Maintain the Sense of a Small Community
Concern:
Wake Forest’s population has skyrocketed from under 10,000 residents in the 90s to over 60,000 today. While there are benefits to an expanding marketplace, additional amenities, and a vibrant community, many residents are deeply concerned about Wake Forest’s gradual loss of its small-town identity and feel.
Let’s talk about it.
Wake Forest has made the top ten places to work or live several times in the past decade, and is now the most popular suburb in the entire United States. To accommodate the influx of new residents, it is within the jurisdiction of the Board of Commissioners to approve re-zonings for multi-story apartment complexes, accept more traffic lights, and add new subdivisions. As a result, Wake Forest residents are concerned that the dense housing, impeded traffic flow, and higher mixed-use residential developments are drastically diminishing Wake Forest’s small-town feel and historic identity.
My Solutions:
1: I will advocate for more resident feedback when re-zonings and improvements are proposed for development, and earnestly weigh that feedback to the decision to approve or deny the change.
2: I will amend Section 2.2.3.G.2 of the current UDO so that Residential, Neighborhood, and Urban Mixed-Uses are capped at 4 stories or less, from the current 6 stories.
3. I will honor and preserve Wake Forest’s historic buildings and landmarks. I will continue to support and promote educational opportunities that highlight the heritage of Wake Forest.