LOCATION:

Piney Plains Road & Dillard Drive

PROPOSED SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS

TOWN COUNCIL PUBLIC HEARING:

July 11, 2000

PLANNING & ZONING BOARD:

August 21, 2000

TOWN COUNCIL:

September 14, 2000

PARCEL INFORMATION

Parcel #

Realid #

Area

0772.06-49-8978 (portion of)

0037061 (portion of)

33.5 acres

REZONING DATA

CURRENT

PROPOSED

Zoning:

Residential 30

Residential 30

Planned Unit Development

Overlay District:

Swift Creek Watershed

No change.

Land Use:

Vacant

Commercial, office and residential

SITE DATA

WATER/SEWER SERVICE

Staff Remarks: The subject property is expected to be served by an existing 24 inch sanitary sewer line extending from Meeting Street toward Tryon Road. The water service will be obtained from an existing 12 inch water line along Dillard Drive and a 16 inch waterline along Piney Plains Road. Staff will evaluate the capacity of the water and sewer lines.

TRANSPORTATION

Traffic Impact Analysis Required: Yes [ X ] No [ ]

Staff Remarks: The traffic study has been conducted to assess the traffic impacts and evaluate the ingress and egress requirements for the proposed Dellinger mixed Planned Unit Development (PUD) to be located to the west of the Centrum Project in Cary, North Carolina. This report identifies the impact of traffic generated by the proposed development and evaluates it with regard to capacity and roadway requirements. The following provides a brief summary of this study’s findings.

The project site is bordered by Piney Plains Road to the west, Meeting Street (through Lowes) to the east, and is bisected by the extension of Dillard Drive. Presently, the site is an undeveloped, wooded parcel of land. As proposed, the project is planned to be fully developed by the year 2003 and would consist of 25 residential town home units, 100,000 square feet (sf) of commercial/retail and 180,000 sf of general office space.

As proposed, the development will be provided via a total of six driveways, two to/from the Dillard Drive Extension, one to/from Piney Plains Road (re-located) two to/from a new connector roadway south of Dillard Drive Extension, and one to/from the Meeting Street extension behind Lowes.

The following intersections comprise the study area:

• Piney Plains Road at Walnut Street;

• Dillard Drive/Dillard Drive Extension at Walnut Street; and

• Piney Plains Road at Tryon Road.

This inventory of existing conditions includes a description of roadway geometrics, traffic constraints, land uses at the intersections, and a quantification of traffic volumes. Traffic volume data was collected within the study area for the weekday AM (7:00 – 9:00 AM) and PM (4:00 PM - 6:00 PM) peak time periods.

To represent future 2003 traffic volume conditions within the study area, the 2000 Existing traffic flow volumes were upwardly adjusted to account for normal traffic growth and any other currently approved and/or permitted projects within the study area.

Roadway improvements are planned within the project study area. The completion of the Dillard Drive Extension to the west of Walnut Street, re-alignment of Piney Plains Road at the Extension, and modification of the Walnut Street at Piney Plains Road intersection will result in additional capacity in the study area while creating a new intersection in the center of the site. Additionally, a connector between the intersection of Dillard Drive Extension at Piney Plains Road to Tryon Road (north/south connector) is planned as part of the Lodges @ Crossroad project.

For this project, the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Trip Generation manual was used to estimate project trips generated by the proposed facility.

Based on this information, the proposed development can be expected to generate a total of 13,390 vehicle trips on a weekday daily basis (6,695 inbound, 6,695 outbound) of which 592 (434 inbound, 158 outbound) trips would occur during the weekday AM peak-hour. During the PM peak-hour, 1,301 trips (539 inbound, 762 outbound) are anticipated.

The majority of the traffic generated by the site will be distributed to the north via Walnut Street, with smaller percentages oriented towards Piney Plains Road, Dillard Drive to the east, and Tryon Road.

Traffic volume increases at the study area intersections range from as low as 6 percent to as high as 48 percent (at the Dillard Drive Extension at Piney Plains Road intersection located in the center of the site) when compared to the 2003 No-Build conditions. These traffic volumes reflect the peak-hour increases at a time when the project as a whole is at its highest activity. Smaller/less significant increases can be expected during other non-peak hours.

Intersection analyses indicate that, under 2000 Existing conditions, all study area intersections operate at good service levels during both the weekday AM and PM peak hours with the exception of the unsignalized intersection of Walnut Street at Piney Plains Road. Under 2003 No-Build conditions, which account for normal traffic growth, background development traffic, and roadway enhancements within the study area, all intersections will experience an increase in delay. Two of the four study area intersections degrade to unacceptable service levels for both the AM and PM peak-hour conditions (Dillard Drive Extension at Walnut Street, and Piney Plains Road at Tryon Road). The operations at the Walnut Street at Piney Plains Road intersection will no longer be unacceptable due to the limiting of the intersection to right-turn in/right-turn out movements only.

With the addition of project related traffic, the same two intersections that operated poorly under No-Build conditions will continue to operate poorly. The remaining two intersections Walnut Street at Piney Plains Road and Dillard Drive Extension at Piney Plains Road are anticipated to operate at acceptable service levels.

As part of the proposed development plan, access to the proposed Reynolds PUD will be directly accessed via Dillard Drive Extension, Piney Plains Road, and the extension of the Lowe’s Driveway/Market Street.

