Publisher’s Note: We received this Letter to the Editor from Representative Paul Stam in response to an opinion piece by Lori Bush.  Rep. Stam serves the 37th legislative district in Wake County and is majority leader of the N.C. House of Representatives.

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Cary, NC – On May 8^th the voters will decide whether this provision should be added to the Constitution:

“Marriage between one man and one woman is the only domestic legal union that shall be valid or recognized in this State.  This Section does not prohibit a private party from entering into contracts with another private party; nor does this section prohibit courts from adjudicating the rights of private parties pursuant to such contracts.”

Let’s look at what the Amendment does and does not do. It would recognize only domestic legal unions between one man and one woman. The second sentence of the Amendment makes clear that it would not prohibit private companies from entering into private contracts based on relationships chosen by the company. Private employers, for example, could continue to offer domestic partnership or civil union benefits to an employee’s same sex or opposite sex partner. But the Amendment would prohibit the government from forcing a company to provide such benefits. The Amendment would prohibit the government from creating “same sex marriage” by calling it something else, such as a civil union.

The meaning of “legal union” is concrete and clear in the context of family relationships.  In federal law, “‘marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife…” 1 U.S.C. §7 (1996). This definition is consistent with the long-standing definition: marriage is the “[l]egal union of one man and one woman as husband and wife.”  BLACK’S LAW DICTIONARY 876 (5^th ed. 1979). The word “domestic” clarifies that other arrangements, such as business partnerships, would not be affected by this amendment.

Any benefits extended by government to a person based on a domestic legal union other than marriage would be prohibited. State Government has never offered benefits to the unmarried. Nine of the 625 local governments have. These cities and counties could still extend employment benefits that benefit non-married domestic households. The extension of such benefits, however, could not be based only upon the status of a domestic relationship other than marriage. For example, a statute could allow a city employee to pick one other person of his or her choice to be the beneficiary for health insurance. Or a county ordinance could allow an employee to pick a beneficiary based on whether they live in the same household.

I have been amazed at other absurd claims made by opponents. Several continue to be repeated in ads and orchestrated letter writing campaigns by opponents. Let’s set the record straight:

1.  The Marriage Amendment will not adversely affect North Carolina’s economy.  A 2011 report by the American Legislative Exchange Council ranked states by economic performance between 1999 and 2009 and by economic outlook. 8 of the top 10 economically performing states have marriage amendments. None have legalized same sex marriage, civil unions or domestic partnerships. 9 of the 10 states with the poorest economic growth have legalized same sex marriages or civil unions.

2.  The Marriage Amendment Will Not Affect The Enforcement Of Domestic Violence Laws.  Opponents would have you think the Amendment obliterates our domestic violence law. The cases they use as authority are Ohio cases later overturned by the Ohio Supreme Court. The Marriage Amendment will have no effect on the enforcement of our domestic violence statutes. 30 other states have marriage amendments with domestic violence laws enforced. North Carolina does not even require that there be a romantic or intimate relationship for the statute to apply. N.C.G.S. §50B-1(b)(5) covers “current or former household members.”

3. The Marriage Amendment Will Not Determine the Custody and Visitation Rights of Unmarried Parents Unless Their Behavior Affects the Child.  Custody orders are based on the “parent”/child relationship. Courts base custody and visitation on the “best interest of the child.” N.C.G.S. §50-13.2(2007) The sexual behavior of the parent is not determinative except as it affects the child.

There is a real threat to the institution of marriage.  In several states same sex marriage has been imposed upon the people by courts that have engaged in tortured judicial reasoning –Massachusetts and Iowa, for example. These courts have used state constitutional provisions like ours to reverse the pro marriage policies that were in effect when the state constitution was adopted.

Now it’s happening in North Carolina. Same sex couples in Asheville went to the Courthouse for two weeks last fall seeking to obtain marriage licenses. A lawsuit was filed by the Register of Deeds of Guilford County in December challenging our state’s marriage laws and asking the Court to declare them unconstitutional because they don’t allow same-sex partners to “marry”.  That case is on appeal.

The Marriage Amendment will ensure that marriage between one man and one woman will be determined by the voters and not by a handful of judges. I am voting for it.

Representative Paul Stam
House Majority Leader

To the Editor,

After attending the WCPSS BOE meeting on Tuesday, March 27th, I walk away more disturbed by the actions of some of those in attendance then any topic discussed during the meeting.

We had adults yelling out in the middle of Ms. Goldman’s prayer.  Others would moan and holler out anytime they heard something they did not like.  Someone even addressed Mr. Tata by saying, “Liar, liar pants on fire.  Mr. Tata, are your pants on fire?”Although I may not like all the things that the BOE or WCPSS staff says or approves, I realize the need for respect for others.

It reminds me of what I was told as a child:  Treat others as you would like to be treated.  This goes a lot further than any name calling, yelling, or personal attacks.

If you want others to hear you and respond in a way favorable to you, I recommend taking this approach.

Even though you may not get what you want, people are more receptive when they are not feeling attacked and, more importantly, it would be something that our kids could see and learn from.  Isn’t this how we want them to be?

Karen Carter
Child Advocate
WCPSS Parent
WCPSS Graduate

Story and photo by Harold Weinbrecht.

Cary, NC – This week was filled with meetings and school visits.

School Visits

Monday I had a dinner meeting with a former candidate for town council. We talked about several issues in town including chickens and bees. BTW, he was not seeking appointment to the upcoming council seat but was just catching up on what I and the rest of the council was thinking.

Tuesday morning I had the pleasure of visiting Ms. Kuykendall’s kindergarten class at Mills Park Elementary. This group of students took time to draw pictures of me and ask questions which were sent to me by their teacher. We talked a little; I answered a few questions, took a few pictures, and finished the visit with high fives to everyone. It was a lot of fun and I hope to be invited back one day.

Tuesday evening the town manager and I went over issues in our weekly meeting. Not a lot of pressing issues so it was a short meeting.

Wednesday I, along with Mayor Holcombe, visited The Manor Village at Preston retirement community. They asked that Mayor Holcombe and I be on the cover of their brochure about the community so we took several photos. Afterwards we made a quick visit to the dining room to talk to a few residents. It was a very nice and impressive place.

Thursday I met with council member Bush to go over several issues. She is still trying to educate herself on several items. We spent a great deal of time talking about technology, which is one of her favorite topics. I am very impressed by her thoroughness and commitment. We are so lucky to have her on Cary’s council.

Friday was Celebrity Reader Day for area elementary schools. I started the morning at Cary Elementary with Ms. Baker’s third grade class. I read a Dr. Suess book called “Hurray for Diffendoofer Day” and then handed out reader awards. Then the class surprised me with a poem and a beautiful booklet containing pictures, names, and their comments on how I am doing in my job (very complimentary). The poem that was read was:

Mayor Mayor
You watch over our town
Bet you don’t do it with a frown.
Up in your office you operate
Mayor you are really great!
You wear neat suits and ties
Going around town doing Cary business
Making sure people follow laws.
Hope kids get an education
Ruling over our Cary nation.

I had a fantastic time and the booklet will definitely be one of my keepsakes.

Next I headed over to Reedy Creek Elementary to read “Yertle the Turtle” to a third grade class. The book wasn’t that long so I had time to answer a few questions. There were great questions especially since they had been studying branches of government. They were a very kind and complimentary group and even asked me to run for governor, twice. One student, Hailee Taylor presented me with a picture of The Wizard of Oz. What a very sweet class. I had a wonderful time and asked that they invite me back next time.

Criticism for Trip to D.C.

I received an email from the News and Observer reporter wanting my feedback on their story about my trip to Washington. One of the main points in their story was that Raleigh and Apex both get federal funding without federal lobbyist. Here was my feedback:

You wanted my feedback to your story. The implications are that we are wasting time and money. And of course the John Locke Foundation jumped all over that:

“Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht and staff spent two days in Washington, D.C. looking for federal cash for local projects. Read further into this story and you find that Cary spends $100,000 per year on a lobbyist whose job is to seek federal money. Neither Raleigh nor Apex do this. I continue to wonder why anyone thinks it’s appropriate to spend federal dollars on local projects. Why should taxpayers in Tennessee help pay for a project in Cary, or vice versa? They shouldn’t.”

What you left out… Raleigh gets federal funding on things we can’t qualify for because of the size of our town such as their transit system. Who knows how/why Apex gets funding and what it is for (I would like to know that), but I guarantee it is not for project types that we have. We have gotten funding for road projects, police officers, police and fire equipment, sustainability projects, etc. How much did Raleigh and Apex get for those? I bet you it is almost zip. So if the implication is to say we are wasting taxpayer dollars then you were successful. If your intention was to provide the truth you missed the target.

Too often the News and Observer reporters seem be inflammatory at best. I think it would be in everyone’s best interest if they present all sides of an issue.

Staff Communications

Email from staff this week included more information about the developments at Davis Drive and High House. Staff and I had a contradiction of information which I posed last week in my blog. Staff explained the difference:

“I think we (Planning) probably misspoke about signal warrants at that overview meeting.  As we dug deeper to prepare this detailed summary sheet, we verified all the improvements & their timing in conjunction with phasing and C.O.’s with engineering staff.”

Bradford

Here is the latest information on the Bradford development:

Zoning:

• The property is currently zoned Residential 40 (R-40) within the Mixed Use Overlay district (Cornerstone Community Mixed Use Center).
• A Mixed Use Sketch Plan (MUSP) for the northeastern quadrant of the mixed use center (06-MU-07) was approved by Town Council for the property on July 26, 2007 under the process in place at that time.
• The approval was for 100,000 to 200,000 square feet of Commercial and 7,500 to 100,000 square feet of Office Use.
• In addition, between 300 and 340 residential units were approved consisting of 20 to 40 townhomes and the remainder being multi?family dwelling units.
• This MUSP approval is good in perpetuity as long as the associated development plans (e.g., site and/or subdivision plans) are generally consistent with the overall intent of the MUSP.
• If the applicant were to propose significant changes, then a rezoning following the current MXD zoning process would be required.

Development Plan Approvals (administrative and not council approved):

• The original development plan for Bradford included footprints for all of the buildings on?site except the six outparcels and was approved in May of 2008.
• The approval, handled administratively by staff in accordance with the LDO, included approximately 118,000 square feet of commercial and 7,500 square feet of office floor space.
• The applicant also chose to take advantage of a provision in the MUSP that allowed them to increase the residential unit count by 50 units in return for reducing the maximum commercial square footage by 50,000 square feet.
• This resulted in a total unit count of 390, with 20 of those units being townhomes.
• The maximum amount of square footage was consequently reduced to150,000 square feet.
• Subsequent to the original approval, the development plan has been revised twice (once in 2008 and once in 2012). This has resulted in the same number of residential dwellings, an increase in office square footage to approximately 58,000 and a decrease in the commercial square footage to approximately 53,000.
• In addition, the building footprints have been revised to accommodate the smaller square footages and to provide a terminating vista at the eastern end of the central plaza instead of the open view of the existing cell tower on the adjacent property.

