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Board unhappy with Stratford delays
by Debra A. Golden, Wake Weekly Staff Writer
Rolesville commissioners believe developers have taken too long to get their Main Street project underway, but developer Norbert Hector says all delays on the project can be explained.
The 58-acre Stratford Village development, located on South Main Street across from Redford Place Shopping Center, will include a shopping center and a residential section. A special use permit granted to Stratford Village for a planned unit development was signed more than two years ago. As part of the special use permit, Stratford developers agreed to realign Rogers Road. The new roadway would be four lanes and line up with Redford Place Drive at Main Street. Stratford developers started realigning Rogers Road earlier this year, but the project has been slowed, Hector says, because of weather and and other problems. A tract for Eckerd Drug store has been recently purchased and Jack Lichtner has built several townhomes off Rogers Road. Rolesville commissioners say the project is taking too long. The realigned portion of Rogers Road has lain fallow for most of the summer, and the shopping center has yet to materialize. "We need to take a stand," Commissioner Pat Wharton said in the Nov. 3 town board meeting. "This is supposed to be a showcase development and it is in the most showcased place in town." Instead, Wharton said, it's an "eyesore." According to a Rolesville statute, "substantial development of the proposed use" must commence within six months of an issued special use permit, or the special use permit is invalid. According to the same statute, a special use permit can also be revoked if "any work authorized by it is suspended or abandoned for any reason for a period in excess of one year." Commissioner Frank Eagles said he believes the developers have violated the six month time frame. Commissioners asked Town Manager Matt Livingston to find out how they could resolve the situation. Norbert Hector, who has taken over the Stratford Village project since his son Erik relocated to Florida, says the first delay on the project came up before former Town Manager Don Dubay retired in January. Engineers had to figure out where the sewer connections would be before the Redford Place extension could be built, Hector said. In April, Stratford developers and Rolesville officials hammered out an agreement which waived $25,000 worth of project fees if the Hectors would complete a sewer extension to connect with developments on the other side of South Main Street. Permitting for the road was not granted by NCDOT "until sometime in June as I recall," Hector said. The area has also received an abnormally high amount of rain this year, delaying the paving process. The graded subsurface of the road has to be dry before it can be compacted, and it has not been dry enough long enough, Hector said. In spite of that, he said his engineer was ready to prepare the subsurface of the road for paving near the end of June. The town engineer, Hector said, could not inspect the road at that time, and "then it rained." The road should be done within "30 days after it quits raining," and the sewer is in the process of being installed, Hector said. He confirmed that Eckerd Drugs would be opening a store in the development, and said the original deal for someone to take over the shopping center "fell apart." "We have several prospects for other parcels in there," he said. "If the town is unhappy with the progress we're making, that's their prerogative." Although the discussion about Stratford Village was not an official agenda item for the Nov. 4 meeting, Hector said he would have liked to be able to comment. Livingston "must have had some forethought about the subject" because he told the Stratford engineer last week he planned to "pull the special use permit," Hector said.
Last Updated On: November 6, 2003
Copyright 2003 The Wake Weekly