My week started out with a meeting with representatives from a national company (sorry, I can’t say who they are yet) who are looking at Cary as a possible location to open a regional office. We discussed Cary’s economic outlook, demographics, and capital improvement plans in detail. Our meeting went well and I believe they now have a good understanding of all the positives Cary has to offer should they decide to set up shop here in town.
Mayor Weinbrecht and I taped the January edition of the Cary Matters TV show this week – and this was really a lot of fun. The show’s main topic was Cary’s amateur sports venues, and we also discussed flooding and the upcoming council retreat. A lot of good information - including the answer to the age old question “does size really matter?” (and yes I’ll probably regret this one!)
Silverton residents, representatives of Singh Development, members of our town staff, and councilwoman Jennifer Robinson and myself met at the Bond Park Senior Center this past Tuesday evening to discuss whether or not there is support from the community to develop the Cary Parkway/Evans Road/Winfair property as mixed-use instead of commercial. I believe this meeting went well and the developer left with a reasonable understanding of what the key issues were/would be should they decide to pursue mixed use development. I personally support the mixed use concept over the commercial proposal at this site as the mixed use proposal would generate roughly 1/3 of the traffic as the commercial proposal would, and the impact to Winfair Dr. would be significantly less. Mixed use would be more harmonious with the surrounding residential community, and uses such as a gas station or hotel (uses proposed in the commercial plan and adamantly opposed by the residents) would be prohibited. The decision on whether to develop this property as commercial or mixed-use is in the developer’s hands at this point. I hope to hear from them sometime after the holidays.
Thursday evening was our Planning and Development committee meeting. Discussion items pertained to a roadway improvement waiver request from College Park Baptist Church and potential amendments to our town’s sign ordinance to allow for greater flexibility in sign standards.
Afterwards I attended a “Schools Redistricting Brainstorm” hosted by Holly Springs Mayor Dick Sears at Holly Springs Town Hall. Upwards of 40 concerned parents and elected officials attended. A number of concerns and action items pertaining to reassignment and the upcoming elections were identified. In my opinion the only way we are going to change the manner in which WCPSS assigns students is to change the make-up of the board of elections plain and simple, and I am committed to doing everything I can to work for and help elect pro-neighborhood schools candidates this coming fall. If you believe as I do and would like to help please send me an email at don.frantz@townofcary.org .
And has been the case for a number of weeks, a good amount of my time this week was spent communicating with WCPSS board members and parents regarding the proposed reassignment plan. The updated reassignment plan also just hit the school system’s website this weekend and I have already spent a great deal of time analyzing node assignments and potential scenarios in the hopes of finding alternative proposals that keep Cary neighborhoods at their neighborhood schools. What a concept huh?
And last but certainly not least, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thanks for reading!