The council held a worksession this past Tuesday to discuss
the downtown park and Academy Street improvements.
I am pleased to report that a majority of council endorsed
much of the 2009 plan as shown below.
Highlights include:
·
Siting the new downtown library and associated
parking structure in the park
·
AT LEAST six acres of undeveloped park area
·
Potential for restaurants or other similar uses
·
A town square directly across from The Cary Arts
Center
·
Outdoor performance space
·
Water features
·
Public art, gardens and an open lawn area
The majority of discussion centered around how much of the
park site to develop and how much to leave as open space. While one council
member felt that we should not be so specific and “let the professionals to do
their job”, I couldn’t disagree more. I believed it imperative that we provide
specific guidelines to our staff and the design team so that there is no confusion
about our intent. The last thing I want is for the “professionals” to come back
with engineering and construction plans that do not reflect the council’s - and
more importantly - our community’s vision. We’ve already been down this road
before and left alone the “professionals” proposed a postage stamp park
surrounded by intense development. Aint happening.
The proposed Academy Street improvements are pretty cool
also – new sidewalks, memory markers (art) that also serves a dual purpose by
providing locations for electrical power and water to aid with town festivals
such as Lazy Daze or Wheels on Academy, new street trees and landscaping and a
complete road resurfacing. Oh, and lights in the trees too!
On a related note, the downtown roundabouts are getting
close to completion…thank goodness. I want to thank everyone for all their
patience throughout the construction process. It has been difficult I know, but
the end is in sight. Not only will the roundabouts serve as attractive gateway
features into our downtown, they will also help to improve roadway geometry and
reduce the number of violent accidents we have experienced over the years –
especially at the west end where Old Apex Road and Chatham Street came
together.
Imagine Cary Update
The council recently held a worksession with town staff and our
consultant team to discuss some of our concerns with the process thus far – mainly
the issues of bias and that staff and consultants appear to be driving the
process more so than our citizens. The council made it clear that we expect
balance in any information we put out to our citizens and that we want more
citizen input and less staff presentation. This is the Cary Community Plan. The
community should be in the driver’s seat.
After attending the most recent Area Conversation meeting
this past Wednesday I have a much better feeling about where we are going.
There was essentially no presentation with an hour and a half dedicated to
gathering input from citizens. They responded to a number of questions such as “What
do you like about Cary?” “What don’t you like about Cary?” “What do you want to
see more or less of?” Stuff like that – good stuff that will really help us
craft a plan that genuinely reflects the desires of our community – not special
interests or consultants.
That's all for now. As always, thanks for reading!
