July 26, 2008

This week was a busy week with the highlight being a marathon council meeting.

Monday started with a meeting on closing railroad crossings (which was to be on the council agenda Thursday). I talked with Parkside Town Commons representatives Robert Teer and David George. They would like to open a railroad crossing in their proposed project but CSX will require the closing of existing crossings in the Carpenter area. In addition, it would commit the town to at least $17 million in improvements within five years. This type of commitment is very dangerous since we don’t have much debt capacity for the next few years. On Thursday, the council decided to ask CSX to delay the closing of the old crossings.

Monday night was the monthly Mayors Association meeting. This month we were told to bring our managers. Since Cary’s manager was not able to attend I brought assistant town manager Ben Shivar. The meeting did not have the usual presentations but instead included a lot of discussions on what towns are doing to become more efficient to save money. One of the ideas I passed along was the recent ability that Cary received from the General Assembly to post notices on the web instead of the newspaper. I pointed out that our newspaper reaches about 75% of the population and over 95% of our residents have access to the internet. There were other ideas tossed around especially related to saving energy and consultant costs.

Tuesday’s meetings included the agenda preparation meeting with staff and a work session on the Land Development Ordinance (LDO) amendments. One of the key decisions we had to make on the LDO amendments was how much density credit to allow for open space. That is, a zoning might allow 10 units on a parcel of land but if the developer gave additional open space then the town might allow 20 units on the remaining parcel. The problem created from this existing ordinance was that developers were giving enough open space were they had large density bonuses. In some cases houses were being built on 1/3 acre lots in an area designated as Very Low Density. Keep in mind that areas designated as very low density are to protect water quality near Jordan Lake. The outcome of this work session recommended reducing the density bonuses to be more in line with what would be expected with the land use.

Wednesday included the taping of the August episode of Cary Matters. My co-host was Jack Smith and our main topic was the budget. In addition, we answered questions about the removal of a water tower and our growth rate. So make sure to watch this episode and please send in questions and topics that you would like to see addressed.

I also briefly attended the first meeting of Cary’s New Environmental Board. The composition of this board includes many great minds and I am excited to see what they come up with. I talked with them about my vision for the board and then answered questions. I believe this group will make us leaders in the state in working with our environment.

Thursday started with a panel discussion in Durham at the “Special Public Policy Leader’s Panel: Local Government Policy Priorities Around the State”. Joining me on the panel with Mayor Faulkner of Morrisville, Wake County Commission Chairman Joe Bryan, and Durham County Chairwoman Ellen Reckhow. We each spoke for a few minutes on Land Use and how we were working with other governments. This was followed by questions from the moderator. One interesting question to me was how I would educate those that don’t want developments “in their backyards.” My answer included comments that started in my campaign last year of communicating and involving the citizens.  I hope this journal, issue advisory boards, and other initiatives are making headway in this direction.

Thursday night was the second longest council meeting I have had since becoming mayor. I believe we finished somewhere close to 1 AM. There were eight public hearings and several interesting topics. But the media seemed to be only interested in whether or not we would allow chickens in Cary. Well, it was pointed out in the meeting that chickens are allowed in lots designated as R-40 which is .9 acres or greater. Those are considered agricultural in Cary. The vote directing staff to bring back more information allowing chickens in Cary failed by a 4-3 margin. The most interesting comment was by council member Frantz who said the only chickens he wanted to see was “in the frozen foods or on a plate in front of him because it is 12:30 and he is hungry.” I fought for my composure at that point (and failed). I apologize to any citizens that thought I acted unprofessionally but being in our sixth hour and hearing a comment like that…

Friday morning I met with representatives of Highwoods properties. They updated me on the Weston office park and other office developments in the area. They asked my thoughts on more mixes of use inside Weston. I told them I believed mixes of use would be good and worth evaluating.

I was also asked Friday morning if I would participate in the SAS Championship Pro-Am. The Cary mayor has traditional participated in this event since Koka Booth was mayor. So since I like traditions, and think it would be great, I agreed to participate.

I will be on vacation next week so there won’t be much to post. I will be back in time to throw out the first pitch at the Olympic exhibition baseball game between the USA and Canada on Friday, August 1^st.

Well, that is about all I have to post for this week. So I’ll close for now and hopefully post again by Sunday, August 3rd.