Based on the anticipated trip generation of each site parcel, it is suggested that each of the site drives, with exception of the drive that will serve the 25 residential units, should provide a separate left-turn and a separate right-turn lane exiting the site. The drive serving the residential units should provide a single lane approach from which all vehicular movements are made.

Much of the project traffic (48%) will utilize the intersection created by the new Dillard Drive Extension, and re-alignment of Piney Plains Road, which will be located in the center of the site. A fourth (northbound) approach leg to this intersection will be constructed as part of the Lodges @ Crossroads project, which will also serve parcels 2, 3 and 4 of the project. This new northbound leg should provide a separate left-turn lane and a shared through/right-turn lane. For purposes of this report, it has been assumed that this new intersection will operate under traffic signal control during the No-Build condition (prior to the project) as stated in the Lodges @ Crossroads report. It should be noted that the applicant has agreed to construct the north-south collector road prior to construction of parcels 3, 4,and 5 if the Lodge @ Crossroads does not construct the improvement. We recommend that the connector be constructed with prior to construction of any portions of phases 3,4,or 5. In addition, should the Lodge @ Crossroads not construct the traffic signal at Piney Plains/Dillard Drive intersection prior to the applicant’s construction of phases 1,3,4,or 5, then, the staff recommends that the applicant be responsible for installing the traffic signal.

Dillard Dr./Walnut St. B A E F F F

Piney Plains Rd/Tryon Rd. C C E F F F

Piney Plains Rd/Dillard Dr. - - A B C D

Piney Plains Rd./Walnut St. F F B B C D

Review of intersection analyses indicates that the proposed project has impacts on two of the four study intersections, which result in the degradation of a level of service. Based on these analyses, improvements/modifications have been determined necessary to improve the resulting Level-of-Service. These improvements are as follows:

• Widen Dillard Drive to provide a separate westbound right-turn lane.

• Widen Piney Plains Road to provide a separate southbound right-turn lane; and
  
• Widen Tryon Road to provide a separate eastbound left-turn lane.

• Construct the north-south collector road prior to construction of any portions of phases 3,4 or 5 if the Lodge @ Crossroads does not construct the improvement. In addition, should the Lodge @ Crossroads not construct the traffic signal at Piney Plains/Dillard Drive intersection prior to the applicant’s construction of phases 1,3,4,or 5, then, the staff recommends that the applicant be responsible for installing the traffic signal.

It should be noted that the above improvements are suggested at intersections/roadways that are currently influenced by construction in the area, which may have impacted traffic flow patterns during the peak-hours. Traffic volumes at many of the study area intersections will be created or influenced as part of the Walnut Street at Dillard Drive Extension projects. It should also be noted that even with the recommendations suggested at the Walnut Street at Dillard Drive Extension and the Tryon Road at Piney Plains Road intersections, both intersections would operate at a LOS E during the PM peak-hours. However, these resultant service levels and intersection delays are better than No-Build conditions which therefore result in the project mitigating it's specific impact.

ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS

Staff Remarks: The property is within the Swift Creek Reservoir Watershed Protection District. The intent of the Protection District is to ensure the availability of public water supplies at a safe and acceptable level of water quality for present and future residents of the Town and surrounding region. Special regulations will apply to development of the PUD based on the Protection District designation.

WAKE COUNTY SCHOOL CAPACITY IMPACTS:

Projected Enrollment for 2000/2001

Building Capacity

Projected Number of Additional Students

Elementary

Dillard Drive Elementary School

626

628 (no mobile units)

Middle

Dillard Drive Middle School

1054

1104 (no mobile units)

2

High

Athens Drive High School

1762

1,727 (includes 7 mobile units)

3

ADJACENT ZONING AND LAND USES

Zoning:

Land Use:

North:

Residential-30

CP&L substation

South:

Macedonia Village Planned Unit Development

Apartments (under construction)

East:

Business-2 Conditional Use

The Centrum Shopping Center & Lowe's Home Center

West:

Business-2 & Office & Institutional

Crossroads Ford Body Shop (under construction)

TOWN OF CARY FUTURE LAND USE PLAN DATA

CURRENT

PROPOSED

Transitional Office, Commercial, Medium Density Residential, High Density Residential or Mixed Use Village

Commercial, Mixed Use Village, and Medium Density Residential

Alternate Designation:

None

None

Activity Center:

Regional

No Change

FUTURE LAND USE PLAN AMENDMENT HISTORY

Proposed PUD lies within study area of Southeast Gateway Area Plan, adopted by Town Council 03/12/98.

STAFF ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATION

CHANGES SINCE PUBLIC HEARING: *Yes [ X ] No [ ]

PROTEST PETITION FILED: Valid [ ] Invalid [ ] None Filed [ X ]

REZONING REQUEST

Analysis: The proposed PUD meets the intent of the Southeast Gateway Area Plan (SEGAP). It specifies a core of mixed (predominately office) uses that provides a transition between proposed and existing medium-density residential uses and intensive commercial uses. The PUD also provides a new segment of the Speight Branch Greenway, which addresses a key recommendation of the SEGAP.

Recommendation: Staff recommends approval with the following amendments:

• The 10 streetscape should only apply to phase 5 if developed as row home style as indicated by applicant.
• Sheet 11 should not make a distinction between undisturbed and other buffers.
• Sheet 4 should have sidewalk on east side per Town Specifications.

PLANNING AND ZONING BOARD RECOMMENDATION