FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 27, 2000

CARY, NC – The Town of Cary has won a few major rounds in its fight to protect rural western Wake. The Wake County Open Space Program has awarded $250,000 to Cary for land acquisition along White Oak Creek, and the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources reports that the local government request to have the Carpenter Historic District entered in the National Register of Historic Places has been approved.

The $250,000 award will go towards Cary’s White Oak Creek Conservation Project--establishing conservation easements for approximately 200 acres of land along either side of White Oak Creek between NC55 and Green Level Church Road, a distance of 1.8 miles. Specifically, these funds will be used to acquire portions of parcels that are most critical for protecting the water quality of White Oak Creek and the Jordan Lake reservoir.

"The White Oak Creek buffer is ecologically critical because of its extensive wetlands and floodplains," said Cary Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Resources Director Mary Barry. "In setting this land aside, we help protect water quality and wildlife habitat key to the region’s quality of life." Barry pointed out that White Oak also represents a greenway corridor where a future trail will serve as an east-west connector to the American Tobacco Trail.

Also important to the region’s quality of life is the preservation of its history, as represented by the Carpenter community’s official designation as a National Register Historic District. According to the NC Historic Preservation Office of the NC Division of Archives and History, Carpenter:

retains an outstanding collection of commercial, residential, and agricultural buildings that reflect the history of the community and its prominence as a rural commercial center in the late 19^th and early 20^th century. Carpenter is unique among Wake County communities in that it retains its rural crossroads character and never grew much beyond it.

"Recognizing the potential threat that development may pose to Carpenter’s rural setting, it was important that the Town work with Wake County government and Carpenter residents to make every effort to preserve the character that marks their existing way of life," said Ulma. Located at the intersection of Carpenter-Upchurch Road and Morrisville-Carpenter Road, the rural western Wake crossroads lies within Cary’s extraterritorial planning jurisdiction and is subject to Town’s development rules.

The National Register of Historic Places is the Nation's official list of cultural resources worthy of preservation. Authorized under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Register is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect historic and archeological resources. National Register status provides property owners within the Carpenter Historic District an opportunity to voluntarily obtain state and federal income tax credits if they invest in State-approved restoration of their structures.

Regarding today’s announcement, Town Manager Bill Coleman said, "These are important early steps in meeting Town Council’s commitment to be a leader in environmental protection and preservation." The Cary Town Council also recently approved $12.5 million in the Town’s FY2001 budget towards this program. Initially, the Town will complete an Open Space and Historic Resources Plan (OSHRP). The OSHRP will include an inventory and analysis of the Town’s natural resources, historic areas, and other special environmental and cultural features, and establish long-term preservation goals. This project will take approximately fifteen months to complete and involves:

• determining the current status of open space preservation

• conducting ecological and historical assessments

• developing policy, program, and regulatory recommendations for the Town Council

• conducting community outreach

Presently, staff is conducting research and preparing draft policy recommendations. Resource assessments are also underway. In early fall, the Town will hold several community ‘open houses’ to obtain citizen comment.

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