CARY, NC – After four years and lots of changes, the Town of Cary has decided its time to update its land use and transportation vision for the community’s "Southeast Gateway", that area of Wake County south of US 1&64, north of SE Cary Parkway and west of Holly Springs Road and Jones Franklin Road, including South Hills Mall, Crossroads Plaza and The Centrum.

To ensure that the Southeast Gateway Plan update reflects a broad consensus of those living, working, traveling, and playing in the area, the Town of Cary is holding a kick-off open house for all interested citizens from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, August 20^th at the Colonial Baptist Church, 6051 Tryon Road. The event will consist of a series of background information displays with staff attendants, a PowerPoint presentation about the update’s objectives, and a citizen preference exercise.

"The update project is to reexamine the Town’s land use vision for the area in light of its growth and its accompanying traffic impacts, and to evaluate whether or not there are better alternatives for the development or redevelopment of the remainder of this area," said Cary Senior Planner Gordon Sutherland. "We’re really hoping to engage citizens in this process, and the first step is tomorrow’s open house."

The plan update will address how the areas function as a regional activity center, types of uses including the density of those uses and population, urban design, transport modes (car, pedestrian cycle and transit), water quality and watersheds, traffic management, open space, and recreation.

"Our objective is to shape these components in a practical, mutually beneficial, and environmentally sensitive fashion to respond to the growth patterns and needs of this area," said Sutherland.

The current project schedule is as follows:

Public Outreach and Stakeholder Discussions: August-September, 2002
Visioning, Additional Traffic Modeling and visioning: August 2002- October 2002
Citizen Review of Draft Proposals: November 2002
Refinement and Development of Plan Update: November December 2002
Adoption Process: January- April 2002

Adopted by the Cary Town Council in early 1998, the SE Gateway Plan was the first major corridor plan completed for the community. Others since then include the Town Center Area Plan and the Northwest Gateway Plan.

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