The Comprehensive Transportation Plan (CTP) improvements indicated along the property’s frontage are required to be complete prior to the issuance of the first Certificate of Occupancy (CO) for the development. These improvements include:

• Widening of Davis Drive to meet the four?lane median divided cross section identified in the CTP
• Installation of a 450-foot westbound right?turn lane on Davis Drive at High House Road
• Installation of a 100-foot northbound right?turn lane and signal at the intersection of Davis Drive and Riggsbee Farm Road
• Installation of a 100-foot northbound right?turn lane, a 150-foot southbound left-turn lane, and a signal at the intersection of Davis Drive and Valleystone Drive
• Installation of a 100-foot westbound right-turn lane at the right-in/right?out entrance on High House Road
• Installation of a 100-foot westbound right-turn lane, a 150-foot eastbound left-turn lane, and a signal at the intersection of High House Road and Magness Drive. This signal is also identified in the Searstone plans and the timing of and responsibility for installation is dependent on the relative construction schedules for both developments.

The required off-site improvements identified for the Cary Parkway and High House intersection (installation of a 300-foot southbound right-turn lane on SW Cary Parkway) are tied to the issuance of a CO for the buildings facing High House Road (currently buildings 13 and 14) or prior to the build-out of 80% (170,000) square feet of non-residential floor space.

It should be noted that the timing of the transportation improvements has not changed in either of the subsequent revisions.

The Permit Extension Act froze the ‘shot clock’ on the current approvals until January 1, 2012. Consequently, the developer has until January 1, 2014 to make significant progress (grading of and installation of roads and infrastructure) on the plans.

Once the developer has made significant progress, the development plan would be valid until January 1, 2017.

Once a development plan expires, the zoning approval remains in effect; however, a new development plan would need to be submitted and reviewed again for any un-permitted portions of the development.

Searstone

Here is the latest information on the Searstone development:

As a corollary to the Comprehensive Transportation Plan (CTP) and Adequate Public Facilities (APF) requirements for Bradford, the following improvements are tied to the Searstone development:

• Improvements already completed as part of Searstone Retail
• Installation of a 150-foot northbound right-deceleration/turn lane on Davis Drive at Searstone Drive
• Installation of a 100-foot northbound right deceleration/turn lane on Davis Drive at right-in/right out entrance
• Installation of a 100-foot eastbound right deceleration/turn on High House Road at the right-in/right out entrance
• Installation of a 100 foot eastbound right deceleration/turn lane on High House Road at the full service entrance into Searstone
• Installation of a 100 foot eastbound right turn lane on High House Road at the intersection with Davis Drive
• Installation of a signal on Davis Drive at Searstone Drive
• Widening of High House Road to meet ½ of the four lane, median divided section identified in the CTP for the retail frontage Improvements required of Seartone Retail
• Installation of a signal on High House Road at the full?service access (aligned with Magness Drive in Bradford). A signal warrant analysis is required with each building approval. Once the signal warrants are met, the signal shall be installed prior to the issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy (CO) for that building.
• Improvements required of Searstone CCRC Phase 1 (w/o Building O [Calais Multi-Family building])
• Installation of the portion of multi-use trail/greenway that lies within the Phase 1 boundary
• Improvements required of Searstone CCRC Phase 1 (w/ Building O)
• Installation of a 300-foot eastbound right-turn lane on High House Road at the intersection with SW Cary Parkway
• Installation of a 250-foot eastbound left-turn lane on High House Road at the intersection with NW Cary Parkway
• Installation of the portion of multi-use trail/greenway that lies within the Phase 1 boundary
• Installation of a signal on High House Road at the full-service access (aligned with Magness Drive in Bradford). Required to be installed prior to the final CO in Phase 1.
• Improvements required of Searstone CCRC Phase 2
• Installation of a 100-foot eastbound right-deceleration/turn lane on High House at the second right?in/right?out entrance (Walker Stone Drive) and of a left-over at the same entrance.
• Installation of a 300 foot eastbound right-turn lane on High House Road at the intersection with SW Cary Parkway
• Installation of a 250 foot eastbound left-turn lane on High House Road at the intersection with NW Cary Parkway
• Widening of High House Road to meet ½ of the four lane, median-divided section identified in the CTP for the CCRC frontage
• Installation of the portion of multi-use trail/greenway that lies within the Phase 1 boundary
• Installation of a signal on High House Road at the full?service access (aligned with Magness Drive in Bradford). Required to be installed prior to the final CO in Phase 1.

Note: this information represents the most up-to-date scheduling included in a Minor Alteration currently in review to modify the mitigation scheduling for the CCRC. This information may change as that application makes its way through the process.

Recyclebank

There was also an email response from staff to an inquiry by a citizen on the “Recyclebank” initiative which I found informative:

Last year Town staff met and discussed opportunities with a Recyclebank representative. We learned that their program is geared toward new recycling programs or those with low participation rates. In addition, Recyclebank charges participating communities a monthly household fee.  In Cary we are proud that our longstanding recycling program has an approximate 75% participation rate, as well as achieving a 47.6% diversion rate.  Accordingly, Recyclebank is not a cost-effective option for us at this time.

We continually evaluate our recycling program to provide this cost-effective service to our community. We appreciate your suggestion and will keep it in mind for future reference.  Thank you for all that you do to recycle in Cary.  Should you have further questions, please feel free to call or email me directly.

Cary is one of the leaders in recycling and we actually make our citizens money with the recycling materials.

Emails from citizens this week included a lot of requests for council to do something about the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s proposal to move Panther Creek and Green Hope into another athletic conference. At the last council meeting the council directed staff to create a resolution opposing the move, to come back at our council meeting for March 7th. Unfortunately, we found out that this would miss North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s deadline. So this week I sent a letter stating the council’s opposition.

Other emails included several about the joint land use plan proposed with Chatham County. Unfortunately, a group of people have been misinforming others that this is a development proposal which it is not. So I spent a lot of time answering and correcting this misinformation.

The remainder of emails from citizens included a complaint about Cary potentially allowing chickens, a concern about a development on Highcroft Drive, and several invitations to attend or participate in events.

Next week will be a busy week with meetings, events, and a regularly scheduled council meeting.

Well that is all for this week. My next post will be on Sunday, March 11th. Please feel free to email me with a comment. Email all Town of Cary questions or comments to Harold.Weinbrecht@townofcary.org. Email personal comments to augustanat@mindspring.com.

From the blog of Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht, covering the week through February 26, 2012. 

Cary, NC – This week was a busy week with a lot of late nights.

Mayors, Hurricanes and Bees

Monday I joined the mayors of Wake County at a Carolina Hurricanes game. Ten out of the twelve Wake County mayors were present. While it was mostly a social event I did talk with mayors about various issues. For example, I found out that Mayor Matheny of Zebulon was a beekeeper and we talked about the issues related to beekeeping. It was a good event and the Canes slaughtered the Capitals 5-0.

Tuesday started with phone calls to council members about the agenda for the upcoming regular council meeting. I was able to contact all council members except Robison to hear their concerns and questions. Most of the questions and concerns were related to the staff proposed beekeeping ordinance. One council member told me that the beekeepers association had said they would show up in force.

Move into Conference With Durham Schools?

Another issue brought up by a council member was the concern that the North Carolina High School Athletic Association was going to move two Cary high schools (GHHS & PCHS) into a conference with Durham Schools. The council member wanted to “pink slip” a proposal to staff to draft a resolution opposing this Athletic conference restructuring. The “pink slip” is a term used by council to add an item to the agenda. It takes a council member and a sponsor to put an item on the agenda. Of course, items can always be added during the meeting if the council votes to add it to the agenda.

Later Tuesday I met with management, directors, legal, and administrators to go over the agenda. I was joined by Mayor Pro-Tem Adcock. We reviewed each item and discussed the beekeeping concerns and questions. My prediction was that the council meeting would go until 9 PM based on the projected number of speakers and items on the agenda.

Remarks at Cultural Resources Volunteer Banquet

After the agenda meeting I headed over to the Herb Young Center for the Parks Recreation and Cultural Resources volunteer banquet. There were at least a couple hundred folks in attendance. After dinner I gave a few remarks before the guest speaker, an ambassador from the North Carolina Symphony. In my remarks I made the following points:

- Cary is great because of its people
- Volunteers are a precious resource
- Over 400 people help annually at major town events
- Thanked all volunteers for making Cary one of the greatest places to live in America

After remarks I was joined by Council members Smith and Frantz as we handed out eight awards and then stayed for a few photos. It was another great volunteer event and I was proud to have even a small part.

County and Town Business

Wednesday started with a meeting of the Western Wake Partners Policy Advisory Committee. This committee is made up of mayors and town managers from Apex, Cary, and Morrisville. Our work is focused on the building, financing and operations of the Western Wake Wastewater Management Facility. In this meeting we heard reports from staff and voted on contracts related to construction. Our next meeting is scheduled for March 28th.

I next met with town manager Shivar in our weekly meeting to go over current events in the town. We talked about a variety of issues none of which were of the emergency nature.

Later Wednesday I had dinner with a business owner to talk about a variety of issues related to living, running a business and politics in Cary. It was very important to hear about the economic situation from a business owner’s point of view. One interesting note was that there are a lot of businesses that would like to expand but just can’t get a loan.

Davis and High House Multi-Family Project

Thursday I met with the Planning Director, planning staff, council member Bush, and Mayor Pro-Tem Adcock to get an update on the Bradford project at Davis Drive and High House. This is the controversial mixed use project that was approved in 2007 that propelled me and others into office. Here is some of the information I gathered from the meeting:

• The first phase is moving forward and will include 390 multi-family units and roughly 65,000 square feet of commercial.
• Council will have no decision in this process.
• This phase will like not trigger the additional traffic signals needed on High House or on Davis Drive. This fact concerns me especially since traffic already backs up well past where these lights will be installed.
• The remaining phase of Office/Commercial can be delayed indefinitely. This basically means what is being built is essentially a multi-family project.
• The remaining phase could be sold and built with any type of commercial such as a drug store, fast food, or other undesirables.
• This project will be built at the same time Searstone is being built across the street.

One interesting tidbit. Either Searstone or Bradford will be responsible for road improvements at Cary Parkway and High House. This will include adding turn lanes. Anyone that is familiar with that intersection knows there is limited space due to the clock tower and decorative walls.

I am very concerned about the projects that will soon be under construction at Davis Drive and High House. This is a very busy intersection now and I am concerned that it will be overwhelmed with this new construction. In addition, the potential negative traffic impacts for the entire area are very concerning.

Council Meeting Thursday

Thursday night was the regularly scheduled council meeting. The majority of the time was spent in the Public Hearing on amendments to the Land Development Ordinance. One particular item was related to beekeeping. Several people spoke about this issue and council had a lengthy discussion. Council decided to send the proposed amendments to the Planning and Zoning Board for their review except for the beekeeping. They asked staff to review this item separately and bring it back to council with recommendations after working with groups related to beekeeping. My guess is that council will decide to make this a permitted use.

