BY DEBBIE PAGE
debbiepage.iredellfreenews@gmail.com

The Troutman Town Council held its agenda briefing on Tuesday afternoon as it prepares to hear developers’ annexation and rezoning requests on Thursday night for the 774-acre Wakefield at Barium project.

The “village concept” commercial buildings of the retail section would be roughly three times that of Birkdale in Huntersville, with 600,000 square feet of commercial space planned on 57 acres (about 20 percent more land area than Birkdale). The area could also have up to 300 apartments over retail spaces.

The development plan includes four residential sections, the largest of which is the Springs at Wakefield, with 800 age-restricted (over-55) homes on 300 acres circling behind the Children’s Hope Alliance campus, stretching from Old Mountain Road to the northwest of the campus.

The Brook at Wakefield area proposes 700 single-family homes on 220 acres bordering Moose Club Road and Duck Creek Roads. Multi-family residential options are The Grove at Wakefield, featuring 400 townhomes on 84 acres, and the Flats at Wakefield, with 450 apartments on 41.5 acres.

The project also includes 42 acres designated for the Barium Commons, 17 acres for community amenities (trails, ballfields, etc.), 47 acres of improved natural open space, and 13 acres donated to the town to create a community amenity.

Thirty-seven acres of flex area, once planned for a school, could be a commercial development or hold up to 300 residential units. Instead of its original idea of donating the 37 acres to the school system for a new school, the developers are considering contribution toward the building of the future middle school adjacent to the South Iredell High School campus.

Wakefeld would include roads and sidewalks constructed according to town ordinances, cohesive signage in all sections of the project, and green spaces emphasizing existing natural conditions.

Facade materials are limited to brick, stone, hardy board, cementitious siding, wood siding or shingles, or stucco. Vinyl can only be used on windows, soffits and trim.

The total buildout will take eight to nine years, with developers making substantive improvements at their expense in the town’s public utilities and affected roads as directed by the traffic impact analysis.

The Planning and Zoning Board tied 3-3 on the project last month, thus making no recommendation on the project.

Town Planner Lynne Hair said staff recommends approval of the project because it is adjacent to commercial, office and residential uses and seems appropriate to a “primary growth area” as designated in the town’s Strategic Master Plan.

The Future Land Use Map also labels the area for “employment center uses,” which would occur in the 600,000 square feet of commercial space expected to provide 1,500 new jobs, according to Prestige Development President Steve Bailey.

Public hearings will be held during both the Wakefeld annexation and rezoning portions of the meeting.

STREAMING OF PUBLIC MEETINGS APPROVED

Since the pandemic state of emergency lifted on August 15, the council is no longer required to stream meetings to the public. Town Attorney Gary Thomas requested that the council take a formal vote on continuing or ceasing the practice.

Mayor Teross Young favored continuation of streaming the meetings for two reasons: transparency and convenience of streaming for the public and the town’s investment in technology to stream the meetings.

Former council member Paul Bryant asked to speak in favor of streaming and also asked that the Planning and Zoning Board meetings be streamed as well.

Council member Paul Henkel made the motion to stream all three meetings, which passed 5-0. The council decided not to add the Design Review Board and Board of Adjustment meetings to the streaming vote because they only meet sporadically as needed.

BARIUM SEASONS DHS RAID CONCERNS

Council member Eddie Nau expressed concerns about the lack of cooperation and communication exhibited by the federal Department of Homeland Security and another federal agency, during a “full-fledged raid” on a home in Barium Seasons subdivision, where Nau lives.

An Iredell County Sheriff’s Office vehicle and personnel were also on scene.

The August 24 raid involved 15 masked officers bearing assault weapons, who moved through neighbors’ yards and frightened a woman and her daughter backing down their driveway and another woman mowing her lawn. Nau happened to be going to his mailbox as it occurred and witnessed the incident.

People in the neighborhood are on edge after this incident and a drive-by shooting incident in late July.

