Morris Vi lie & Preston
The Progress
Published Monthly Morrisville, N.C. V- . -. November 27, 1997^
Chef ‘K’ uses culinary talents to help the hungry
By Mary Beth Phillips
November brought a lot of
changes to the life of Ed Kaminski.
First, he quit his long-time job as
Executive Chef at Prestonwood
Country Club to start preparing to
open his own business, The Glass
Onion, which will primarily pro
vide prepared meals for people who
are too busy to cook.
Second, he was honored for his
years of service by St. Francis
United Methodist Church, receiv
ing the St. Francis Award, an award
to a member of the community who
embodies the spirit of giving and
community service exemplified by
the teachings of St. Francis of As-
sissi.
Kaminski has put on a banquet
called the “Taste of Hope” for the
past four years and donated the
proceeds to the N.C. Food Bank
and the Interfaith Food Shuttle. The
event has grown since 1994, and
this year he raised almost as much
1 was so honored about the award. I guess
there were 100 or so people nominated. When
they called, I was in disbelief.'
—Ed Kaminski
former Prestonwood chef
as in past years combined—about
$75,000. This was partly due to
input from a nationally acclaimed
artist. Bob Rankin, who made a
commemorative painting for the
event. The prints are still available
at Kroger stores.
Kaminski’s charitable work has
extended beyond organizing a ban
quet each year.
This year he helped Weatherstone
Elementary School with its cook
book.
He has donated a meal to the
Carying Place three or four times a
year for the past several years. .
He provided a carving station,
free of charge, for a fund raiser at
the Poe Health Center recently.
“People had to have something to
snack on,” he explained.
He has hired some of the handi
capped people from Life Experi
ences, and donates an ice carving to
their auction each year.
He and his wife of four years,
Robin, always provide Christmas
and Thanksgiving to a mother and
two daughters in Raleigh, part of
the adopt-a-family program.
The proceeds of the Taste of
Hope banquet were designated for
a state organization, the N.C. Food
Bank, and a local organization, the
Interfaith Food Shuttle, which takes
perishable food donated by restau
rants and grocery stores and deliv
ers it immediately to soup kitchens
or people in need.
“They know exactly where it
needs to go,” Kaminski said, “and
they get it there quick.” The money
from the banquet will be used “to
keep the trucks moving.” He al
ways donated his leftover food to
the organization while working at
Prestonwood. He soon will con
tinue the tradition at his new en
deavor.
“Wasted food is a shame,” he ex
plained.
But these generosities are a matter
of course to Kaminski.
“I was so honored about the
award. I guess there were 100 or so
people nominated. When they
called, I was in disbelief.”
See CHEF, page 3
t.
A NEW VENTURE—Ed Kaminski, the former chef at Prestonwood
Country Club, was recentiy honored for his service to community,
Apartments
gobbling up
capacity
Developers get okay to build 800 units
THE DOWNSIDE OF DEVELOPMENT—Biii Buchanan and Bili
Ciark, ieft and right, are unhappy with erosion they contend will only
get worse as Perimeter Park is deveioped above their properties.
Part of the problem they believes is that Perimeter’s large sedi
mentation pond has a cuivert that allows more run-off than the
downstream property owners can handle.
Muddy waters
Perimeter Park’s downstream neighbors blame development for red runoff
By Mary Beth Phillips
Bill Clark and Bill Buchanan
have approached everyone they can
think of from the Town of Morris-
ville to the State of North Carolina
to the U.S. Army Corps of Engi
neers, to stop the runoff from the
construction at Perimeter Park
West above their properties.
Requesting help on behalf of
themselves and about eight neigh
bors in a small residential enclave
that is surrounded by booming de
velopment, the two men have run
against brick wall after brick wall.
The‘regulatory agency that is in
charge of the situation, the Wake
County Soil and Erosion Control
Section of the Wake County Divi
sion of Environmental Health, says
developer Weeks/Lichtin is meet
ing all of the requirements of the
Sedimentation and Erosion Control
Act.
“In Morrisville, they don’t have a
stormwater program which would
actually deal with the quantity of
water, as opposed to the quality,”
said Laura Faulconer of the Soil
and Erosion Control Section. Wake
County also does not have such a
program.
Lichtin has met the requirements
for sediment control, Ms. Faulconer
said. “There arc different devices
throughout the project, some of
them are block riser basins, inlet
protections, silt fences and vegeta
tion to help stabilize the site all
through construction.”
But “those devices are not de
signed to deal with stormwater,”
she said, adding that Weeks/Lichtin
took it upon themselves to make an
extra large retention basin which
“when it is stabilized should relieve
a lot of the concerns they have,”
The three sedimentation ponds all
have large culverts, which direct
water down onto the residential
properties that have smaller cul
verts.
Both men think the problems will
not get better after the development
is finished.
“There will be thousands and
thousands of gallons of water
coming from the parking lots.”
Clark said, as he walked the site on
Nov, 19, “all coming into this pond
and directed to Jesse Marcom’s
property.”
The culvert from the second
sedimentation pond is directed at
Tommy Watkins’ property, and the
two men cite piles of silt that has
backed up in Watkins’ back yard.