The council also asked staff to create a resolution opposing the realignment of Panther Creek, Green Hope, and other high schools into a different athletic conference. We will vote on this at our next meeting. We ended the council meeting at 8:58 which was within two minutes of my prediction. Not bad

Heart of Cary Ashworth Awards

Friday night my wife and I attended the first Heart of Cary Ashworth Awards dinner. This is the first, of what I hope, will be an annual award for citizens involved in our downtown. The Emcee for the evening was Steve Zaytoun who set the tone for a night of fun and laughter. Speakers included the Chamber President, the Cary downtown manager, the Dorcas ministry Executive Director, council member Robinson, and me.

Theme songs were played as we approached the podium. Mine was the Twilight Zone theme.

The meal was fantastic but I had to skip one course and certain beverages because of Lent. Can you guess what I gave up for Lent? The event itself was a blast and a fun time was had by all including the award winners Ralph and Daphne Ashworth. Ralph and Daphne are icons in Cary and have spent their lives making Cary a better place. God bless them for all they have done for Cary.

Notifications, Cary a Tree City, Fatal Crash

There were several notifications sent out this week including one from the Chief Executive of the Arbor Day Foundation congratulating Cary on being named a Tree City USA community. I am proud that I live in a community where planting and nurturing trees is a priority.

Other notifications included emails from staff. The intersection of Pinnacle Drive in southern Cary at Holly Springs Road will close on February 27 and will remain closed through March 30. This is necessary to complete sewer line improvements along Holly Springs Road.

Staff also gave a follow up to the tragic fatal crash at Chatham Street and Cary Parkway. The driver of the Dodge sedan will face speeding charges as a result of the Cary Police Department’s investigation into the tragic event that claimed two lives.

Media and My Trip to D.C.

Other emails this week included a response to an inquiry by the local newspaper.

The reporter asked staff about our trip to Washington DC last week: “Could you please send over a bit of info on the federal trip? I’m interested in the final cost as well as your schedule.” Could it be that they are looking for another negative angle to a positive story once again?

For your information, the response from staff about the cost was: “The mayor, manager and I attended all of the meetings.  The cost of the trip, including airfare, hotel and all other expenses was $2,449.91.”

It is important to understand that Cary has received millions in grants over the years. We believe our annual trips to Washington have been a significant factor in that. Please read last week’s blog for details about this year’s trip.

Bees and Qs

The beekeeping issue generated a lot of questions this week, some related to planning and some related to legal. Here is the planning staff’s response to questions:

The existing Land Development Ordinance (LDO) provisions come from Chapter 12 and Chapter 5 and include (1) the definition of agricultural products (which includes bees) and (2) the table of uses, where agricultural activities are only allowed in the R-80, R-40, and R-20 districts as a commercial activity.  Thus, there is no guidance on beekeeping as an accessory use as part of residential living.  This, much more than the number of complaints, was the impetus for staff to bring something forward to clearly deal with the topic once and for all (hopefully), since we receive both complaints and inquiries about this use.

The LDO requires that “… the Planning Director shall initiate an amendment to this Ordinance if the particular use or category of use(s) is likely to be common or to recur frequently, or that omission of specific inclusion and reference to this Ordinance is likely to lead to public uncertainty and confusion.”

We also agree that the e-mail writer’s conclusion that vegetable gardens are illegal is not correct.  The LDO explicitly allows vegetable gardens as a normal, accessory use of residential property in Cary.

As far as the general issue of making land use determinations is concerned, zoning code administration typically relies upon a conservative approach whereby land uses which are not specifically mentioned in the code are deemed impermissible.  Richard Ducker from the UNC School of Government summarized it this way a few years ago:

Virtually all zoning ordinances are based on the premise that the ordinance shall list certain land uses that are permitted in each zoning district and that those uses not expressly permitted are prohibited. Indeed, the “permitted-use table” is a staple in most ordinances. If a new activity arises on the zoning scene that does not qualify as a listed permitted use, then it is presumed that the use is not allowed unless the ordinance is amended specifically to allow it.

Otherwise, the only option would be the alternative, and we would have to automatically consider such uses allowable.  Staff would guess that such an answer might not be the desired response when any new, previously-unregulated land use or activity emerges (you can insert your own example).

Here is another email from legal staff related to beekeeping and the legal implications:

It is apparent that this is a confusing, even sticky, concept – in part because beekeeping can be both an ‘industry’ and a hobby and is ‘agriculture’.  I do not know the specific LDO sections that Planning relied on in determining that apiaries are not a permitted use in residential districts, but can say generally that it is recognized that apiaries and related uses are subject to zoning regulations, frequently being defined as ‘agricultural’ uses that are prohibited in residential areas.  Bee keeping is also regulated under animal control authority.

In the North Carolina Bee and Honey Act of 1977, the state regulates the bee and honey industry, recognizing even small bee keepers as a part of that ‘industry’.  State law also defines ‘agriculture’ as ‘… the raising, management, care, and training of livestock, including horses, bees, poultry, and other animals for individual and public use, consumption, and marketing.’

Planning has said it is attempting to be proactive in proposing an LDO amendment after receiving several recent complaints about backyard apiaries and discovering that LDO provisions do not clearly define or address backyard bees in residential districts.

As to a vegetable garden established for personal use and enjoyment, the LDO permits gardens as ‘accessory uses’ to household living.  Planning explains that the LDO prohibits only the sale of produce from such gardens.

It will be interesting to see what recommendations come forward after all the study and investigation.

I received dozens of emails from citizens this week. Most of which were about bees. Other emails included complaints about chickens, abandoned bank owned homes, the realignment of Cary High schools into a different conference, and the Cary/Chatham County Joint Land Use Plan proposal.

Davis and High House PAC Letter on Jordan Lake

On the topic of the Joint Land Use Plan an individual from the Davis Drive and High House group sent out an email that included:

“Locating a development on Jordan Lake has severe future financial repercussions for Cary tax payers that have not been properly assessed.”

“The new development will worsen the problem by adding 1,000 to 5,000 TONS of sediment; 30 – 90 TONS of nitrogen; and 3-4 TONS of phosphorus per year!”

“The proposed Jordan Lake development will exacerbate and perpetuate Cary’s budget problems into the distant future.”

Unfortunately, these statements are misleading and not true. Cary is NOT working on a development project in Chatham County near Jordan Lake. Instead we are working on a joint land use plan with Chatham County. It is a plan how property owners can develop their property in the future. It is not a development proposal. This plan may or may not be approved and if it is approved may or may not be developed out in my lifetime which is fine with me. It is only a proposal for a plan. Another statement made was:

“Across the last 14 years, costs of growth in Cary have increased faster than revenue from growth, which explains the recent discussions of increasing town debt through bonds, raising property taxes, and large increases in water and sewage rates.”

While this statement is technically true, it implies that Cary will increase taxes because we haven’t accounted for growth. And that is absolutely false. This is again misleading. Cary’s revenue from growth comes through development fees. These fees have never been at 100% of cost of the impact of development to allow Cary to remain competitive with neighboring municipalities. This has ALWAYS been the case. We raised development fees the night I was sworn in December 2007 to the highest rates we could and still remain competitive. We have balanced our growth with infrastructure. Some of the pressure of capital costs is resulting from the fact that capital costs didn’t include operating costs. Regarding water and sewer rates, these increases are mostly to pay for a new sewer plant and a water plant expansion to serve the current and future businesses and citizens of Cary. It is extremely important that we not fall behind in infrastructure. It is my belief that any future increase in taxes will be to pay for new capital. That has not been decided. It will be put to the residents in form of a bond referendum.

Next week will include a few meetings and a couple of visits to elementary schools.

Well that is all for this week. My next post will be on Sunday, March 4th. Please feel free to email me with a comment. Email all Town of Cary questions or comments to Harold.Weinbrecht@townofcary.org. Email personal comments to augustanat@mindspring.com.

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Picture by FotoHal, taken in the parking lot of Green Hope High School on Wednesday 2/22/12, waiting for the teams to get home from Roxboro.

From the blog of Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht, covering the week through February 19, 2012. Photo by Wally Gobetz.

Cary, NC – This week consisted mostly of my trip to Washington.

Korean Taekwondo Students Meeting

Monday I met with a group of students from a famous Taekwondo team of KeiMyung University in Korea. Their entourage included a professor, ten Master students, and their local host K.S. Lee from Best Martial Arts in Cary. They performed on February 11th in town and wanted to meet with me before heading to Washington D.C. I talked with them about what life was like in and around Cary. We then toured town hall and took pictures. Before they left I presented each of them with a small gift from Cary. They were very kind and gracious and it was a good visit. I wished them well and said I would look for them when I was in Washington.

Washington: Cary is  Donor Town

Tuesday I traveled to Washington along with the town manager and our federal staff liaison to present the town’s legislative agenda to our congressional representatives and to the decision making agencies. Some might wonder why was this trip important enough to spend two days in Washington (and use two vacation days from work). Well, the short answer is because Cary is a donor town. That is, we send more dollars to Washington than we get back. So it is very important we pursue grants for public safety, transportation, water resources, and sustainability.

After arriving on Tuesday night we had dinner and briefly discussed our game plan for meeting with agencies and our congressional leaders.

I started the next morning around 5:30 AM with a little workout and an hour on the elliptical before attending a breakfast meeting with Cary’s federal lobbyist. We went over the day’s agenda and decided that I would lead all discussions during the next two days. This is a change from past years where we split up the duties. As it turned out this seemed to work very well but was very exhausting.

Community Oriented Policing Services Office

Our first meeting was with COPS (Community Oriented Policing Services Office). We focused on three topics:

Our emergency communications can contact other emergency communications but we need the ability to have a linkage to pass data which would reduce deployment times and enhance accuracy of reporting.

License plate recognition software and/or associated equipment would help our efforts to prevent internet crimes against children.

Hiring additional officers would allow expansion of our successful project PHOENIX program designed for apartments and other rental neighborhoods.

The representatives from the agency stated that there was no money for technology and that they were mostly interested giving grants that put officers in areas of need. In addition, they mentioned that last year only 9% of applicants received any type of grant and that this year they expect half of that. Based on this information we will not be applying for COPS technology grants but will be applying for COPS Hiring Grant.

US Department of Transportation

Our next meeting was with the US Department of Transportation. I presented three transportation projects for discussion:

The Walker Street Extension and tunnel project is a project of over $26 million and we have received $4 million in assistance to date. It is crucial for the future of our downtown.

A bus maintenance facility will house the town’s and region’s transit equipment as we integrate with other transits and will require a maintenance facility. This will become increasingly important as bus systems expand.

A grant would assist in connecting our 50+ miles of greenways. This would make them more valuable as a mode of transportation to employment areas in addition to a recreation source.

This agency also expressed less money and more restrictions. They mostly focused on TIGER grants (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery). These grants are usually between $10 and $15 million and rarely over $20 million. The only project that would have a chance at a TIGER grant would be the Walker Street project. We will be applying not only for TIGER grants but for other types of grant funding.

Congressional Leaders

Next we headed to “the hill” to meet with our Congressional leaders which are referred to as “members”. Our first stop was Congressman Brad Miller’s office. I presented our entire federal agenda to Congressman Miller and his chief of staff. They agreed to support us in any way they could. Since there are no earmarks, the means of support will be in the form of writing letters. This support makes a huge difference in some agencies’ decisions.

