Interview: Kip Padgett, Town

the state but settled on a phased reopening in May 2020. Although the stay-at-home order initially remained in place, many retail businesses were allowed to reopen, before beauty and leisure locations were allowed to open later that month. Even with continued reopening, the state imposed social distancing requirements, capacity limitations on venues and a mask mandate to control the spread of the virus.

In May 2020, the state General Assembly passed legislation awarding $1.6 billion in federal funding to lowcost small-business loan funds, COVID-19 research at five universities, K-12 education systems and a distribution to local governments. The government also greenlit a $600 increase in unemployment benefits that later dropped to $300 per week. The federal funding for the program is expected to run out in September 2021 and there are no plans to end it early, according to the governor. Kip Padgett

Town Manager Town of Wake Forest

What types of commercial development is the town working to attract?

We’re focusing on office and retail developments. Obviously, office spaces have been affected by COVID but the incubator space will hopefully fill that gap. With the addition of a Wegmans that is opening in June, we think that will set the stage for one of our main corridors in the town and create a halo effect in commercial development. We now see that pre-pandemic, there were a lot of commuters traveling to Raleigh to work but we want to give them the option to work here.

How has the uptick in residential real estate demand impacted affordable housing?

Our residential development has stayed very strong during the pandemic. In February, 85 permits were issued for single-family residential, which was the busiest month since April 2018. We are also seeing a lot of plans being pushed through our rezoning process to get land parcels ready. One of the challenges has been in affordable housing. We have a strong market and the average price can be around $350,000. One thing we’re doing is an affordable housing study. Last year, the Board of Commissioners agreed to set aside 0.5 cents from our tax rate for affordable housing initiatives. We’re looking to see if we can help with infrastructure improvements that make houses more affordable.

What are some of the characteristics that make Wake Forest an attractive place to live?

We have a great park system, and we’re making plans to connect these two systems in Raleigh and elsewhere. We’ve seen our park usage increase substantially since the pandemic began. Joyner Park is the crown jewel in our park system and we built a community center there that was opened shortly before the pandemic hit. We try to build quality of life into our community. We are right next door to Raleigh and we have a lot of amenities but Downtown still has that small-town feeling, even though we’re adjacent to a major urban area.