Wake Forest approves special-use permit for Fire Station 6 and training facility

The Wake Forest Board of Commissioners approved a special‑use permit on May 20, 2025, to allow construction of a new fire station and an on‑site training facility on approximately 4.48 acres at 1621 and 1701 Waite Avenue (case SUP24-02).

Town planning staff and the project team presented sworn testimony, technical reports and renderings during a quasi‑judicial hearing before the board. Patrick Reedy, senior planning staff, described the parcel as “freshly vacant,” noted the site’s recent rezoning to rural holding and walked the board through the staff report and exhibits, which addressed the UDO special‑use findings the board must make under Section 15.10.2.

The applicant — represented by attorney Sam Slater — and a team of experts told commissioners the proposal meets the eight required findings. Wake Forest Fire Chief Ron Early said the town needs the station to maintain “consistent and equitable service” as growth has increased call demand. Chief Early added the site would also house a training facility to reduce travel for mandatory live‑fire training.

Architect Gina Moore of ADW Architects presented building elevations and said the design steps down toward neighboring property lines and uses materials and landscape buffers to reduce visual scale.

Traffic consultant Cliff Lawson (Timmons Group) testified the project would not create traffic hazards and that parking and trip generation had been assessed in a sealed memorandum submitted as an exhibit. Civil engineer Blake Hall described utilities, parking layout and additional on‑site buffers; he said the plan provides a two‑way vehicle entrance and a through path so apparatus will not need to back into the public street.

Fire services consultant Greg Grayson addressed public‑safety and training concerns, calling the station “the complete opposite” of a detriment to public health and safety, and describing the proposed training building as a modern pre‑engineered structure that most training sessions will use theatrical (simulated) smoke. Grayson said the facility’s live burn loads would be limited by design rules — the typical maximum for the pre‑engineered units is three wooden pallets and one bale of straw — and recommended operational policies, vegetation buffers and other mitigations to reduce off‑site impacts.

Real‑estate appraiser Frank Leatherman reviewed comparable situations at existing Wake Forest stations and reported no observed depreciation in adjacent home values where stations had been built.

After deliberation, commissioners said they found the record contained the competent, material and substantial evidence necessary to make the eight required findings and approved the special‑use permit. The board directed staff to prepare the written documentation effecting the approval.

Details in the approved site materials include a proposed opaque six‑foot fence along portions of the northern and eastern property lines (added beyond UDO minimums), widened rear buffers, parking on the east side of the building, and two dedicated training structures located at the rear of the site. Town staff noted the project will extend water and sewer across the site frontage and tie into existing power and fiber in the right of way.

The board approved the permit without additional conditions beyond required permits and the recorded plan; paperwork to finalize the approval will be prepared by staff.