Congressman Miller has been extremely helpful to Cary over the years. It is a shame that the new districts combine him with Congressman Price and that he has decided not to run. We will surely miss him.

After leaving Congressman Miller’s office I asked our lobbyist about what will likely happen to Miller’s staff. The answer gave me some interesting insight into how congressional offices are staffed and the people who staff them. Here is what I learned:

Each congressional member gets an allotment of money to staff an office. They can hire as many staff as they would like, one, one hundred, etc. They can pay them almost anything they want. I was told that Ted Kennedy’s office paid everyone the same because working there was in such high demand. I was also told that staff moving from one congressional member to another is not uncommon. Apparently, it is common to see informal interviews in the hallways outside of cafeterias. Most “staffers” stay less than five years. Some staffers move from congressional offices to lobby companies, agencies, etc. The staffing positions don’t pay well and I was told that some staffers attend functions just to get free meals. Anyway, back to my meetings…

My next stop was at Congresswoman Renee Elmers’ office. While she doesn’t currently represent Cary she will if re-elected under the new districts. Unfortunately, she was not there because of “a vote”. Oh well, hopefully I will get to meet her in the future. I did meet with her staff members who patiently listened as I went over our federal legislative items. They asked very few questions which was kind of awkward. Anyway, I asked them to please let the Congresswoman know that we would love to have her visit Cary. It is my hope that she will be a strong supporter of Cary.

We next visited Congressman Price’s office. Of all our congressional leaders, he is probably the one who spends the most time with us and works diligently on our behalf. I see him in Cary more than any other member of Congress. He even works on holidays and called me on July 4th about the ICE fiasco we had during the summer. During our meeting with the Congressman we talked in detail about several projects. He was also very interested in how the agencies were responding and promised strong support.

Senate

Next we headed over to the Senate side and visited Senator Burr’s office. He is usually not available to meet with us and this time was no exception. His staff member did spend a few minutes with us and let us present our federal agenda. There was not a lot of feedback from the senator’s staff but they promised to support when they could.

Our final meeting of the day was with Senator Hagan’s office. In the past she has been available to meet with us but was not available this time. One of her senior staffers spent time with us as we went over our federal agenda in detail. He asked a lot of questions and it was a good exchange of information. He promised the senator’s support.

News & Observer Spin

In the cab on the way to dinner I returned a call to the News and Observer reporter about the 350 new jobs by Reed Elsevier. I talked about how important these jobs were to Cary and about the impact they would have. And of course mentioned how thrilled we were to have them come to Cary. The reporter then asked about their current location and I said I wasn’t aware of them having a presence in Cary. And, as typical style of the N&O to take something positive and put a negative spin on it, that is what they used.

Shame on them once again for distorting the information.

Editor’s Note: We asked the Mayor on this point in his blog and he said “They asked about the jobs, I said a lot of positive things, and then they asked about the current jobs, I said I wasn’t aware, asked Ben Shivar next to me, he wasn’t aware… Keep in mind that proposals for incentives come to us with code names. We approved an incentive (which was voted on at the last council meeting) without having a clue of who it was. We just knew that the jobs were professional and paid over 91K a year. Basically, I was interviewed about something good. Gave them a lot of information which they ignored. Made a statement that was not that significant that could be taken as a negative and THAT is what they used.”

Federal Lobbyist

To close out the day we had dinner with the President and CEO of our federal lobbyist. We discussed a few items but it was mostly a dinner to get better acquainted.

I returned to the hotel and answered emails for about an hour and was in bed by 9 PM. I was up the next morning at 5:15 and did the workout/elliptical routine again.

DOT

After breakfast we headed to the NCDOT office in Washington. This office basically does what we (Cary and the federal lobbyist) do on a federal level. That is, they talk with federal agencies and try to get grants for the state supported projects. We were meeting with them to try and get their support on a state level for our projects so that they could advocate on our behalf. We discussed the three transportation projects presented to the USDOT.

Homeland Security

Next we met with the Department of Homeland Security. In this meeting we discussed public safety issues that included the three items we presented to COPS and the following items:

Hiring additional firefighters to address the expanded need for service. Fire station number 8 will open mid-2013 and will need to be staffed six months prior.

A program that would improve health and wellness among fire fighters and improve community based safety in fire arm use, inspections, child safety seat use, etc.

This meeting was brief since the agent was late. One of the grants we discussed with him was the SAFER grant (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response). He listened and suggested we apply for these grants. He also talked about how money was extremely tight and that there is a tremendous need not being met.

HUD and Sustainability

Our next meeting was with the Senior Advisor of the Deputy Secretary from Housing and Urban Development on sustainability. I briefly talked about our intent to apply for funding related to sustainable projects we have and intend to expand. This senior official spent a lot of time explaining various issues related to awarding their grants. Since he spent most of the time talking we were able to gather great information. But the theme once again was that there would not be a lot of funding available for this fiscal year.

EPA

Our last meeting of the trip was with the Environmental Protection Agency. They had several staff members in attendance as well as the regional EPA representative from Atlanta on the phone. I talked about all the environmentally friendly projects we had especially related to water since one of the attendees was a senior member in that area. I mentioned:

• Permanent alternate day watering
• Turf buyback program
• Toilet rebate program
• Our education efforts
• Our per capita water reduction
• The need to expand our water capacity
• The need to enhance water security monitoring
• Our reclaimed water system

The good news is that our reputation preceded us and this group was very aware of a lot of our conservation measures. They expressed an interest to keeping Cary’s conservation efforts moving forward. One of the decision makers mentioned that there would be a panel of mayors and that I might be nominated. I was very encouraged by this visit and believe we have a good shot at getting assistance.

Exhausting But Productive

After this meeting we headed for the airport. It was an exhausting two days for me; which included 11 meetings not counting the breakfast and dinner meetings. I was glad to get home Thursday night. Although there was not a lot of promise I do think our presence made a difference. We are now able to craft our grant applications to fit exactly what the agencies are looking for and have congressional support to back it up. I don’t think we could have put ourselves in a stronger position.

Sunshine Week

Friday it was back to work and back to town business. I taped a public service announcement for Sunshine Week which will be March 11th through the 17th. Sunshine Week is a national initiative designed to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. This includes the public’s right to attend meetings and access documents deemed a public record by the General Assembly.

Triangle New Area Code

There was a lot of information passed from staff this week. One email was about phone numbers which will likely catch people by surprise. The North Carolina Utilities Commission announced that effective March 31, 2012 all local phone calls in the Triangle will require dialing the entire 10 digit phone number.  Since the landline and wireless telephone carriers are exhausting all possible numbers for the 919 area code, a new area code is being created for this area.  Requests for new phone numbers from carriers will eventually result in a number beginning with 984.  This means that you will need to update your existing local numbers for Outlook contacts, cell phone contacts, fax machine speed dials, and any scada/alarm/security systems that call/page you (or a monitoring service) automatically.

Web Presence

We were also notified of changes to the town’s web site. The new Google search engine has been upgraded to include Google’s advanced search product. On the home page, the former Quick Links feature has been changed to an “I Want To” feature, much like we had on the site several years ago.  And the Calendar expanded to include all public input meetings hosted by the Town as well as Town-sponsored events. As this feature expands, we hope it will serve as a one-stop for folks who are looking for things offered by the Town.  Finally, a Cyber Safety page has been created within the department’s existing crime prevention tips.

Reclaimed Water

On the topic of reclaimed water, beginning on February 13, 2012, Cary will initiate its annual 10 day maintenance shutdown of all of its reclaimed water systems. The reclaimed water shutdown, referred to as the Annual Reclaimed Water Holiday, will take place in order to conduct maintenance at our plant facilities as well as the distribution system.  During this shutdown, the North and South Cary Water Reclamation Facilities will be unable to provide Bulk Reclaimed Water. As an alternative, Town will continue to provide potable bulk water to customers through specific request made directly to the Town of Cary Public Works and Utilities Department at (919) 469-4090.

TAC

We also received an email from the Triangle Aquatic Center (TAC) reporting $7.24 million in direct visitor spending through events conducted at TAC during 2011.

Chickens, Land Use, C-Tran and more

I received lots of email from citizens this week. There was a lot of email against the proposed ordinance to allow chickens and a few for. Other emails included complaints about the proposed joint Land Use Plan with Chatham County, appreciation of C-Tran changes, a request about the Friar Tract development proposal, a request for a traffic light at Maury Odell and High House (a NCDOT decision), a complaint about odor at the south wastewater plant, and a complaint about the bio solids portion of the Wastewater plant construction.

Cary Parkway and Chatham Street Intersection

There were also a lot of requests for a traffic light at Cary Parkway and Chatham Street. That was the site of a tragic fatal accident. I think it is important for everyone to know that most major intersections in Cary, including this one, are maintained by NCDOT not Cary. They are also the decision maker on whether or not to install a traffic light. Cary’s responsibility is to investigate accidents and to do studies on the intersections. Please understand that Cary will continue to do everything it can to keep our citizens safe.

Next week will be busy with a council meeting, two awards banquets, and a Western Wake Policy Advisory meeting.

Well that is all for this week. My next post will be on Sunday, February 26th. Please feel free to email me with a comment. Email all Town of Cary questions or comments to Harold.Weinbrecht@townofcary.org. Email personal comments to augustanat@mindspring.com.

From the blog of Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht, covering the week through February 5, 2012. Photo by Hal Goodtree.

Cary, NC – A week that was supposed to be relatively light and have some open days, filled up quickly. So I was unexpectedly busy this week.

Technology and Communications in Cary

Monday I met with a friend about technology, social media, and the media. We tossed around a lot of ideas about how the town could improve. I believe this is the year for the town to catch up with the rest of the world in technology. And updating our web site would be a great start. Council member Bush has an excellent background in this area and I believe will provide invaluable input.

Tuesday

Tuesday I had my weekly meeting with the town manager. We discussed at length all the opportunities and issues related to downtown. So far, what has been surfaced is just a small portion of the exciting things going on or being negotiated. I hope to have exciting news to tell everyone within the next month or so.

Western Wake Dems

After meeting with the town manager I headed over to the Western Wake Dems meeting for about 15 minutes. I talked with Morrisville council member Rao, shook a few hands, and then was on my way to a private dinner.

Mayors Want Regional Centers

Wednesday, Mayor Holcombe and I headed to Fuquay Varina to meet with Mayor Eagles, Commissioner West, county officials and others about the Southern Regional Center and other regional centers.

This facility, and others like it around the county, brings county, community, and private services and resources to local residents by having them in one central location. These centers not only provide services to the needy but to all parts of the population.

Some of the services include: operating as a location for paying taxes, providing free flu shots, and providing shots for overseas travel. The purpose of our visit was to tour the facility and hear their pitch for creating one of these county facilities in Western Wake County. It was pointed out that the county commissioners have funded one of these facilities in each part of the county except Western Wake. And before they invest in a facility in the western wake area they want advocacy from the mayors and towns.

