Over the last eight months, the town asked the citizens of Wake Forest to participate in shaping a community plan to guide the future vision of the town. 
Those thoughts and comments — from an overwhelming number of residents that turned out — were summarized and inserted into the draft community plan by the planning department. On April 19, the hearing to approve the draft community plan did not go as the overwhelming majority in the room anticipated. 
We surely thought — with the planning department’s recommendation and the planning board’s unanimous approval — the plan would be adopted as written. It was hard to believe a single thin complaint from the developer, rejected by the planning department, would influence some on the board of commissioners and the mayor to amend the expressed communities will and desire for this land. 
The impression I had listening to the dialogue, and the subsequent vote, made me feel as if the entire process of getting community involvement, engagement and feedback to guide and develop the community plan was just a canard. 
I walked away with the notion that some of the elected leadership was more interested in appeasing one individual with no ties or interest in a piece of property other than how much money can be made, versus the impact to the surrounding property owners and the expressed desires of many citizens in the town of Wake Forest to stop the poorly planned land-clearing, high-density developments that continue to cover the town of Wake Forest landscape. 
It was as if some on the board of commissioners and the mayor cared less about what the citizens of Wake Forest wanted to see in the future growth strategies of the town than their own inserted interests and opinions — a sad realization that so few control the future of so many. 
With the removal of the R40W zoning in 2013, this section in the updated community plan for the former Wake Forest golf course was written to aid the responsible development of this land with a creative plan that protects the current Falls Lake Water Supply Watershed/Horse Creek District Overlay zoning and respects the existing surrounding neighborhoods. 
So why the apparent change at the last minute to amend the wording by some of our elected officials to open the door for an irresponsible developer/property owner to submit a poorly conceived plan with GR10 high-density development? 
To my knowledge, there is not another development or proposed development in the town of Wake Forest that has been shoved into an established neighborhood area with such little regard to the existing homeowners like the one being proposed. The residents that surround the former Wake Forest golf course, the Falls Lake Watershed/Horse Creek District Overlay, and the town of Wake Forest deserve better.
There have been two attempts to develop this property in recent years by the previous owner, and both times the town refused to hear those requests. One of those requests to develop this land ending up going to the North Carolina Supreme Court, where the town’s decision not to hear the proposal for development was successfully upheld. 
With both of these requests, the town stood firm in holding the PUD/SUP attached to this land. The town can do the same today and decline to even hear the development proposal because the PUD/SUP is still attached to this land. 
Additionally, the town could decide that it is too early to consider development of this land because of the Capital Boulevard Improvement Project and the unknown impact to the Highway Business Zone along the front of this property. 
The town could simply refuse to consider the proposal as they have done twice before, and that decision has legal standing with the state of North Carolina. There is absolutely no reason to rush into the development of the former Wake Forest golf course property at this time.
I personally would like to thank the planning department and the planning board for listening to citizens of Wake Forest in the development of the community plan. I can only hope our elected officials will respect and ensure that the desires and wishes of the many are not discarded to appease the selfishness and greed of a few.
Sam & Lynn Joyner
WAKE FOREST