Nau also later learned from neighbors that federal agents had apparently been watching the residence for two weeks prior as well, with one neighbor reporting a van with agents in his driveway when he arrived home one day.

Nau decried the lack of communication with the town or Police Chief Josh Watson to alert them of the incident. “This was not a safe situation for neighbors,” he said.

Watson said federal agencies typically do not notify Troutman, Mooresville, or Statesville police before conducting operations. He described DHS as “tight-lipped” to protect operational security.

A Troutman officer sent to investigate after Nau’s call to Town Hall to report the raid was told to leave, according to Town Manager Ron Wyatt, who has called authorities for information but received no reply.

Mayor Young suggested contacting U.S. Senators Tom Tillis and Richard Burr and Rep. Patrick McHenry to express the town’s concerns about the way this raid was conducted.

Council member Jerry Oxsher, who also lives in the neighborhood but was on vacation at the time of the raid, was “unnerved at how it transpired.” He said conversations need to happen about this “unsettling” incident.

Henkel said law enforcement must respect the feelings of the neighborhood. “Being nonchalant and arrogant is not helping their case,” he said.

He hopes the town’s federal representatives can get the federal law enforcement to see that “this is not the way to do business. It’s a serious job, but they must have consideration of neighbors and frightening people.”

‘EYESORES’

Nau commended town employees for cleaning up the defunct car wash area at the Old Mountain Road/Highway 21 intersection, removing litter and painting over profane graffiti.

Wyatt also mentioned a Goodman Street property that has also undergone a positive transformation.

Nau wants residents to know that “we are doing something” about code violations, but the legal process takes time. “We are addressing eyesore issues. We care deeply about the town’s appearance.”

Wyatt said he hopes that a full-time code enforcement officer, now in the final stages of the hiring process, will be on the job by the end of the week to continue the process of addressing code violations and improving the town’s appearance.

HUMAN RESOURCES DIRECTOR HIRED

With Emily Watson returning to the Parks and Recreation Director position, Wyatt announced that the town has hired Louis Borek, an experienced leader and manager with broad experience in training, law enforcement, intelligence, and human resource disciplines as the town’s HR director.

After serving 13 years in the U.S. Navy, Borek worked as a mediation and arbitration officer for the State of Delaware and as a senior consultant for Booz-Allen-Hamilton designing and teaching training in cyberthreat analysis, identity intelligence, and other topics for government and military personnel.

Additionally, Borek was a criminal investigator for the U.S. Secret Service for three years. He also has store management experience and has worked as a freelance voice-over artist for the last three years in commercials, training narrations, character voices, trailers, and other media.

Wyatt thanked Watson for “laying the foundation” of the Human Resources Department and creating its processes and for helping Borek get up to speed since his arrival in August. He said Borek’s hiring is a “great opportunity to build the department as the town grows.”

DECISIONS DELAYED

Updates to the speed hump policy and the remote participation policy were delayed for another month.

Watson is still gathering information and data to decide if adjustments to the speed hump policy are needed, and Wyatt is awaiting the legal review of the town’s remote meeting policy by the Centralina Council of Governments.

THURSDAY NIGHT AGENDA

In addition to the Wakefield project, the council will consider several other items:

* A rezoning request for Your Coffee Place from office/institutional to central business.

* Setting the annexation hearing dates for October 13 for just over one acre at 778 South Main Street for the Rocky Creek Commercial Project and for just over 28 acres at 970 Perth Road for 106 townhome/triplex units, which will also require rezoning for conditional mixed residential zoning.

* An annexation request for just over one acre by Touche Troutman Townhomes.

* An ordinance to add language to address chronic property nuisance violators.

* Facade approval for Troutman Logistics Center Building 1.

* An amendment to a lease agreement for a Verizon antenna on Old Murdock Road water tower.

* Selection of Citizen and Organization of the Year.

* Appointment of Sally Williams to the Design and Review Board.