Mayor Holcombe and I asked for specific data of these facilities by zip code so we could analyze what part of Cary and Morrisville these facilities are drawing from. While a facility like this would be beneficial in Cary it would be a hard sell in many areas. The perception is that visitors to these facilities are the needy and down trodden and that it would run down neighboring property values. Their data proves this is not the case. At the conclusion of our meeting we stated once we receive data from them we will touch base with them again.

Thursday I had a meeting with Mayor Pro-Tem Adcock. It is important that we have regular meetings to keep each other informed of issues that are ongoing. Our meeting lasted a couple of hours and most of our discussion was about when to create a process for the replacement of council member Robison.

Saturday I joined the Xi Mu Mu Alumni Chapter of Omega Psi Phi fraternity for a blood drive at Mt. Zion Church in Cary. This is the 100th anniversary of Omega and these men are looking for ways to give back to their communities. And since blood is the give of life it is probably one of the best ways to give back to the community. God bless them!

There was a lot of information from staff this week.

Costco

The proposed Costco has generated a lot of information from staff. You can up to date information by visiting the town’s “Get the Facts” section on the web site. The Planning Director sent detailed information on the proposal which included the following:

No site plan has been submitted to the Town of Cary for review, thus nothing has been approved by us.  Here is a summary of the status of this issue thus far, and how this project would be reviewed according to Town regulations if this site is pursued by the developer.

Zoning

This shopping center land is zoned for General Commercial (GC) uses, and a Costco retail store is allowed by law on this property.  Neither the Town Council nor staff has discretion whether such a retail use might be permitted at that location based on zoning.  No changes to the zoning will be necessary if the landowners decide to move forward with this proposal.  And because a Costco-type store is allowed, no public hearing is held.  This potential developer will, however, have to submit a plan that meets all established development standards related to transportation, landscaping, architecture, stormwater, and the like.  Determination of compliance with all of those requirements occurs at the next stage in the development process.

Site Plan Submission

Should they decide to proceed, the next step would be for the applicant to submit a formal site plan that meets our requirements.   Several months ago, at their request, Town staff did conduct a “pre-submittal” meeting with representatives from Costco to discuss a “conceptual plan” to remove all the current buildings except for the existing bank (at the corner of Edinburgh and Highway 64).  They would be replaced with a 147,000 square foot store and an associated gas station.  This pre-application meeting is a required first step in the Town’s development process.  That conceptual plan does not constitute a formal submittal, however, so there is no decision before the Town at this time.  Staff does not know whether – or when – an applicant might submit a plan for development.  Sometimes the pre-application meetings do lead to developers taking next steps, but frequently we never hear from them again.

Site Plan Review

When/If a site plan is submitted, the Town will ensure that any proposal meets the Cary Land Development Ordinance (LDO).  Again, this is when traffic would be evaluated against applicable traffic and transportation requirements.  The site plan review process takes several months and is typically handled by Town staff as an administrative function.

A site plan typically undergoes several cycles of review.  At the beginning, staff conducts an initial review (to determine submittal completeness and ensure that it generally meets the basic Town requirements).  Then, when we receive a 2nd submittal, we notify landowners within 400′ of the property by letter that a plan is under formal review.  This is not required by law, and it should not be viewed as an opportunity to deny a project if it meets the zoning and development requirements.  The notification is a practice that Town Council has established as a courtesy to adjoining property owners to allow interested parties to look at the plan and offer comments.

Availability of Information

You can obtain general information about the Town’s development process and follow the progress of an individual, specific development plan as outlined below.

1.     General information that describes all of the Town’s development processes is located in the award-winning VIP (Virtual Interactive Planner) section of our website:  http://vip.townofcary.org/

2.     You can monitor development submittals on our website in a couple of ways.  First, you can go here: http://www.townofcary.org/Departments/Planning_Department/Development_Regulations/Plan_Review_and_Design.htm   Go to the bottom of the page and select “Active Projects in the Review Process (sorted alphabetically) or (sorted by date).”

3.     You can also register and create an account on our online plan review page and see what’s going on: http://townofcary.contractorsplanroom.com/secure/

4.     Of course, you can also call us at 469-4082 or visit our offices on the 3rd Floor of Town Hall at 316 N. Academy Street.

Davis & High House Construction

The Planning Director also sent out information about the two controversial construction projects at Davis Drive and High House. It appears they will be under construction at the same time:

We publish final versions of approved site and subdivision plans here: http://sitesubplans.townofcary.org/projectlist.htm. As you will see, each plan has a multitude of various pages (”plan sheets”) for the overall site layout, details, landscaping, drainage, utilities, erosion control, infrastructure, building elevations, etc.  General info about the project (like zoning conditions & development data) are usually on one of the early sheets.

For example, using a couple of projects of interest, the Bradford’s plan sheets are found here: http://sitesubplans.townofcary.org/Bradford_07-SP-114/planindex.htm (NOTE: Additional revisions of this site plan are presently under review, so will not be found at this location.)  And Searstone’s residential portion (with a whopping 99 plan sheets!) can be reviewed here: http://sitesubplans.townofcary.org/SearstoneCCRC_07-SP-035-B/planindex.htm (NOTE:  I don’t think that any further changes are under review.  I will advise you if that is not the case.)

ICE

We also had information forwarded from staff about a proposed ICE facility in Cary that drew a lot of attention this summer. It appears they are once again beginning the process to locate in this area. Here is the information we received from the General Services Administration:

DHS/ICE – Raleigh-Cary Weekly Stakeholder Update

The purpose of this weekly Update is to brief the municipalities and other stakeholders within the delineated area on the progress of GSA Solicitation 1NC2136.

The weekly update will contain information on procurement milestones that have taken place along with upcoming scheduled milestones.  To date, the following activities have occurred:

• January 30, 2012- GSA submitted an advertisement on Fedbizopps (www.fbo.gov) for 19,841 ABOA office space to include 65 parking spacing on behalf of Department of Homeland Security/Immigration and Custom Enforcement.  Deadline of expressions of interest is February 13, 2012
• February 27, 2012 – March 2, 2012 – Market survey scheduled to tour submitted locations
• March 6, 2012 – Estimated date for release of the Request for Lease Proposals (RLP) to all locations accepted on the market survey

Any questions in reference to this procurement should be forwarded to Saudia Muwwakkil, GSA Public Affairs Officer at (404) 331-3200 or at saudia.muwwakkil@gsa.gov.

Swift Creek Sewer

Staff also sent out a detailed update on the Swift Creek Sewer Main project. Here are details sent by the Engineering Director:

The Town of Cary is approaching the midpoint of the Swift Creek Parallel Force Main Project.  This is a four mile long sewer project that will benefit the economic and environmental vitality of the region.  The project starts along Holly Springs Rd near Swift Creek and heads southward before turning and continuing east along Ten-Ten Rd.  The sewer main then turns south along Lawdraker Rd before continuing across country toward the South Cary Water Reclamation Facility.

We have received concerns with the project brought about by both our own citizens and those residing outside the Town limits.  We want to assure you that we are working diligently to address these matters.  While the primary complaint continues to be about the loss of trees along Holly Springs Rd, we are confident in our decision to move forward with the project knowing the additional protection the line will provide to this sensitive water shed.  Once the Swift Creek Parallel Force Main is completed, we will have an additional level of redundancy in our system, our capacity for future growth will be expanded, and the existing force main will receive a thorough inspection and necessary repairs.

This project had been in the development stage for over 10-years.  Early on in the process we received public comments that set us on a course for selecting the corridor where we are currently installing pipe today.  The real motivation to move this project ahead however, came after the 2006 spill at the Swift Creek Pump Station.  One of the primary recommendations to come from our study and investigation was the need for this second force main between the pump station and the treatment plant for redundancy.

Construction is anticipated to be complete before the October deadline. Should you receive any inquiries about this project, feel free to direct citizens to the Town of Cary Engineering Department at 469-4030.  Additional information and project updates are available on the project website at http://www.townofcary.org/Departments/Engineering/utilities/Sewer_Projects/Swift_Creek_Parallel_Force_Main.htm.

Plans in Review

Staff also sent out email about plans currently in review. Included in those plans are:

• A Walgreens at Waverly Place
• 80 dependent care units at Weatherstone Springs on Weather Ridge Lane.
• 51 single family lots in the Westvale Subdivision
• 206 apartments at Cary Parkway and Tryon Road
• 14,162 square foot building added to Syracuse Plastics

Quarterly Report

The quarterly report came out this week. Highlights include:

• Construction of the Western Wake Regional Wastewater facility has begun
• The Aquastar automated water meter system is 90% installed (54,000 meters).
• The town continues to purchase strategic properties downtown
• C-Tran’s fixed routes saw a 30% increase in ridership this quarter compared to last year
• Single family permits were 432 units compared to 224 last year
• Multifamily permits were 463 units compared to 184 last year
• Population as of January 1st is estimated to be 141,132 which is an increase of 2932 people
• A refinancing will save over $800,000.   The vast majority of those savings will reduce our debt service commitments for FY 13 and FY 14.
• Although water meters have grown by 2.5% our overall consumption was down 5% during the last six months
• Our leaf collection picked up 5,946 tons of leaves
• Project PHOENIX now has participation of 32 apartment complexes which is over 50%.
• Wake Med Soccer Park expansion was bid in November and is on schedule and on budget
• Over 31,000 people attended the Cary Arts Center from October through December
• The town has over 1100 employees with a turnover rate of 4.8%.

Staff also gave a very informative response to a citizen regarding induction loop hearing devices at town venues. Induction loop systems work with hearing aids. An induction loop wire is permanently installed (typically under a carpet or in the ceiling) and connects to a microphone used by a speaker. The person talking into the microphone generates a current in the wire, which creates an electromagnetic field in the room. When you switch your hearing aid to the “T” (telephone) setting, your hearing aid picks up the electromagnetic signal. You can then adjust the volume of the signal through your hearing aid.

Here is the staff response:

“…Thanks much for writing regarding the induction loop hearing technology.  At the Cary Arts Center, we have not yet put installed a permanent sound system.  As we move towards doing that, we will be looking at several types of auxiliary sound aids.  We will certainly explore further the induction loop technology.

We currently do have assistive listening services at USA Baseball, Koka Booth Amphitheatre, and Town Hall.  We will continually look at and asses these systems and compare it with the new technology that you mentioned. …”

Emails

Also in email this week was a notice from American Airline Chairman and CEO Thomas Horton about restructuring and changes. Bottom line was summed up in these statements: “…all workgroups will have total costs reduced by 20%, including management. While the savings from each work group will be achieved somewhat differently, each will experience the same percentage reduction. …”

Apolitical

There were a lot of emails from citizens this week. I had a couple of separate requests to do resolutions about national issues. The Cary Council doesn’t typically pass resolutions to take political stands. Personally, I would oppose any resolution that is of a national or state nature that would be perceived as a political position. Why? It is very important that this council, with positions on both ends of the political spectrum, work loosely together to do the business of the town. We hold non-partisan positions and our goal is to be passionate about protecting and enhancing the quality of life of our citizens. With a political divide we will not be nearly as effective. Currently, our council is in sync and focused on local issues that have a direct impact on our citizens. I believe we have been successful with the lowest tax rate in Wake County to go along with the highest quality of life.

