4 • Morrisvillc and Preston Progress. October 1998
Wake, Cary and developers work
together for new schools, parks
By Ron Page
Staff Writer
Some call it as ah innovative
approach to education. Others refer
to it as a lesson in cooperation.
The overall reference is to the
pooling of resources by the town of
Cary and the Wake County Board of
Education that will provide two new
schools, each with park or recreation
facilities, off Carpenter Church
Road at the edge of the Preston, The
site is north of High House Road-
Green Hope High School is
presently under construction along
with an adjacent 19-acre, town-
owned multi-court tennis center,
both of which will open next year.
Soon to be started is a second build
ing to be known as Green Hope
Elementary School. It will adjoin a
16-acre town-owned park.
These will be the first school
buildings designed and packaged
with adjoining park and recreation
facilities.
"I think it makes a lot of sense,"
comments Cary Mayor Koka Booth,
adding, “I hope it would be the pat
tern or template for future school
and park development in Cary.”
The high school, which will open
its doors in 1999, will include a sta
dium with bleacher seating, press
box, and public rest rooms. It will
have an opening capacity for 1,248
students and 84 teachers, with space
for an additional 312 students pend
ing future funding-
The elementary school's opening
capacity for students will be 542,
with similar space pending funding
Top notch tennis complex planned
The town of Cary plans a 32-
court tennis complex to be
shared between the Green
Hope High School and the new
Green Hope Elementary School
site.
The courts, which will also fea
ture an exhibition court with
spectator seating and an
administration building, are
expected to draw state and
regional tennis tournaments, as
well as local leagues and
lessons.
Up to 10 courts will be com
pleted along with the high
school, which is slated to open
in the fall of 1999, said Cary
Parks and Recreation Director
Mary Barry. She said at least six
would be built in time for the
school’s opening. The courts
would have a hard surface
because it is easier to maintain,
she said.
Phase two of the tennis com
plex will include an additional
10 courts, probably to be com
pleted within the next two years.
The bleachers and administra
tive building would be included
in this phase.
The third phase would add the
last dozen courts. No date has
been set for the completion of
those courts. “We plan to devel
op the program. When we have
a need for the additional courts,
some tournament opportunities,
then we will look at building
those,” Ms. Barry said.
— By Mary Beth Phillips
•§tsM§
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Green Mope Hign School In west Cary, near Carpenter, is still under construction. The school is sched
uled to open by August 1999.
for an additional 96 students. It will
have 38 teachers. The elementary
school is planned to open in the year
2000.
The innovative approach of jointly
developed schools and parks, sets a
precedent for attracting more new
schools to the area, officials of Cary
and the school board feel,
Early this year the Wake County
Board of Education approved a vote
to purchase from the town of Cary
about 18 acres of land adjacent to
the Green Hope High School and the
tennis center land for an elementary
school. The purchase price was
$35,000 an acre for the land that had
been owned by the town for about
five years and had previously been
slated for development as a park.
The town realized that 18 acres
wasn’t enough land for both a
school and a park, and decided more
land was needed. The help in getting
such land came from Preston
Development, the company headed
by Tim Smith that has developed
most of the property in Preston.
Preston Development owned 20
adjoining acres to the school site
that it planned to develop as an addi
tion to Preston Village. It was flat
land, well suited for either a school
or park.
When the land came before the
Town Council in late January, dis
cussion started on the possibility of
using it for a school/park project.
Preston Development offered 14 of
the 20 acres it had for $40,000 an
acre, a total of $560,000. The price
is far below residential market rates
in Cary, but Smith said he was satis
fied as long as he got a few lots for
housing.
Preston Development also donated
two additional acres to Cary to
enlarge the proposed park to 16
acres. Smith said the school and
park were a definite asset for
Preston Village, and for the town of
Cary.
Town Council member Glen Lang
commented that the move not only
ensures the town of school capacity,
but also brings the schools into the
community, not outside of it.
“This is the way it should work,”
he said. School-board member Bill
Fletcher of Cary called the site for
the elementary school an appropri
ate location. “It’s a very buildable
piece of land,” he added.
The town now plans to develop the
16 acres into a park with soccer and
baseball and softball fields adjacent
to the elementary school. Wake
County’s parks and recreation will
co-develop the park with the town
and contribute $130,000 to the pro
ject.
All those involved have shown
enthusiasm for the joint ventures.
Mary Barry, the town’s director of
parks, recreation and cultural
resources, said that by working
together the town, the county and
the schools are going to get the best
common use they could get out of
the site.
David Carter, Wake County’s
director of parks and recreation, said
at a meeting of the school board that
the joint development makes more
efficient use out of public funds. He
cited savings on water, sewer and
building costs when such an action
takes place.
