CARY, NC – Cary looks a little greener today. In a continuing effort to address citizen concerns about the negative effects of unmanaged growth, the Cary Town Council last night unanimously approved a sweeping Open Space and Historic Resources Plan that will preserve and protect thousand of acres of forests, farms, and other "green" areas throughout all parts of Cary. The unprecedented plan is backed by unprecedented funding -- the Council’s one-time appropriation last year of over $12 million plus another $1 million committed annually by the Town from its utility services revenues.

"From the 1996 Land Use Plan to the 2000 Growth Management Plan, preservation of our finite natural resources has become a top priority for the Town of Cary," said Senior Planner and open space project coordinator Don Belk. "As one important Smart Growth element, open space helps protect our water supply, improve our air quality, mitigate flood hazards, and promote diversity of plants and wildlife."

The Town’s next steps are to prioritize the potential protection parcels based on the plan’s goals, which are to create an interconnected system of preserved open spaces and to protect environmentally significant areas. To these ends, the Town will look for projects that conserve contiguous networks of open, natural areas, create trail corridors and greenways between open space areas, and those that provide recreational and educational benefits to citizens. Preservation parcels will be large and small and extend from downtown to the limits of town.

Open space will be acquired through different means. "We always want to stretch taxpayers’ dollars as far as possible, " said Belk, who noted several preservation options including:

• negotiating conservation easements
• expanding land dedication requirements
• Facilitating donation or bargain sale by property owners for federal and state tax incentives. Cary will be seeking cooperative arrangements with other governmental agencies
• outright purchase by the Town

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