Other emails included concerns about Chapel Hill Road, a complaint about the state portion of Electra Drive, and a concern about neon lighting for the downtown theater. I also had many requests for meetings with most of them related to council member Robison’s future resignation. It is important to understand that while the council can create a process it cannot act on that process until council member Robison actually resigns.

Next week will be much busier with meetings, events, a work session, and a council meeting.

Well that is all for this week. My next post will be on Sunday, February 12th. Please feel free to email me with a comment. Email all Town of Cary questions or comments to Harold.Weinbrecht@townofcary.org. Email personal comments to augustanat@mindspring.com.

From the blog of Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht, covering the week through January 29, 2012. Photo of Jordan Lake by Hal Goodtree.

Cary, NC – This week was a tough week for me with a council meeting and two speaking engagements.

Good Bye Julie

Monday started with calls to council members about concerns or issues they had with the agenda. I contacted every council member and there were very few issues. In my phone call to Julie Robison she let me know of her intention to resign her council seat.

Julie’s husband Dan has taken a position at West Virginia as a Dean. Congratulations Dan! Julie and her two girls will move sometime this summer when they are out of school. Somewhere in that timeframe Julie will give up her seat. While I am very excited for the new opportunities to Julie and her family, I will sorely miss her. She has dedicated and committed over 10 years of her life in service to the citizens of Cary and has done an outstanding job which included serving with three vastly different mayors. God bless Julie Robison!

Later Monday I met with town management, department directors, and administration to go over the agenda. Mayor Pro-Tem Adcock joined via telephone. Most of our discussion focused on the federal legislative agenda. I communicated that I believe some council members were interested in sending the Fryar property back to the Planning and Zoning board for another review since it had changed significantly since their last review. We also discussed the possibility of a long public hearing for the joint land use plan with Chatham County. At their public hearing speakers voiced opinions for over two hours. Based on all the information presented at this meeting my estimation for the meeting’s conclusion was 9 PM.

Land in Chatham County

Tuesday began the weekly meeting with our town manager. We mostly discussed issues in confidence of a sensitive nature so I will not repeat them.

Tuesday was also a regularly scheduled town council meeting. Usually town council meetings are held the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month. So this date was an exception.

The main interest in the meeting seemed to be the Public Hearing on the joint land use plan with Cary and Chatham County. Unfortunately, many Chatham County residents see this as Cary aggression. It is important to understand that the Town of Cary isn’t acquiring land in Chatham County.

Instead some property owners want to develop their land. For this to happen they need Cary water and sewer. For a property owner to get Cary water and sewer, you have to be annexed into Cary. It is our hope that density and intensity will decrease towards Jordan Lake which is our drinking source. So we believe it is important to have a plan. Development in this area is up to the property owners and not the Town of Cary. It may or may not develop in my lifetime which is again up to the property owners.

Another item that brought a great deal of discussion was the Fryar property at Highcroft Drive and Green Level Church Road. Since the proposal had changed significantly since it was denied by the Planning and Zoning board, Council decided it would be best to send this back to them for another review before taking action. The council meeting also included a closed session. We adjourned around 10 PM.

Eye Opener

Wednesday morning I gave the State of the Town address at the Chamber of Commerce’s Eye Opening Breakfast. This is probably my biggest presentation of the year. I started writing the State of the Town around Thanksgiving and it was taped for Cary TV in December. I presented it with slides at Glenaire in early January.

For this presentation, I took the State of the Town address and made it into bullet points so I could elaborate on certain issues. This presentation included much more detail especially about trends, legislative concerns, and technology. I received many positive comments afterwards and my impression was that it was well received.

Wednesday evening I taped the February version of Cary Matters with our newest council member Lori Bush. She seemed like an old pro and had no problems being in front of the camera. Even with a few technical difficulties we were done in less than an hour. I believe the chemistry between Lori and I was good and I can’t wait to see how it turned out. The main topic for February was the council/staff retreat that was held a couple of weeks ago.

Meet the Mayors

Thursday morning I participated in a “Meet the Mayors” panel discussion put on by the Triangle Community Coalition. The event was well attended by a few dozen people with developer, real estate, and business interest. I was joined by Mayor McFarlane of Raleigh and Mayor Weatherly of Apex.

We all gave a few opening comments and then opened the floor for questions from the audience. I received several good questions which included: What are we doing to become more business friendly? What are we doing with our sports venues to provide economic benefit? And when considering incentives to attract jobs how do you decide between a local business and out-of-town business? Almost all of this information is covered in my state of the town address. On the subject of deciding between a local and out-of-town business, we always want to help existing local business and incentives are considered on a case by case basis.

Thursday evening I attended a meeting of the Western Wake Policy Advisory Committee. This is the committee that gives direction on the Western Wake Wastewater Management Facility. I was joined by mayors and town managers from Apex and Morrisville. In this meeting we rejected all proposals for the bio-solids portion of the facility because the bids were higher than expected. The staff will redo requirements and rebid it later.

Saturday

Saturday I spent most of the day at a church retreat with my Confirmand. I have been honored to mentor a young man as he goes through the process of becoming a member of our church. One of the goals of a mentor is to hopefully create a friendship that will last a lifetime.

Emails: Billboards, Spying on People and More

Emails from staff this week included one about billboards. Bill 183 passed the legislature in 2011 and now sign companies can clear cut trees (380 ft. on either side of the sign on interstates, 340 on controlled access roads, and 250 ft. on other state roads). It does not apply to all state roads, but to primary and interstate highways.  The roads in Cary that are impacted include: I-40, I-540, Western Wake Freeway (existing and proposed – Southern Cary), US 1, US 64, Cary Town Boulevard, Portions of Jones Franklin, Aviation, and Airport Roads.

In another email from staff the Town of Cary’s population is estimated to be 141,132 as of January 1, 2012.  This is an increase of 2,932 people, or 2.12%, compared to the January 01, 2011 estimate.  The population estimates are based on the reported number of Certificates of Occupancy issued in the Town.

Staff also sent email that introduced its newest K9 Team member Robby and his partner Cary Police Officer Phil Humphries.  Three-year-old Robby is a long hair, black and tan German shepherd from the Czech Republic.  Humphries was a K9 handler in the United States Air Force before coming to Cary. He also has experience as a K9 trainer and Kennel Master. K-9 Robby replaces K-9 Max, a German Shepherd that retired after serving the community for seven years.

Staff also notified citizens through email that they are invited to view conceptual design plans for the downtown theater at a public meeting scheduled for 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, January 31 in Council Chambers. This issue has been become controversial by the focus on neon by the local media. The conceptual plans will be presented by staff which includes three schematics illustrating a standard marquee, a marquee with a vertical element and a light enhanced marquee with a vertical element. The Town Council decided to move forward with the last option. Following input from the public meeting, staff will work with consultants and make final design recommendations for materials and color to the Town Council.

I received a lot of complaints through emails this week. They included complaints about the new façade on Hibernian Grill, a development proposal that will impact Highcroft Drive, our automated meters are spying on people, re-evaluation and tax increases, signs on a building at Highway 55 and Green Hope School Road, the length of yellow lights, sewer costs on East Green Forest Drive, a Costco in Cary, the Morrisville Parkway and Carpenter Upchurch intersection, our police are corrupt because Brad Cooper was convicted, sign ordinance too strict for businesses in Waverly Place, and Chapel Hill Road is not wide enough.

I also received many invitations to events during the week. I try as much as possible to attend events but sometimes I am not able. I do hope that people understand.

Next week’s schedule is very light for me which will be refreshing. I have a couple of meetings and one event.

Well that is all for this week. My next post will be on Sunday, February 5th. Please feel free to email me with a comment. Email all Town of Cary questions or comments to Harold.Weinbrecht@townofcary.org. Email personal comments to augustanat@mindspring.com.

From the blog of Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht, covering the week through January 22, 2012. Photo collage by Hal Goodtree.

Cary, NC – This week consisted mostly of three events: the Mayors Association Meeting, a meeting of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO), and a council work session on downtown.

Mayors Association Meeting

The Mayors Association met on Monday and all twelve mayors of Wake County were present (which happens maybe once a year). Two new mayors were present at this meeting; newly elected Mayor McFarlane of Raleigh, and Mayor Hinnant of Wendell. We discussed several interesting topics and the following were some of the notable points:

There are several municipalities with various mailing addresses that cause confusion. For example, there are people in Cary with Raleigh, Apex, and Morrisville mailing addresses. The mayors would like to reduce these.

There may be three referendums on the ballot this fall including the ½ cent sales tax for transportation, a school bond, and municipal bonds.
Speaking of schools, the mayors decided to set up a meeting with the school board members. The mayors would like to discuss their capital project plans and their reassignment plans. School board members have indicated that they are interested in meeting the mayors again. We have only had one other combined meeting which was a breakfast meeting in Cary a few years ago. Our meeting lasted about two hours. The mayors will have an outing in February and next meet in March.

Successful Retreat

Tuesday I met with the town manager for a little over an hour. We mostly compared notes on the council/staff retreat the previous weekend. We both believe the retreat was very beneficial and much more was accomplished since it was out of town. If we can make sure to keep the costs down, as we did this year, we will look at holding it out of town in the future. Another topic we talked about was the Joint Land Use Plan with Chatham County. Public Hearings on this plan will be held in the near future for both boards.

Transportation Planning

Wednesday I attended the monthly meeting of the CAMPO TAC (Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Association Transportation Advisory Committee) on behalf of the town. This has almost 30 representatives from neighboring towns and counties. We make decisions that will prioritize transportation improvements for the region. This month’s agenda can be found at http://www.campo-nc.us/TAC_Agenda/2012/Agenda-TAC-2012-01-18.pdf. Items of note for Cary include a proposal that the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) for the Wake-Durham Commuter Rail project be approved prior to any action on the Wake Transit Financial Plan. CAMPO decided to send this to the technical staff for their review and recommendation. Another item of interest was the Cary Parkway extension which was referred to by CAMPO as the Gorman Street extension (these two are on the plans to connect). CAMPO agreed to study the Swift Creek area excluding this route. In addition, CAMPO has started the process, which will include public hearings, to remove the route from the transportation plan.

The Theater

Thursday the council held a work session to review the progress of the downtown theater. The theater is expected to be finished around August of 2013 and will hold approximately 180 people. The project will include significant work on Chatham Street to install new water lines and to create the streetscape. There will be times when Chatham Street is reduced to one lane in this area. This may pose a problem during events like Lazy Daze. All work on the streetscape is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. As part of the streetscape the town seal located in the middle of Chatham and Academy will be removed. Instead council asked that a seal be placed in a prominent area near that intersection, hopefully in the Fidelity plaza. One note of interest presented at that intersection was that negotiations were ongoing to add another story to the Kitchen and Bath building.

In the previous days and weeks there was a lot of emphasis placed on the theater’s marquee and its lighting by the media. Specifically, the media talked about a neon sign. All that was presented in this update were three possibilities: a baseline marquee, a marquee with a vertical component, and a marquee with a vertical component that is accented by lighting. The council decided they would prefer a marquee accented by lighting. It is too early in the process to decide what type of lighting will be used. While there was some interest expressed by one council member for neon the rest of the council did not seem interested. Contrary of what was reported and implied in the local newspaper in Sunday’s article, the decision on the type of lighting will be made at our next update which is scheduled in the spring.

