Growing up in Wake Forest

WAKE FOREST -- It had been a while. I moved out of my nice little house in Wake Forest 10 or 11 years ago, after a five-year hitch in that sweet place north of the Capital City, and hadn't returned much. But something in the post-election stories of late knocked me back: In a story about Wake Forest voters electing some slow-growth candidates to their town board, there was a phrase: "... Wake Forest, a town of about 25,000 ..." It was true. Perhaps that's no big deal to recent arrivals in the Triangle, but for those of us who remember when Cary had about 6,000 people in it, the fact that Wake Forest -- in my youth, a quiet and small oasis -- had boomed so much was still a shocker.

I drove up U.S. 1 on Monday afternoon to see what a Wake Forest of 25,000 looks like. The first clue of change was just after the turn-off to head into town. Gas stations, a huge shopping center, various stores and farther on new construction for what appears to be a retirement community lined the road. And there are other developments on U.S. 1 North itself.

Wake Forest residents, these election stories reported, were saying they'd had enough. They thought things were out of control, and they wanted growth to slow down. One slow-growth voter reckoned he didn't want the town he had liked so much when he first saw it ruined, in effect by prosperity. The truth is, the recent elections were a pretty clear signal that you could transfer that fellow's sentiment to any number of places, maybe even to Raleigh, where candidates seen as pro-development or at the least not interested in slowing growth were shown the door.

Our illustrious honorables on city councils and town boards can sometimes be a little slow on the uptake when it comes to understanding what the public wants, but there's no mistaking the message of Election Day: Developers have done some good things and enjoyed their ride on the growth stagecoach, but it's time for you elected folks to do a John Wayne, namely jump on the horses and pull those reins.

The fact is, there's going to be more growth. But in cities and towns hereabouts where populations, and therefore needs, have boomed, local governments are going to have to be smarter about how they guide growth. That means more creative zoning; it means orderly development closer in, instead of putting big developments farther and farther away from a city or town's core (see the price of gas lately?); it means more care with protecting the environment, whether that means water or critters.

In Wake Forest, it would not be fair to say that growth has been a ruination. When I moved there, some time around 1991, my subdivision was fairly new but still within fairly easy walking distance of downtown. It remains a nice neighborhood, though I note the current owners haven't had any more luck growing a nice stand of grass on that new construction dirt than I did. Farther toward town, things haven't changed a great deal. And the historic part of Main Street remains a glorious stretch. Its stately, large homes are simply spectacular, and there are reminders as well of what the town was like all those years ago, when Wake Forest College was thriving there.

But what is it about growth that seems to drain something from downtowns? Wake Forest has a nice opportunity. Many of the buildings are a little different, in an attractive way, but some appear to be unused. Perhaps the slow-growth town board will turn more intense attention toward that part of town. And maybe they can stir some interest in the people in the subdivisions who spend their days out of town, commuting to their jobs. They're missing something if they're not really enjoying the core of their town as much as they might be.

It was the downtown, in fact, along with the old buildings that once housed the college and kinfolks' connections to the school that made me want to move there. I would walk around sometimes and remember the stories my father (class of '40) and grandfather (class of '10) told me about Wake Forest. I could look in places near old dorms and recall the tales of how Arnold Palmer hit practice balls over some of the buildings (he was an alum of the Old Campus, as they call it). The Southeastern seminary's presence still gives the place a college-town feel. And the people ... just as nice as can be.

The challenge for the "new" town board is to preserve the heart and soul while understanding that things around them are going to change. That might be said of any number of communities around here. It will take some effort, but it will be worthwhile. Wake Forest is a jewel in the crown, and deserves to be handled with care.