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Toni Kenion knows the value of having an emergency room nearby. She is a health care provider and former WakeMed ER nurse, according to her LinkedIn profile.
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But while Kenion and her neighbors welcome WakeMed’s plans to expand healthcare in fast-growing Rolesville, they oppose putting the project next to her Barrington neighborhood, about 15 miles northeast of downtown Raleigh.
“We actually chose our home because of that field behind us, and it was because it still gave us that small country-town feel,” she told The News & Observer. She moved to Rolesville seven years ago and is the director of the homeowners association.
WakeMed originally proposed the WakeMed Rolesville Healthplex, a 24-hour standalone emergency department with 12 treatment rooms on the Burlington Mills Road property. The neighborhood fight began over where that emergency facility would sit and the traffic, ambulance activity, lights and noise it would bring.
The stakes have since grown.
WakeMed confirmed Tuesday to The N&O that it is now seeking state approval to expand the planned Healthplex into a 45-bed acute-care hospital on the same property. If approved, WakeMed says the emergency department would become part of the hospital rather than remain a separate facility.
The local rezoning and annexation were scheduled to return to the Rolesville Board of Commissioners Tuesday night, although WakeMed asked the board to postpone a decision until Oct. 8 while it revises zoning conditions in response to concerns raised by residents and commissioners.
Rolesville had just 907 residents in 2000. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated its population at 12,839 in 2025.
WakeMed says the project would bring emergency and inpatient care closer to a rapidly growing part of Wake County. The health system said it treated about 45,000 patients from northeastern Wake County at its emergency departments during the 2025 fiscal year. It has also projected about 77 full-time positions by 2030 and about $53.8 million in capital investment. Those estimates predate the newly proposed 45-bed hospital.
But Kenion and other Barrington residents living next to the property say the benefits of having medical care nearby do not outweigh the impacts of putting a 24-hour emergency facility beside their neighborhood.
Kenion is worried about traffic on Burlington Mills Road, ambulance activity, lighting and the project’s proximity to homes. She also worries about the future Granite Falls Boulevard extension, which would run through the neighborhood and connect to the WakeMed property.
“We like WakeMed. We want them here, but that’s just not the area we want them in,” she said.
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Those concerns have already helped delay a vote on the proposed rezoning from Residential Low to Commercial Highway Conditional. WakeMed told the town last week that it needs more time to revise its zoning conditions to address concerns raised by commissioners and residents at an Aug. 18 hearing.
Commissioner Jenn Bernat said at that meeting that the board was “trying to protect the interests of the people that do live in Barrington.” She said she wanted more certainty that the building and ambulance bay could be moved farther from the neighborhood before voting.
“If you want me to vote tonight, then you’re not going to like my vote,” Bernat told WakeMed’s representatives on Aug. 18.
Kenion was not alone. Erin Sullivan raised concerns about lights, sirens, traffic and children living nearby, while William Johnson argued that a 24-hour emergency department would be too intensive for the location and urged commissioners to deny the rezoning.
“I don’t even have kids, but kids are all over the neighborhood. They spend a lot of time in that area and it’s just something that needs to be considered,” Sullivan told the board.
Traffic is central to residents’ objections. The project’s traffic study estimates about 1,550 weekday trips, while the N.C. Department of Transportation has asked for revisions before completing its detailed review.
The site is also near Rolesville Middle School, where residents and commissioners have raised concerns about existing congestion. Commissioner Michael Paul called the area around the school “a virtual parking lot twice a day.”
NCDOT said in a July 16 preliminary review that it had concerns with the traffic analysis, required additional information and said a revised study should be submitted before it could complete a thorough review.
WakeMed says it is still evaluating whether the Healthplex building and ambulance area can be moved farther from Barrington.
Kenion said she would rather see WakeMed build along U.S. 401, where she believes a larger site would be better suited for hospital traffic.
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This story was originally published September 1, 2026 at 6:49 PM.