Carolina Tiger Rescue

Saturday I, along with my wife and oldest daughter, toured the Carolina Tiger rescue outside of Pittsboro. This facility houses abused, neglected and otherwise unwanted large cats (lions, tigers, etc). The public can learn about the plight of these animals through tours and other programs. This is a “no touch” facility which means that hardly anyone ever touches these animals. That is an important rule since many of them were abused by humans throughout their lives. These animals are magnificent creatures and it was a real treat to visit them up close. If you are an animal lover this is a must see.

The Marathi Children’s Theater

Sunday I attended an impressive performance of Kilbil Kalavishkar by children that are a part of The Marathi Children’s Theater group. It was a performance written, produced, and performed by children. I was joined by Mayor Holcombe, Mayor Pro-Tem Johnson, and council member Rao of Morrisville. It was a great time and we were all privileged to be present.

Emails: Cell Phones, Yellow Lights and Cable, Complaints

Emails from staff this week included a response to a citizen concerning emergency 911 coverage in areas with poor cell coverage. The following is the response:

“…I did check with our carriers locally and they do not block 911 calls even during peak periods. This would be a potentially significant liability for them and they have a lot to lose and nothing to gain by blocking 911 calls. However if a caller has made a 911 call and is connected, continues to drive and drives out of the coverage area of that tower and there is no other tower to pick up the call it will be dropped. In addition if the service area is overloaded and no circuits are available or if there is no service at all the caller will not be able to make a 911 call or any other type of call. This is also true for conventional phones. If you cannot get dial tone you can’t make a call. … “

There was also an email from staff to a citizen concerned about short timing on yellow lights and how we set the timing:

“… The yellow light times are calculated based on a nationally accepted equation that uses set parameters such as travel speed, width of the intersection, and approach grade of the road.  Yellow light times at all signalized intersections in Cary are reviewed and approved by the North Carolina Department of Transportation for correctness and consistency.  Each intersection configuration is unique, thus the parameters will be different at each intersection, making the yellow interval timing unique at each intersection.  To ensure that the timings stay correct, the Town performs inspections at every intersection four times a year.  During these inspections, staff checks the signal timing, operational equipment and vehicle detectors.  This operation ensures all traffic signals are operating as designed.  …”

Emails from citizens this week included a complaint about Time Warner Cable rate increases, a complaint that our police department is corrupt because Brad Cooper was convicted, complaints about a potential neon sign at the Cary Theater that is being renovated, chain email complaints about a townhouse proposal on near Mills Park school, a complaint about future round-a-bouts in Cary, and complaints about a potential Costco in the MacGregor shopping center.

Growth, My Soapbox

In the local newspaper on Sunday this week was a story about a potential bond referendum in Cary. This story implied the bond referendum is a tax increase needed because we are not growing fast enough or at a fast rate. There were even quotes stating that there are consequences to “no growth, slow growth”. Unfortunately, I was not asked for my opinion so I will use this medium.

[Begin soapbox]

Whenever something is built in Cary it creates an impact on the town’s infrastructure which includes things such as roads, water, sewer, fire and police protection, etc. While Cary has developer fees to pay for some of the impact of new developments, these fees are set at a competitive rate which is about 60% of the cost of the infrastructure needed. This is an improvement of the less than 10% of the costs (in some cases) before I took office. The remaining portion of the infrastructure cost is absorbed in the tax rate.

It is important to understand that capital projects have operational costs associated with them which are not calculated in the development fee. This is also absorbed in the tax rate. In addition, operational costs have continued to increase over the years yet Cary has not increased taxes in decades. As a result there is a lot of pressure on the tax rate.

For years Cary has continued to do more with less and is one of the most efficient municipalities in the state. For example, the town operates with 8 ½ employees per thousand residents compared to an average of 11.

There are many that argue that slower growth is the reason there are money pressures, implying that a faster growth rate would create more money to pay for infrastructure. While this is partially true it is an incomplete thought. Today’s growth will create money to pay for yesterday’s infrastructure demands created by growth during that time. But today’s growth will also create infrastructure demands for the future. To put it simply, it is like using a credit card to pay off a credit card. Eventually, you will have to pay for that credit card. I believe we are at the point where we are going to have to pay for the infrastructure and associated costs created by years of growth. If not, we will see capital improvements at a much slower rate (as we have the last couple of years) and town operations adjusted to reflect the reduced revenue available. And adjusting town operations is essentially changing the level of service that we provide today. I certainly don’t want that nor do I want a tax increase. So it will be extremely important for council to decide what capital projects are needed to maintain the quality of life we have today, while at the same time create a tax rate that is as low as possible. Currently, we have the lowest tax rate in Wake County and I would like to keep it that way.

[End soapbox]

Next Week

Next week will be busy for me. It will include giving the State of the Town live at a Chamber Breakfast, speaking with other mayors at a panel of realtors, a council meeting, and a policy advisory committee meeting of the Western Wake Partners.

Well that is all for this week. My next post will be on Sunday, January 29th. Please feel free to email me with a comment. Email all Town of Cary questions or comments to Harold.Weinbrecht@townofcary.org. Email personal comments to augustanat@mindspring.com.

From the blog of Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht, covering the week through January 15, 2012. Wilmington, NC photo by Hal Goodtree.

Cary, NC – This week was a busy one that included a council meeting and the annual council/staff retreat.

Monday

As with all Mondays of a regularly council meeting week, I called all council members to hear their concerns or questions about items on the upcoming agenda. I was able to talk with all of them. The only questions or concerns were about the Employee Wellness Program item on the agenda. Later that day I, along with Mayor Pro-Tem Adcock, met with town managers, directors, and administrative staff to go over the agenda. Based on the agenda items it seemed the meeting would be a relatively short one. I guessed the meeting would conclude around 7:30.

After the agenda meeting I spoke briefly with the town manager to catch up on any pressing issues. We discussed the upcoming vote on the Employee Wellness Program and the upcoming council/staff retreat.

Later Monday I had a dinner meeting with a friend and talked about a variety of issues including some related to the town.

Council Meeting: Rezoning of the Fumagalli Tract

Tuesday was a regularly scheduled council meeting. Normally our meetings are held on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of every month. Since the council was holding their annual retreat which required leaving on Thursday, the meeting was scheduled for Tuesday.

The meeting’s biggest issue was the public hearing on the rezoning of the Fumagalli tract near the Mills Park schools. Several people spoke against the rezoning which proposed going from a zoning of R40 to a transitional zoning of townhomes.

As we do with all rezoning cases we sent it to the Planning and Zoning Board for their review and recommendation. Once council receives the recommendation we will make a decision. Since the residents adjacent to the proposal filed a valid protest petition, the rezoning would take six out of seven council members to vote affirmatively to have the project approved.

We will probably see the proposal again in April. The rest of the meeting went by fairly quickly but due to the time spent on the public hearing our adjournment time was around 9 PM.

Chatham Mayors Meet on Jordan Lake

Wednesday I met with Mayors from Chatham County that included Mayor Voller from Pittsboro, Mayor Johnson of Siler City, and Mayor Cunnup of Goldston. Since I am also a mayor in Chatham County they wanted to meet with me and see how we could work on issues together.

Some of the issues we talked about were the upcoming joint Land Use Plan with Chatham County and future water use from Jordan Lake. We decided it would be beneficial to create a mayors association similar to the Wake County Mayors Association. We also discussed the possibility of including Lee County mayors in the group. The group would meet regularly with a focus on finding similar issues to work on together. I believe it will be our intention to create a joint legislative agenda.

This could be very beneficial not only to Cary and other areas of Chatham and Lee Counties but to the region if we have similar issues with Wake County municipalities. Mayor Voller is taking the lead on exploring this further and will get back in touch with me.

Later Wednesday I met with the town manager, assistant town manager, and the budget director to be briefed about the financial topic that would be discussed at the retreat. I was also joined by Mayor Pro-Tem Adcock and council member Bush. The purpose of the meeting was to provide detail on what was to be presented at the retreat and to prepare for any questions the council may have about the topic.

Wilmington Retreat

Thursday I left for the council/staff retreat in Wilmngton. I rode with council member Smith and we arrived around 5 PM. We met with council member Frantz a little bit later and headed out for dinner. Mayor Pro-Tem Adcock, and council members Bush and Robinson, who rode down together, also joined us for dinner. Council member Robison did not attend the retreat due to a family emergency that required her to travel to New Jersey. Our dinner was purely social and provided valuable time together.

I firmly believe that relationship building is the cornerstone to a highly functioning professional group. It is important to note that we, not the taxpayers, paid for our own dinners. It should also be pointed out that the retreat, even though out of town, was very close to the budget we planned for an in town retreat.

Six Topics…

Friday was the official beginning of the retreat which covered six main topics. Our first topic was on being an effective council. We spent a couple of hours discussing what we expect from each other. This included how we prepare for council meetings, how we handle conflicts, and how we can be most effective. It was a good session which began with an ice breaker that included nicknames council members have had during their lives. Of course I’m not disclosing any nicknames.

Our next big topic was on the Land Use Plan. In 1996 the town created a town wide land use plan that was followed by seven special area plans over the years. In December 2010 the town council asked the staff to come up with a unified plan.

The new plan will take into account existing plans, ordinances, policies, guidelines, and especially trends. Here are some of the interesting trends that were presented:

• We are projected to have a population of 180,000 by 2025.
• Our median age will be approaching 40 by 2025.
• By that time over 4000 people will be turning 65 each year as compared to 3000 now.
• Cary’s population demographics show that we have the largest percentage of 40 go 49 year olds in Wake County and the smallest percentage of 20 to 29 year olds.
• Our average household size continues to get smaller.
• Our population is more diverse with over 19% foreign born. 7.7% are Hispanic and 13.1% are Asian.
• Our median household income has dropped in the last ten years from $95,000 to $88,000.
• Our population is well educated with over 60% achieving a Bachelor degree or higher and 24% achieving a Masters degree or higher.
• In this century our built environment will be renewed more than three times.
• Our challenges in creating this new plan will include: meeting the differing needs and preferences of an older, more diverse population, meeting the demand for a wider range of housing types, and maintaining and serving an increasing number of aging housing stock. This will be especially difficult since most people don’t like change.

The last session on Friday was on intergovernmental effectiveness. We heard from people that lobby on Cary’s behalf at the North Carolina legislature and from people that lobby for Cary at Congress. As a result of the working groups we decided to inventory our relationships with other elected officials, come up with a strategy to improve relationships, and come up with a process to lobby other elected officials on Cary’s behalf.

Friday night the entire delegation of consultants, staff, and council walked over to a downtown restaurant and had dinner. It was an important time to build our relationships with each other. This is critical in our efforts to being a highly functioning council and staff.

Customer Service

Saturday included three retreat topics. The first was taking our customer service program to the next level. We discussed viewing our service through the eyes of the customer which is what Disney does. There was a lot of conversation and discussion between staff and council during this session.

