Wake County residents weigh in on future of Lower Neuse area

SHOTWELL, N.C. (WTVD) -- Taking a walk at the Oaky Grove Farm, fifth-generation farm owner Talmage Brown shared some of his childhood memories of the 200-year-old farmland on Thursday.

"I spent all of my free time out here, and I grew up coming out here as a boy and my father had a garden here," Brown said. "I have grown to love this land."

The historic farmland, just off Turnipseed Road in eastern Wake County, has the pressures of development closing in all around it, including the Lower Neuse Area Plan.

Brown said he's worked to conserve the property that's also a space for Asian refugee farmers from war-torn Myanmar.

"Farmland preservation is my big mission," Brown said.

The farmland is included in the Lower Neuse area, which is home to approximately 17,000 residents.

Wake County held a community meeting on Thursday to hear from residents like Brown to help determine what type of built environment is envisioned.

"It's going to promote both residential and commercial development and it's inevitable," Brown said. "So I want to see it controlled and not just spreading everywhere."

The planning process comes as towns in the plan's coverage area, such as Wendell, are responding to the fast-paced growth. The town just recently gained a major mixed-use project dubbed "Treelight Square," which features a Publix grocery store and other chains such as Starbucks and McDonald's.

"I remember from it being nothing but agricultural," Angela McKinnon said. "A lot of farms ... and I've seen it change from that to more housing, more traffic."

McKinnon lives on Mial Plantation, which is near the proposed NC-540 extension. She said that though she has seen a lot of change, she hopes to still see some of the rural community charm.

"With all the people that's coming in and it's growing so fast, we're definitely going to have to do something in that area because of the traffic, that's one of the things," McKinnon said. "It's not going to be any more country. It's more a city feel than anything else."

Wake County said the input it got on Thursday will be used to put the final touches on the plan which will be presented to the Wake County Planning Board in February, and the Wake County Board of Commissioners in the Spring.