Sorry it’s
been a while since my last post. I’ve been trying to dig myself out of a
honey-do hole since the election ended. ;-) It has also been nice to get back in
the swing of things at work and get my hands dirty again. I am thankful I get
to make a living doing something I really enjoy, and plus I get to work with my
wife so that’s awesome – if we didn’t work together we’d hardly ever see each
other.
There’s a
lot to talk about since I last posted. I’ll do my best to keep it short and
sweet but I’ll also go ahead and apologize in advance for it running long. ;-)
Post-election
Congratulations
to Cary’s newest council member, Ken George. I look forward to Ken joining the
council and participating in a meaningful way. Ken is a long time Cary resident
having raised his family here and he owns and operates his business here. Ken
has a good feel for the community and the Cary way and will serve District D
and Cary well.
Thanks again
to the 60% of District B voters for your faith and trust in me to serve as your
representative for another four years. To the 40% who preferred one of my
opponents, I promise to work even harder to earn your support.
Here is our
new council group photo.
Just kidding ;-)
Congratulations
also to my good friend, Michael Schlink on his reelection victory to the
Morrisville Town Council and also to Satish Garimella for his election victory.
Michael is a great guy. I don’t know anyone in Morrisville who cares more about
their community than Michael and he deserved another term to continue his work
to make Morrisville a better place. I also had the pleasure of getting to know
Satish during the campaign and he, like Michael, also brings a community over
politics attitude to their council. Given the partnerships and regional
interests of both our communities, a quality council in Morrisville is important.
Who’s got
Spirit?
Anne B.
Kratzer, Brent Miller and Desiree Kettler that’s who! Anne, Brent and Desiree
were the nominees for this year’s Hometown Spirit Award and who are all
extraordinary folks who give so much of themselves for our community and are
deserving of such recognition. I’m glad that council members aren’t on the
awards committee ;-) The winner of the 2015 Town of Cary Hometown Spirit Award
Winner is……….., Anne B. Kratzer!!! Congratulations to Anne, Brent and Desiree
for being nominated and thank you for all that you do for Cary!
 |
| Desiree, Brent and Anne |
The “That is
so cool Award” however goes to Brent Miller. Brent nominated Anne. How cool is
that? ;-)
Veterans Day
Celebrations
I had the
honor and privilege of participating at Cary’s Veteran’s Day Luncheon at the Herb
Young Community Center and Cary’s Veteran’s Day Celebration at the Veterans
Freedom Park Memorial. Both events were a moving tribute to our nation’s
veterans and their families. We are forever grateful for their service and
sacrifices.
I also had the
privilege of speaking to Cub Scout Pack 208 about elections and my service on
the council. I always enjoy speaking to kids. I especially enjoy the questions
they ask! Kids don’t sugarcoat a thing – I love it. I do my best to answer
those that I can without scarring their minds or upsetting the parents or
teachers ;-) But once in a while I do find myself staring at them for a few
seconds before I smile and say, “next question” ;-)
The funniest
political question I ever got - While speaking to 3rd graders I had
a kid ask me, “What is the difference between a Republican and Democrat?” I
looked at the teacher with a smile and said, “Can I answer that?” She thought
about it for a few seconds and said, “Probably best you don’t”. Smart…. ;-)
Next
question!
Downtown
Library Update
The council
held a worksession to discuss design considerations for the new downtown Cary regional
library, an update on Imagine Cary, and to talk about the upcoming council
retreat.
While the
topic that received the greatest discussion was the library building and
parking layout options, we also learned a little more about the library itself.
The new
library will be between 22,000-25,000 sq ft and two stories tall. It will
include large and medium sized multipurpose programming rooms as well as a
quiet study lounge. There will be 11 librarians on staff - compared to 3 at the
existing library - and over 125,000 books along with increased public computer
space.
In order to
stay on schedule and not jeopardize Wake County’s Bond funding requirements the
library needs to be completed by the fall of 2018. To make this happen Wake
County needs to begin design work by January. If we do not hustle, the downtown
library will have to wait until Wake County passes another Library Bond
referendum, and all of our work to get the downtown library included as a bond
project will be lost.
The council
affirmed previous decisions. The library will go where we always said it would
and we will be constructing a 4 level, 350 space parking structure in
conjunction with the library. The deck will not only serve the library; but
also provide public parking for the Cary Arts Center, the park, downtown events
and future private development.
The council
also agreed to invest in a façade that disguises the deck as a
residential/office building to soften the views from the park. In a perfect
world we would have preferred to wrap the deck with residential and office development,
but given Wake County’s time constraints and the complexities of bringing in a
private developer to make this happen, well, it just isn’t going to happen. And
that’s OK.
The end
product will be remarkable. Private development will occur between the deck and
Walnut and Walker Streets similar to the image below. Private development – especially
office or commercial – needs the visibility and access from the street to be
viable.
Council
Retreat
The council
will be traveling to Greensboro for our retreat. Our main discussion topic will
be redevelopment and infill development as this will be one of Cary’s biggest challenges
from here on out as there aren’t many large undeveloped tracts of land left in
Cary. The majority of future development will be infill or redevelopment of
older properties and we need to better understand how to support that while
protecting the character of existing development and especially neighborhoods.
Town Manager
Search
The council
has spent a great deal of time reviewing potential candidates to be Cary’s next
Town Manger. After narrowing a large field of quality applicants down to our “top
ten”, we then whittled the field down to six. After a day and a half of
interviewing those six candidates we then narrowed the list down to three
finalists so we’re getting close! Unfortunately there isn’t much more I can tell
you as this is a confidential personnel matter, but please know that we are
working as hard as we can to find the best person possible to be Cary’s next
manager.
Council
Meeting
We had a
long meeting this past Thursday. Highlights include:
The council
held a public hearing for the proposed Lewter property rezoning at the
intersection of Carpenter Fire Station and Green Level Church Roads. The land
is currently zoned for medium to high density residential. The applicant is
proposing commercial to include a Publix grocery store.
A number of
folks showed up to speak in opposition to the project with a couple of folks speaking
in support of the proposal. Council has also received a number of emails on the
topic and those run about 50/50 for and against.
At the end
of the day, the question for me is do I believe the best use of this property
to be commercial development or more apartments? I have my thoughts but will
let the process run its course before commenting further. Cary’s Planning and
Zoning Board will review the case and make a recommendation to council prior to
our decision.
The council
also approved a new connectivity ordinance that creates three tiers to determine
whether or not connectivity to adjoining properties would be required. This –
hopefully – will provide greater flexibility to applicants and neighborhoods
who oppose connecting adjacent properties when public safety and traffic flow
requirements are adequately addressed.
In a
nutshell, new development adjacent to older properties (those approved prior to
1999 that were not planned for connectivity and have adequate public safety and
traffic access) would not be required to connect to the existing development.
Pedestrian and utility connections however would still be required.
Newer
developments however (those planned for connectivity to include those with
street stubs) would still be required to connect. Another bonus is that this decision
can now be considered at the time of rezoning and not have to wait until site
plan giving residents more security that what is proposed will actually happen.
The council
also approved the concept plan and phase two for Mills Park as well as the next
phase of the Panther Creek Greenway. The greenway connections will create a
continuous trail from Cameron Pond to Cary Park developments, Mills Park and
Mills Park Middle School.
The second
phase of Mills Park with include a playground for children, new restroom
facilities, a 30 car parking lot and picnic shelter.
That's all for now. As always, thanks for reading and I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!!!