We agreed that council needed to better understand the complexities that staff deals with and that we all need to experience what customers are going through with town services. Consistency in service seemed to be one of the major themes. As a result of this session I felt that we will take our level of customer service higher and hopefully be a municipal example for others to follow.

Funding and a Future Bond Referendum

The next topic was on general capital projects and funding.

We agreed that we would not pursue further debt using our 2003 bonding authority and would pursue a bond referendum which may be held in the general election this fall. We will use a work session to decide what capital projects to include in that bond.

It is important to understand that Cary currently has $90 million dollars worth of projects delayed and another $600 million on the wish list. It is also important to understand that Cary’s population continues to grow with demands and needs growing with it. We are rapidly reaching a point where levels of service may be threatened if some projects are continued to be delayed.

Some interesting points brought up in this session include:

• Cary has $20 million in required reserve, $39 million of four month worth of operating costs, and $17 million available for pay-as you-go capital.
• We have issued no new debt for capital since 2008.
• Our current debt service is 11.6% of operating expenditures with our debt ceiling set at 15%.
• Our delayed projects include $34 million in streetscapes, $13.5 million in Aquatics, $10 million in Land Banking, and $24 million for other high priority projects.

If voters approve a bond referendum then it would probably require a tax increase. If that is the case then council would prefer not to have an annual gradual increase.

Our last topic at the retreat was the review of all the town’s boards and commissions. Our decisions were based not only on experience but from feedback given by the board members.

As a result we decided that the Town Center Review Committee and the Citizen Issue Review Committee could better serve if they were task forces that were formed as needed. This means that people may be contacted with a request to serve on a future committee if a need arises.

It was also decided that School of Government Graduates should be looked at first in creating these task forces.

The Economic Development Committee (a citizen advisory committee) was also changed along with the Economic Development Governing Board (a committee of council, staff, and chamber members). The funding decision of the Economic Development Governing Board would be done instead by the council’s operation committee. The governing board would then have three new members from the old Economic Development Committee. The new combined board has yet to be named.

Weekend

I believe our retreat was very successful and we did a lot of great work in a short amount of time. We ended around 3:30 PM on Saturday and I was home in time for dinner.

Sunday I spent most of the day going through retreat information and writing the February version of Cary Matters.

This week there were several emails from staff that included announcements to the public. In one of these staff asked for citizen input to the joint land use plan between Cary and Chatham County. The Cary Council will hold a public hearing on this plan at our January 24th meeting and the Chatham County commissioners will hold a public hearing on January 17th. Once adopted, the Joint Land Use Plan will guide local governments with future growth in the more than 18,000 acres between Jordan Lake and the Chatham-Wake County line, White Oak Creek in the south and the Durham County line to the north. The plan will also define areas that may be eligible for future Cary water and sewer service.

Citizens were also asked to participate in developing a Stormwater Master Plan. This plan will guide the future of stormwater management in Cary. Key elements of the plan include water quality, water quantity, infrastructure, floodplains, and public assistance programs. Citizens interested in participating should attend the meeting at the Page-Walker Arts and History Center on January 17th from 4 to 7 PM.

Emails: Know What’s Better? Give Your Opinion in Person.

There were a lot of emails from citizens this week. One set of emails was in response to a news story that implied the Cary Council wanted to put up a neon sign at the Cary Theater being renovated. Staff, not council, is working on a proposal that may or may not include neon. The council has not reviewed or approved any neon sign. It is my opinion that there will be some council members interested and some council members opposed to neon. It is a decision to be made once the options are presented at a future date. There were also concerns about double standards. Those are also valid but there are facts about that issue that were also left out of the story. For example, the sign ordinance was created by citizens, business owners, staff members, and council members years ago. The decision was that public buildings were not to be included in the ordinance. The sign ordinance was recently reviewed by a focus group that included mostly business owners and citizens. Council adjusted the sign ordinance based on many of those recommendations. It should also be pointed out the theater marquees have been approved in town. It is my understanding that Crossroads theaters have approval for a marquee but chose not to use one. Anyway, I believe the majority of the concerns were generated by sensationalizing the facts which is unfortunate.

Other emails this week included a campaign to fill up the council email boxes with objections about the Fumagali proposal that I mentioned earlier. I can tell you from this end that cut and paste emails that fill up mailboxes are usually not effective. What is effective is an email to council members from the heart about concerns one may have. What is even more effective is attending the council meeting and giving your opinion in person. But chain emails do nothing but make it difficult for council members to do their jobs.

I received two other emails this week. One email made recommendations about the building of fire station #8. In another email a lady said that she was praying God would turn my life into hell because the town won’t close the dump or build a wall around it. Ouch! Unfortunately taking unwarranted criticism is part of my job.

Next week will include a meeting of the Wake County Mayors Association, a meeting of the Capital Metropolitan Planning Organization, and a council work session on the downtown theater.

Well that is all for this week. My next post will be on Sunday, January 22nd. Please feel free to email me with a comment. Email all Town of Cary questions or comments to Harold.Weinbrecht@townofcary.org. Email personal comments to augustanat@mindspring.com.

From the blog of Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht, covering the week through January 8, 2012. Photo by Martin Abeggien.

Cary, NC – This was the first full week of the New Year but included a holiday so things were still a little slower than normal.

On Monday I had dinner with a longtime supporter and talked about the next four years and the new council makeup.

Transit

Tuesday I had a work session on the Wake County Transit Plan. The presentation was given by David Cook, the Wake County Manager, and David King, the Triangle Transit Executive Director.

The transit plan work session lasted about two hours and included the following points:

• The plan is a 25 year plan and includes the approval of the half cents sales tax.
• The half cents sales tax can only be used for new service and cannot be used for existing service. To cover inflation and other costs of existing service the plan recommends increasing vehicle registration fees by $7.
• If the half cents sales tax existed in 2011 it would have created over $53 million.
• By 2017 Raleigh and Cary will combine for 57% of the county’s population.
• The plan would create an additional 322,000 hours of buses which equates to an additional 107 buses running all day.
• Cary’s service will go from approximately 31,000 hours to 85,000 hours.
• The new plan will have a route from downtown Cary to the airport by 2017.
• Currently, some of Cary’s routes run every hour. Within five years all will run every half hour or less.
• Cary will be a transit provider to other municipalities like Apex that do not have a transit system. Providing to other communities will be 100% paid for by the half cents sales tax.
• Commuter rail will not be available for four to six years. New tracks will be needed to accommodate existing freight and additional passenger traffic.
• Core transit, which is the bus along with commuter rail, would use existing state and federal funding along with the half cents sales tax.
• Light rail would require significant federal funding. If funding were available it would still be ten years before it could be implemented according to the plan.
• Total costs for the Wake County bus plan in the first five years would be over $343 million. Approximately $138 million would be from local funding and the rest would use existing state and federal funding.

After the work session the council went into close session to consult with attorneys about the Fairways lawsuit on the town’s only billboard.

Fracking

Wednesday I was contacted by WRAL about fracking. I told them that in December the council directed staff to investigate the impact of fracking in Cary and bring back pros, cons, and recommendations. In addition, I stated that we do not believe fracking will impact Jordan Lake but may impact citizen’s wells. Any request for fracking would require a permit and would fall under zoning regulations. Staff will bring back information to council in a few weeks.

Wednesday evening my meeting with Chatham County mayors was postponed until the 11th. The meeting, called by the Chatham County mayors, is to discuss issues of mutual interest for municipalities in Chatham County.

Costco Coming to MacGregor?

Thursday night and Friday morning WRAL did a story about a potential Costco coming to MacGregor Village Shopping Center. Here is the summation sent from staff to council about the proposal:

In September 2011, the Development Review Committee (an internal development plan review group) held a pre-submittal meeting with representatives from the Costco Wholesale Corporation. Prior to the meeting, representatives submitted the attached application which included an “Existing Conditions Plan,” a “Preliminary Site Plan,” and “Building Elevations.” As with all pre-submittal meetings, staff provided preliminary feedback on the conceptual plan and held a discussion of town requirements and the review process.

The conceptual plan shows all the current buildings except for the existing bank (at the corner of Edinburgh and Highway 64) being demolished and replaced with a 147,000 square foot Costco Building and an associated gas station. Since it appears that nearly the entire site is being changed, the site plan will most likely need to meet all thoroughfare buffer and other Town standards. If the site plan does not meet buffer and other major requirements, the plan will need to be approved by Council. The plan can be approved by staff if it meets our land development requirements.

The site is approximately 21 acres in size and is zoned for General Commercial. A Costco store is a permitted use.

The representatives were asked to submit additional information regarding the uses within the Costco Building to determine whether a traffic impact analysis would be required. As of this date, the representatives have not submitted this information.

Today, I contacted a representative for Costco and they stated that corporation representatives were still negotiating with the current owner of the shopping center (CPG Partners, Indianapolis, Indiana) for the property. It appears that the site plan will not move forward until an agreement is reached.

A pre-submittal application does not constitute a formal site plan submittal so there is no decision before the Town. The next step would be for the applicant to transmit a site plan that meets our submittal requirements. Staff does not know whether or not the applicant will submit a plan.

Based on the emails I have received so far from citizens that live in the area, they have concerns about having a Costco at this location.

Neon

Friday I was interviewed by the Cary News about a marquee proposal for the Cary Theater on Chatham Street that is being renovated.

The reporter was focused mostly on neon. I told him I had not seen the proposal and that I envision a marquee that has very little neon. Needless to say my comments weren’t used.

In my opinion what people want is something spectacular which does not equate to neon. I think we should even think about something creative like maybe using LED lighting.

State of the Town Speech in Glenaire

Saturday I gave the State of the Town live for the first time at Glenaire. There were about three dozen residents in attendance and it was broadcast throughout Glenaire. My presentation lasted twenty to thirty minutes and included slides and pictures. That was followed by a brief Q&A session. Afterwards I talked with residents and then had lunch. It was a good time and I have already been booked for the first Saturday in 2013.

Emails

Emails from citizens this week included a complaint about not seeing the word “Christmas” enough in the Bud publications, a complaint about “misfeasance in the execution” of my duties because of the lack of cell towers, a complaint about cell phone coverage in NW Cary, a recommendation to get involved in the Gig U initiative, a complaint about our automated water meter system, several complaints about the proposed Costco in the MacGregor Shopping center, a request to have police give out vests to those running and biking in the dawn/dusk hours, and a request to get Chatham County to build schools in the Cary portion of Chatham County.

Council/Staff Retreat in Wilmington Next Week

Next week will be a busy week for me and the rest of the council. We will have a regularly scheduled council meeting on Tuesday and travel to Wilmington for the Council/Staff retreat on Thursday. The retreat will be held at the Wilmington Riverside Hilton on 301 North Water Street. Council will start checking in at the hotel around 5 PM and meet for dinner at 6:15. Because a majority of us are meeting we cannot discuss any council related items. In addition, since it is social the council will pay for their own meals. The retreat will begin on Friday morning at 8 AM.

Well that is all for this week. My next post will be on Sunday, January 15th. Please feel free to email me with a comment. Email all Town of Cary questions or comments to Harold.Weinbrecht@townofcary.org. Email personal comments to augustanat@mindspring.com.