Forest Ridge High faces many obstacles

Opening on time will be a struggle

BY T. KEUNG HUI - Staff Writer

Published: Wed, Jul. 29, 2009 02:00AM

RALEIGH -- It's going to be a race to see whether northeast Wake County's new Forest Ridge High School opens as scheduled in August 2012.

Wake County school officials say they'll need the help of Raleigh and the state Department of Transportation to open Forest Ridge High in the next three years.

The planned school has run into a series of problems, including lack of money, traffic issues and allegations that endangered plants and the remains of slaves and Native Americans are on the site.

We're on a very tight timetable," said Joe Desormeaux, Wake schools' assistant superintendent for facilities.

But the school system will have to satisfy new traffic concerns raised by the DOT if it's going to get the project completed on schedule.

"Nothing has been decided," said Reid Elmore, who oversees maintenance in Wake County for the DOT. "We're waiting for them to provide more information on the road improvements before we make a recommendation."

The school system plans to preserve the graves site this fall, then take construction bids on the school in March.

Located on a densely rocky site on Forestville Road near U.S. 401 in northeast Raleigh, the school has run into one obstacle after another.

Forest Ridge High was originally supposed to open its campus in 2011. School officials had planned to "open" Forest Ridge a year early by housing its students at the new Heritage High School in 2010.

But with the national economic recession limiting the amount of money available for school projects, the opening of Forest Ridge's campus was delayed to 2012. The plan to open the school early at Heritage High is also off the table.

The school district is trying to stretch the available dollars to keep the project on schedule. Administrators also are trying to work with the city and state to get the necessary permits approved.

Traffic delay

A major complaint raised by neighbors of the new school is traffic, especially because Heritage High is only two miles away off Forestville Road. Residents have questioned the ability of area roads to handle traffic from two new high schools.

The school system recently completed a second traffic study for Forest Ridge, resulting in new recommendations from the state.

Elmore said the DOT wants Wake to construct a second entrance on Forestville Road north of the proposed one. The school district had planned to have buses and students drive in through that one entrance.

The DOT has proposed using a narrow strip of land just north of neighbor John Hebert's property to create a two-lane entrance for students. If Wake goes with that option, Hebert's home would be enveloped by both entrances.

"They're getting ridiculous," Hebert said.

The state also suggests that Wake make improvements on Taylors Ridge and Greenville Loop roads before they can be used to handle the traffic for staff and student drop-off.

Elmore agrees that Taylors Ridge and Greenville Loop are too old to handle the potential 1,500 extra trips a day without upgrades.

Residents in the Chesterfield Village community haven't been happy about all this extra traffic slated to go through their streets.

Residents have suggested using Leland Road, which would keep traffic away from their community.

Desormeaux said that the school system hadn't considered that idea before because of its cost but that it might now because it could be cheaper than the upgrades to Taylors Ridge and Greenville Loop.

Reid said the school district will pay the "substantial" cost of all the road improvements connected to Forest Ridge. He said it's too soon to say what the cost could be.

Desormeaux also said school officials will work with Chesterfield residents to assess the potential effects on their homes of blasting out rock for the school.

History preserved

Desormeaux was more upbeat about the response to complaints from some neighbors that building the school would damage burial grounds on the site and put some endangered plants at risk.

Although school officials doubt that slaves were buried on the property, Desormeaux said they're moving ahead with plans to enclose and preserve the cemetery.

Desormeaux said school officials toured the site with Kevin Donald of the Office of State Archaeology and determined that the alleged Indian burial ground is just normal rock outcroppings. He added that they couldn't find any of the endangered plants described by concerned neighbors."We've come to the conclusion that we've done all our due diligence for the site," Desormeaux recently told school board members.

Angie McCarty, one of the neighbors fighting the project, said she disagrees with Desormeaux's assertions. But she said neighbors are running out of options to fight the district.

"We're not giving up the fight, but we don't know what else to do," McCarty said.

 History is going to be lost forever how can they say the have done their due diligence.  How can they  teach what we do not know?  We must find out what important history is on this land before it is too late! PLease help us stop and preserve this important piece of history before it is lost forever!

WE NEED YOUR HELP NOW!

--- On Fri, 12/5/08, Donald, Kevin <kevin.donald@ncdcr.gov> wrote:

From: Donald, Kevin <kevin.donald@ncdcr.gov>
Subject: RE: RE: Re: Cemetery Delineation - Forestville Rd H6 Site
To: "flys_low@yahoo.com" <flys_low@yahoo.com>
Date: Friday, December 5, 2008, 7:43 AM

This is the picture we sent Kevin Donald with the office of State Archaeology in color NOT black and white in November 2008 (refer to page 22 of The Chicora Report) These leaves are freshly fallen...Fall Leaves!

There are 80 to 100 head and foot stones in this Historic Cemetery.  Each flag represents a person who has been resting in PEACE for over 150 years.  Please help us to keep them here.  Would you want your families final resting place disturbed.  

PLEASE...WE NEED YOUR HELP NOW TIME IS RUNNING OUT!