VIPs Visit Downtown Park, Cary Tennis Classic Rebrand, and Council Meeting

VIPs Visit Downtown Park

Monday afternoon I joined the town manager and staff to give a tour of the Downtown Cary Park to visitors from across the nation who are part of the group developing Disney’s Asteria community in the Pittsboro area. I gave a welcome and provided background information on the creation of the park.

Council Meeting Prep

Monday I contacted council members to hear of questions or concerns of the agenda for Thursday’s regular council meeting. One council member wanted the Traffic Calming item on the consent agenda pulled for discussion and another council member wanted the more information on the GoCary Wake Bus Plan.

Later in the day I met with Mayor Pro-Tem Bryon-Robinson and staff to go over the agenda. We anticipated the meeting would be relatively short.

Town Manager One-On-One

My final meeting Monday was with the Town Manager and Mayor Pro-Tem Bryson-Robinson. Some of the items we discussed included the potential bond later this year, the tax rate related to revenue neutral, Artificial Intelligence, and the Ivey-Ellington House.

Cary Tennis Classic Community Event

Tuesday night I attended the rebranding event for sponsors of the Cary Tennis Classic formerly known as the Atlantic Tire Championships. I along with other board members provided them with information about the tournament and the future Cary Tennis Park expansion. This tournament has been successful for ten years and is one of the reasons why Cary receives over $29 million dollars of economic benefit from our venues each year.

NC Senator Adcock Meeting

Thursday afternoon I met with NC Senator Gale Adcock about the application process for the Order of the Long Leaf Pine for a Cary resident. At a minimum, the individual must have provided community service for at least 30 years. The process takes several months to complete.

Council Work Session

Thursday evening, I joined the council and staff for a work session that focused mainly on transit in Cary. Here are some of the points I noted in the transit presentation and discussion:

  • The cost per rider for fixed routes is $18.44 with Cary paying $2.95.
  • The cost per rider for door-to-door is $95.43 with Cary paying $43.08.
  • Ridership increased 40.34% in FY23 and 27.79% in FY24. Ridership has more than doubled since FY18.
  • GoCary is fully staffed and has the highest starting pay in North Carolina.
  • Riders rate Cary 70% as excellent or good. Only 1% rated it as negative.
  • A Microtransit study is being conducted to look at filling in gaps, node-based travel, and the addition of the Morrisville Smart Shuttle.
  • There are 213 bus stops with 24 shelters and 12 benches.
  • 95% have sidewalk connectivity and 78% are ADA compliant. Of course, the goal is to retrofit all to be 100%.
  • Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) will be running from the downtown Cary depot to downtown Raleigh by 2029. BRT routes will have over 50% dedicated lanes.
  • A Rapid Bus Extension (less than 50% dedicated lanes) will go from the Cary depot to RTP.
  • The Bus Operations and Maintenance Facility has received funding and will be built on Towerview court.
  • A Downtown Cary Multimodal Center will be built between the railroad tracks and Harrison Avenue and North West Street. It will be in phase one of town hall campus redevelopment.
  • The Downtown Cary Multimodal Center will accommodate local and regional bus service, Bus Rapid Transit, Intercity Passenger Rail, Commuter Rail, Ride Share, and Bike Share.

In the only action taken at the work session, the town council unanimously agreed to move the first meeting in June from June 6th to Monday, June 10th.

Council Meeting

Thursday night the town council held its last meeting of March. The agenda included four consent items, two public hearings, and one discussion item.

The Traffic Calming Policy Revision was pulled from the consent agenda so that the public could be made aware of current and future traffic calming measures.

A public hearing for the annexation of land for the Bel Canto development on Green Level West was held and will come back for a vote when council votes on the rezoning.

A public hearing was also held for the GoCary Service Changes. The council unanimously approved these changes.

The discussion item was to make the Human Relations, Inclusion, and Diversity task force a permanent Cary Advisory Board. This was also unanimously approved.

The council also held a closed session which lasted about half an hour.

Mayor’s Mailbox

  • An email campaign of complaints about the quarry next to Umstead Park (The Cary Council is not a decision maker and at the time of this writing I have received 2625 emails asking the Cary council to stop mining).
  • A question about our food waste program.
  • A complaint about noise from a “nature killing subdivision because of Cary’s greed” (All property owners have the right to develop their land and no municipality has the authority to prevent them, nor should they).
  • A complaint about the upkeep of the Grove at Cary Park.
  • A complaint about the future Cary Multimodal Center.

Next Week

Next week’s activities include staff meetings, a HRID meeting, a State of Cary Presentation, a ribbon cutting, the Farmers Market Opening, a Founders event, and an event for NC Senator Adcock.

Well, that is all for this week. My next post will be on Sunday, April 7th, 2024. Although I have Facebook and Twitter accounts those are not the best means of communication with me. Please send all Town of Cary questions or comments to Harold.Weinbrecht@townofcary.org and email personal comments to augustanat@mindspring.com.