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By Mary Beth Phillips
Staff Writer
A large, affordable housing com
plex proposed for the Carpenter
community was tabled indefinitely
on October 8, but another planned
unit development is going ahead
with about 125 single-family homes
near the same site.
The annexation petition for an
affordable housing development on
259 acres along Green Level to
Durham Road west of NC 55 and
south of' Carpenter Fire Station
Road next to the proposed Western
Wake Expressway and north of
Twyla Road, would have had
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OCTOBER 19-25, 1998
• A Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail Facility
Benefiting Alabama Charities
ing about $130,000 each. But Cary
Council members decided that the
two school sites the developer had
offered totaling about 40 acres
would not have been quite enough to
build an elementary and a middle
school, and expressed concerns
about traffic on already-packed NC
55.
The Carpenter community lies
within Cary’s zoning jurisdiction,
although it is not part of the town.
Though the land is considered
“county,” Carpenter residents have
Morrisville mailing addresses and
many identify with Morrisville.
Developer First American Realty
had also requested a rezoning from
R-40 (about three units per acre) to
R-8. which would allow for higher
density development, so that the
homes could be offered more cheap
ly. The average cost of a home in
Cary is $220,000.
The annexation request and rezon
ing petition came up at several board
meetings between July and October,
with plenty of public input, mostly
negative. In tabling the request, the
Cary board acted according to its
recent slow-growth philosophy,
which is based on a shortage of
water. But tabling a plan indefinite
ly does not mean it will never come
up again. In fact, the developer has
requested to reschedule the public
hearing for February of 1999.
Meanwhile, in just about the same
area, on 53 acres bordered by Green
Level to Durham Road, Carpenter
Fire Station Road and the proposed
Western Wake Expressway, Cary
Glen developers are preparing to
build the first single-family neigh-
borhoods-
Plans for the 679-acre Cary Glen
and for another large planned unit
development, Amberly, were
approved several years ago, but
could not be built because of the
lack of water and sewer. A contrac
tor for Cary Glen has almost fin
ished laying water and sewer lines
along Carpenter Fire Station Road,
paving the way for the develop
ments in the Carpenter area.
Cotter Christian, division vice
president of Atlantic Gulf Realty
and project manager for Cary Glen,
said thel25 single-family homes
should be under construction on the
first 53 acres by early 1999. “We’re
almost finished with the land devel
opment, grading and putting in utili-
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ties and roads,” he said.
When the development is built out,
there will be 1,230 homes, 835 sin
gle-family and 395 pulti-family, on
492 acres. There will be about 12
acres for a town center area, pro
posed to support a church or a day
care, Christian said. Then there will
be 187 acres of “employment cen
ter,” accessed off of N.C. 55. The
residential area and the commercial
area will be divided by the new
Western Wake Expressway when it
is built.
Only the residential areas are being
developed now, but the commercial
area development should begin
within a year or two, Christian said.
Cary Glen is bordered by N.C. 55
on the east, Yates Store Road on the
south and Amberly land on the west
side. It extends about half a mile
north of Carpenter Fire Station
Road. Almost 400 residential units
will be located south of Carpenter
Fire Station Road.
Amberly developers have submit
ted plans for about 234 residential
units, but Cary planning staff have
not given final approvals, said Ricky
Barker, director of development
review for the town of Cary.
Board
appointments
Joe Huegy, a transportation plan
ner with the Triangle Transit
Authority, was appointed to the
Morrisville Planning Board to take
the place of longtime member and
outgoing chairman Scott Beerman.
The remaining planning board
members decided to stay on the
board, including Margaret
Broadwell, Esther Dunnegan, Billy
Hartness, and Ralph Watkins.
Liz Johnson was appointed as
alternate and Hartness was appoint
ed as chainnan.
Beerman was presented a plaque
in honor of 10 years of service, with
only one absence. Beerman has
been chairman of the planning
board for nine years, helping the
town forge its first land use plan,
and serving on the Village Core
commission to preserve the charac
ter of the older part of town, and
also on the Historic Properties
Commission. He has also been
active in the Morrisville Chamber
of Commerce, serving as chairman
of the board of directors last year.
Preston Edmondston, who had
been alternate on the board of
adjustment, was moved to a full
member with the resignation of
Henry Hooks. Peter Martin, an
account assistant for Duke
University, was appointed as alter
nate. Members Raymond
Broadwell, James Kochuk, and Jack
Walton will remain on the board.
Mack C. Baker of Church Street
will serve as the ETJ representative,
Kevin Skeen will remain as another
alternate.
Fax your news and school briefs to
The Progress at
362-1369.