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Charrettes planned for Wake Forest, Rolesville

by Anna Meadows, Wake Weekly Associate Editor
September 25, 2003

Wake Forest is holding a bunch of charrettes on the Downtown Renaissance Plan, bringing together the public and town officials for fun and intensive meetings to figure out a productive future for the downtown.

How intensive? Note the origins of the word "charrette," which is French for "little cart." On Monday and all next week, planning professionals will provide topics for discussion, and residents will dump their brainstormed ideas into that little cart.

The little cart of ideas by next Friday will be hammered into a plan of action.

"It's a frenzied workshop full of ideas," said Craig Lewis with the Lawrence Group, a town planning and architectural planning firm that is organizing the process.

"By Friday we'll have a largely complete idea (of a plan)."

The kickoff meeting held Monday at town hall proved a fast-paced, energetic exercise for the two dozen people who participated. Next week, meetings will be held at the old Winn Dixie building in Wake Forest Plaza.

"I was really surprised by how it turned out; I thought it might be like a town meeting you see on television where 200 people show up and watch a presentation," said newly hired downtown manager Susan Aycock. "The time just zoomed by.

"I was very energized by it," she said. "People who participated were very community minded and cared a lot about the downtown."

Participants at three tables answered questions together about downtown shopping choices, transportation, housing and park space.

What would make the downtown special? What needs work? Why aren't more shoppers visiting downtown merchants and restaurants? What are some towns or other areas that might serve as a good model for downtown revitalization?

Everyone got a chance to sink their teeth into each issue during the comment section.

"You have a downtown that people have cared about for a long time," said Lewis. "Now the goal is how to take it to the next generation."

Planners won't be concentrating on pie-in-the-sky ideas for downtown, but will take the whole gamut of points made by residents and mold them into a realistic model.

"We have to look and ask, is the plan feasible; will people build what we envision?" said Kathleen Rose from Rose and Associates, a marketing firm working on the downtown plan. Lewis, Rose and others working on the renaissance plan still need lots of help.

On Monday, anyone interested in sharing ideas about downtown utilities should come to a meeting at 2 p.m. Public safety will be discussed at a 3:30 p.m. meeting. At 7 p.m. discussions will center on downtown living.

The rest of the week's schedule:

Tuesday: 8 a.m. retail business operators; 10 a.m. economic development; 1 p.m. signs and streetscapes; 2:30 p.m. parking and transportation; 4 p.m. recreation and amenities.

Wednesday: 9 a.m. downtown living; 11 a.m. design standards and codes; 1 p.m. open for meetings to be announced.

Thursday: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. planning and design (one hour break for lunch).

Friday: 9 a.m.-noon, design.

For those who'd like a recap of the day's events, at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday the planners will hold something they call "pin-up session" that provide an update on findings from the day.

On Friday, a special session to pull the week's ideas together will be held 1-5 p.m. That same night a reception and closing presentation will be held at 7 p.m.

For more information, call Wake Forest Town Planner Agnes Wanman at 554-3911.

Rolesville park committee needs ideas

by Debra A. Golden, Wake Weekly Staff Writer

Rolesville residents next week will have a chance to help design a park from the ground up.

The Rolesville Park Development Committee is sponsoring a special workshop next Monday night at the Rolesville Fire Department.

Participants will be able to compare several preliminary park concepts -- "straw men to shoot at," said Commissioner and park committee member Frank Hodge.

The conceptual drawings will show where things are but not in great detail, he added. So far, park committee members anticipate a gazebo (to be placed on the concrete pad by South Main Street) along with some parking, some picnic areas, play spaces, an educational arboretum and ball fields.

A community center will be added later.

Park planners will use public input to decide exactly what the project will include and where each element will be.

The committee seeks different points of view and will take the information collected at Monday's workshop and results of a prior survey and create a recommended design by the end of the year.

While the park committee will make the final recommendation, the town board will have to approve the design, Hodge said.

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Last Updated On: September 25, 2003