Cary Affordable Housing Project: Neighborhood Meeting Recap

Wednesday night (1/12/22), Town of Cary staff and residential developer Laurel Street, hosted a neighborhood meeting to describe plans for a proposed rezoning at 921 SE Maynard Road, that would allow the development of 130 residential units adjacent to East Cary Middle School, with a proposed entrance on Ryan Road (which would be adjacent to one of the Iron Gate neighborhood’s main entrances).

Town of Cary staff led the meeting with a slideshow presentation before opening the meeting to questions and concerns from approximately 70 residents in attendance. The meeting, scheduled from 6:30-8pm, ended with many frustrated residents still desiring to have their questions and answers heard.

We asked Morgan Mansa and Heather Whelehan (Town of Cary staff who led the meeting) if another public meeting would be scheduled summarily to hear all the questions and concerns from citizens, before moving forward with further plans.

“In addition to the neighborhood meeting, we are always happy to meet with residents on an individual basis to learn about the development and provide their comments. There is also the upcoming public hearing in which citizens can speak about the development. We’ve also talked with Scot Berry and he thinks providing additional time for attendees is a great idea. We will reach out to those who attended so that they can either meet with us individually or as a group.”

Morgan Mansa, Town of Cary

Many of the questions and concerns we heard from attendees, related to increased traffic, environmental impacts, impacts of additional residents on school capacities, and whether or not this development is a foregone conclusion that citizens wouldn’t be able to stop.

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Here are a few of the comments we received from attendees of the meeting:

“There is this tendency by the town to cast any opposition to these developments as being anti-affordable housing and this simply isn’t the case. Every neighbor I’ve spoken to has expressed to me, that like me, they're pro-‘affordable housing . There is a huge need in Cary and I know TOC has a lot of passion for it and pressure to get this done. The question for me is why here? This will be the second affordable housing project approved within 100 feet of my house. It starts to feel intentional. I don’t envy the developer. The property is going to require a lot of modifications to make it suitable for building, it is already prone to flooding even before they pull out all of the trees. Why not put it somewhere that’s already cleared and zoned for mixed use, such as next to Fenton? Or Preston? The intent is to make it 50% market rate housing. I’m not sure who is going to want to pay market rate to look at the back of an aging shopping center with no other appealing amenities to distinguish it.

Also the dangerous intersections of Maynard and Cary Towne and the increasing traffic and speeding on Ryan Road haven’t been addressed by the town; these are huge public safety risks that will be made much worse when Fenton and Epic are completed. The project at this point just seems hastily thrown together and ill-conceived, at least the plans I’ve seen so far. Personally, I don’t want to see our unique, authentic neighborhood start resembling North Hills because zoning restrictions start falling like dominos. There won’t always be a housing shortage but denser zoning is forever.

I’d love to see the parcel used for some rapidly dwindling greenspace, and a community garden. I mean actual town maintained greenspace, not a highly stylized park, or tennis courts. I’m sure the town would find that idea laughable but it’s really beautiful back there. There is a stream and some really interesting terrain for trails and a quick urban escape into nature.”

Melodie Alsberg, Iron Gate resident

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“As a resident of the Irongate community, I was proud to see such a great turnout at this neighborhood meeting. I found it discouraging that few of my neighbors were directly notified by the town with details about this plan.

It is frustrating that questions about this project are met with claims of not supporting affordable housing ventures near our own homes. Many members of our community would not be able to move into their own homes given the current market. This neighborhood, and the adjacent ones, have long been the affordable housing around downtown Cary. These claims have been spread and picked up by members of our own town council. This really discourages open dialogue between the town and residents.

The plan as proposed is purported to specifically target and serve first responders and teachers in the community. The town and developer have also stated that they will be investing in advertising to this community. What, if any, market research or community surveys have been done to target this population? With all the apartments going up in Downtown Cary, is another one really where the focus should be for an affordable housing project? Why not property ownership? After all, this is the biggest hurdle in housing for low income households.

Another concern I have with this project is connecting our neighborhood street directly to another busy road. This would encourage more cut-through traffic than it already shoulders. I think the town should protect these long-standing neighborhoods and their quality of life when many of these residents express the same concerns.”

April Farley, Iron Gate resident

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“I diligently researched specific issues in order to form direct, specific questions that have not been answered. As I continue my research and learn more, I am left with more questions . I feel that this piece of land should not be the the flagship location for the town and Laurel Street. I have not heard one compelling reason that 921 SE Maynard Rd should be the location, despite others being in the pipeline ( according to the presentation). Renters paying market-rate will have ample opportunity in the immediate vicinity to live in a more desirable apartment community and the targeted population should be presented with a building , in a safer location with more amenities. Teachers, first responders and town employees work hard for us, why place them behind Village Square, a dilapidated shopping center where Ollies discount store , Planet Fitness and the ABC store are the main anchors with overflowing dumpsters and constant cut through traffic located at the rear? They deserve better and the TOC has the resources to place them in the best areas around.”

Amanda Benson, Iron Gate resident

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“My concern is that there doesn't seem to be any real chance that local residents could stop the project. Since the Town owns the property and retained the contractor specifically for this build, what are the chances that the council would actually reverse course on this? Everyone knows what this is going to do to the traffic in our neighborhood. It seems like those concerns don't matter to the Town.”

Anonymous, Iron Gate resident

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We followed up with Town of Cary staff about one question in particular, from a resident who inquired about the integrity of the marketing of this development as affordable housing for teachers, firefighters, police, and other first responders. While the marketing speaks about affordability for these demographics, Laurel Street and the Town of Cary’s representatives don’t plan to select tenants from these demographics, specifically.

“There is definitely integrity in mentioning that teachers and first responders could live at this site. We intentionally decided on the income ranges to accommodate individuals working in these fields. It is these individuals that immediately came to mind when we discussed why there needed to be mixed-income housing at this site and we want our residents to understand our intent - to understand our “why”. Communicating the “who” for different income ranges help to humanize the numbers – it educates the public on whom this can serve instead of only focusing on Area Median Income which are not terms most people use everyday in thinking about their home or their neighbor. With this being a Cary-owned site and because of its proximity to schools, we intend to market to these populations so residents can expect to see a number of these units filled with these individuals.”

Morgan Mansa, Town of Cary

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As we stated in our previous article about the rezoning and development of 921 SE Maynard Road, The Pāpur is taking a neutral stance with regards to this specific project.

From an editorial perspective, we admittedly have our personal opinions due to the fact that we’re Cary residents, live nearby, and know many of the people who would be affected by this proposed project. However, we’re also very supportive of increasing home affordability. We actually believe that should have been a much bigger priority prior to an election year.

What we’re hearing from residents, isn’t that of being NIMBY’s (not in my back yard), but residents with legitimate concerns who believe their local government got to the 3rd step in this 6 step process, before they even had an opportunity for input. Many of them believe the project is a foregone conclusion, and the Town of Cary will ultimately push forward with their own plans, leaving residents asking who speaks for them. Can you blame them? In this situation, you have the Town purchasing the land to make the development viable, creating the concept for the project, determining who will be the development company, determining the size and scale, and filing a rezoning request based on those variables, before anyone was even aware this was happening. If the Town truly wanted citizen input, why didn’t they seek it prior to these actions? These citizens have been put in a precarious situation where opposition makes them look like affordable housing opponents, but acquiescence undermines their level of personal and collective agency.

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We hope that you’ll continue to follow this story, and many others we’re reporting in the Cary community.

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