th year of the Gulf War. And so a lot of young veterans who brought back things from the desert and the way they have to live life. I want to tell each and every one of you and our veterans who've served, and Iraq and Afghanistan over these past 20 plus years that there is help. There is help out there. So again, I want to thank the Purple Heart Association and committee for what they did and recognize those outstanding young men and women. And also the Boy Scouts of America, who are our servers there, all the Boy Scout troops here in Wake Forest and the Wake Forest High School, JRTC, absolutely wonderful job and shows, you know, when people ask me what's tomorrow going to be like, I will tell you I rest comfortably at night when I see these young people and what they do for our town and what they represent. And, of course, Richland Creek Community Church for honoring us by allowing us to host, for them to host that there. Absolutely fantastic facility. And I think Commissioner Slowinski, I think, you know, we've been there a couple years and stuff. It's absolutely fantastic what they do for us. Now, having said that, I'm going to slide on to thank another group. That really does wonderful work. And I need to talk more about our volunteers and stuff. So tonight, I just want to highlight the flower cart of Wake Forest and the work they do. Those volunteers take what some people would throw away in leftover flowers. They make these small arrangements. And they deliver it to over 16 care facilities. And people are confined to their home. And they also give me the opportunity to share on Friday a little bouquet of flowers with a member of our staff. And I do that to show you how much we appreciate the work that you do. But what a wonderful organization to do that. Congratulations to the staff, again, for the 2026 National Main Street Accreditation, 16 years in a row. I mean, you know, great job. I appreciate you so much. And it echoes, and you see what happens on Friday night on White. You see it on all our events, and you actually see how we respond and try to help people in our town to make it better. So thank you. Now, the last thing, you know, today I had the opportunity, and you guys saw where I asked Claire Deo to say the Pledge of Allegiance and join us here. And what I'm going to do is, you know, with the occurrence of the board, I'm going to ask various youth organizations if they would do that, whether it's Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, some of our church organizations, if they would like to sign up and come join us and lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance, if that's okay with you. Again, to highlight what... what these young people are doing for us. And I just want to wrap up and say, again, thank you for the staff. Thank you for everyone, what you do for us each and every day. Thank you to our police department chief and our fire department for just absolutely great work on our public safety. So please share that with all the members. And finally, as I go to close here, I want to welcome, I think Derek is still out there with Big Lou. This is his first night broadcasting, and we'll run the tapes later and see if he did a good job or not. But Derek, welcome to the team. Do I have any other comments or closing from the board? Go ahead, sir. I see the grin on your face. Completely inappropriate, Mayor. No, you can. I mean, it wouldn't be the first time.

Mayor, you just referred to Big Lou, and I was thinking about the guy that's on my satellite radio all the time. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Big Lou's on his second wife, too. Second wife, too.

All right. Hey, Lou, we love you. And so, ladies and gentlemen, I now close our 18 August Board of Commissioners meeting. Thank you very much.