“If you had thousands of gallons
of water running right across your
yard, you’d be ill,” Buchanan said.
“When they get the parking lots,
there will be three times the water,
because there will be no land to
soak it up,” he added.
As the water runs across the road
behind Watkins’ house, rocks have
washed into his yard. Trees are
dying along the section as well.
“We bought this land to live on.
They are just destroying it like we
have no rights at all,” Clark said.
“If I had done this to the Town of
Morrisville’s property. I’d be in
See PERIMETER’S, page 2
By Mary Beth Phillips
More than 800 new apartments or
townhomes will be built in Morris
ville after approvals by the Town
Board of Commissioners at its
meeting in early November, but it
will be more difficult to gel multi
family dwellings approved in the
future.
At the end of the meeting, the
board voted to consider requests for
high-density residential develop
ment only on a case-by-case basis
in the future. Mayor Pro Tern Billy
Sauls made the motion, after stating
his concern that the town would use
up its water and sewer capacity.
Morrisville in July increased its
sewage treatment capacity from
500,000 gallons per day to two
million gallons per day when it was
hooked up with the Cary Sewage
Treatment Plant.
Since that time, applications, es
pecially for multi-family residential
developments, have taken off. Mor
risville had been under a morato
rium on multi-family developments
until the connection was made to
Cary.
In a similar matter, the board is
considering changing its planning
classifications so it can better con
trol the number of units to be built
on an acre of land in town. The
current classification of residential
management (RM) allows densities
ranging from less than one unit per
acre to 12 units per acre.
The planning board will consider
an ordinance that would specify
zoning classifications as R-10 and
R-6, which means that one unit can
be built on 6,000 square feet or on
10,000 square feet. This translates
into about seven units per acre in
R-6 and four units per acre in R-10.
“Staff feels that this will give the
board greater control,” said Plan
ning Director Leisa Powell, who
had returned Monday to help out
after she left her job with the town
to work for a consulting firm.
The recommendation will be for
warded to the planning board for its
input, and come back to the town
board in early December.
The newly approved apartment
complexes are:
The Legends at Preston, a 382-
unit multi-family residential devel
opment to be built on 32.11 acres
off Double Eagle Court, being de
veloped at a density of 11.89 units
per acre.
Cameron Chase Apartments, a
388-unit multi-family residential
development to be built on 34.145
acres at the intersection of Morris
ville Parkway and N.C. 54 to be
developed at a density of 11.36
units per acre. Carl Westbrook of
Charlotte is the developer.
Preston Grande Multifamily, an
82-unit multi-family residential
development to be built on 14.308
acres at the intersection of Cary
See APARTMENTS, page 4
Preston couple ‘retiring’ as Life Experiences fund-raisers
CITIZENS OF THE YEAR—Betty and Chuck Gibson were recently
honored by the Cary Chamber of Commerce for their work with Life
Experiences.
By Mary Beth Phillips
Chuck and Betty Gibson are fry
ing to pass the gavel this year after
organizing and running a huge
auction and golf event for the past
10 years to benefit Life Experi
ences, Inc., an organization that
employs mentally handicapped
adults.
But before they could quietly
move into an advisory position, the
Cary Chamber of Commerce made
sure people knew about the good
they had done, awarding them the
James E. Atkins Citizen of the Year
Award on Oct. 16.
The Gibsons, who live on Bolt-
stone Court in Preston, were part of
the founding group that started Life
Experiences in 1978, when a group
of mentally handicapped students
were getting ready to graduate from
Cary Elementary School and were
unable to be placed in any existing
programs.
Mrs, Gibson’s brother. Bill Perry,
is one of the first four people
served by the organization and
continues to work for Life Experi
ences, now in the alfalfa sprouts
growing operation.
The organization started out as a
bakery, and later expanded into an
alfalfa sprouts growing operation, a
janitorial service, and a thrift shop.
Baked goods are available in indi
vidual amounts or in party trays or
boxed lunches. The mentally
handicapped employees work for a
wage computed based on their pro
ductivity, usually around $3 an
hour, and attend skill development
classes during their “down time.”
Since moving to Cary in 1974, the
Gibsons have given to more than
just Life Experiences. Chuck was
treasurer of the Imp Club while his
children were in high school, and
was active in Boy Scouting. He
was in the Cary Rotary Club for the
past 10 years, and was president of
the church council for Christ the
King Lutheran Church in the early
1980s. He now sits on the Preston
Homeowners Association Board of
Directors.
Betty Gibson has been active in
Girl Scouting and PTA, was active
in the Cary Woman’s Club, and
currently sits on the Cary Planning
and Zoning Board.
But through it all they have con
tinued to work for Life Experi
ences.
The non-profit, non-government
supported organization survives
through grants and donations, and
the golf tournament has been one of
the biggest contributors, raising
more than a quarter of a million
dollars for the organization.
See PRESTON, page 2
Bulk Rate
Postage Paid
Morrisville, N.C.
Permit #23
Delivered expressly to the
residents of Morrisville and
Preston