The Wake County board of commissioners met Monday to vote on five items and hear information about a possible land acquisition for a new elementary school.
Athletic Funding
The approval of $1 million in funding for the Holly Springs North Main Athletic Complex was among three consent agenda items that were approved. The NMAC is a $13 million project that will include a sports stadium, soccer fields, tennis facilities, a playground, and a greenway trail.
Commissioners had been kept up to date on the project in January through a work session and multiple presentations. The $1 million funding agreement comes with a set project completion date of July 1 and establishes project performance goals consistent with the proposal.
Town of Holly Springs
A rendering of the Holly Springs Athletic Complex
ET Jurisdiction Request
An extraterritorial jurisdiction request from the town of Angier was granted after commissioners learned that the extension met the seven criteria necessary for the approval of such requests. ETJs are used for areas up to one mile from current corporate limits that are also expected to be urbanized.
Of the seven criteria used to evaluate ETJs, the request from the town of Angier was found to meet all of them, including a commitment to comprehensive planning and having a feasibility of urban density development.
Commissioner Calabria asked about the effect this would have on emergency services in the area.
“9-1-1 isn’t impact,” Bryan Coates, county planner, said. “Emergency services remain the same.”
Affordable Housing Approved
Two multifamily housing development loans were approved. They will be a 72-unit family development and one 83-unit affordable housing development for seniors. The applications were in response to an RFP put out by the county in December 2014 and were evaluated within the affordable housing committee within the county.
DHIC, Inc., requested the loans —$800,000 for the family development and $950,000 for the affordable housing development for seniors—on behalf of the ownership entities in both cases. Each loan is to be repaid in 20 years with one percent interest.
When commissioners asked about rules and regulations surrounding affordable housing, Annemarie Maiorano, the housing program manager for Wake County, said, “We make sure they are maintained appropriately …. We make sure they are housing who they are supposed to house. DHIC is our strongest partner.”
Commissioner Hutchinson echoed her statements about DHIC, saying, “These are great projects. This is a great partner. This is a great program.”
When asked about transit to the site, Maiorano said that she hoped transit will come to the area but the lack of transit will not preclude the project from moving forward.
DHIC
Another project by DHIC, the Willow Creek in Cary
Elementary Acquisition
Commissioners heard information about the land acquisition for an elementary school site and future middle school in east Raleigh. The county is targeting a property along Poole Road that is currently undeveloped. Projections show that the population rise in this area will be dramatic over the course of ten years, and that the new schools will address crowding at nearby schools.
The anticipated price for the Poole Road property is $42,500 per acre on the 45.6 acre site, which comes out to around $1.9 million. The elementary school would be ready to open in 2017.
Deputy county manager Johnna Rogers said, “We believe this site does meet the needs of the Wake County school system. And we are prepared to move forward.”
Bing Maps
The area in which the new school will likely be built
