OPPOSITION TO REZONING
HIGH-DENSITY DEVELOPMENT
20-REZ-04 Hatcher Properties

NOTE: there is yet another rezoning request for the Hatcher Property (21-REZ-09), sign the *NEW* 2021 petition HERE 
VISIT: the new website ProtectCaryHistoricArea.com

For more information, you may contact us at protectHCSPA@gmail.com.

We strongly oppose the rezoning of the Hatcher Properties.  The current zoning for the Hatcher Properties is R40, a 40,000-square-foot minimum lot size, which means a little less than 25 lots and 25 dwellings.  The rezoning request and the proposed development (Case # 20-REZ-04), which proposes up to 140 townhouses and detached dwellings, is NOT in compliance with the Cary Community Plan 2040 or the requirements of the Historic Carpenter Special Planning Area for Neighborhood South.

Reasons to oppose the rezoning include but are not limited to:

1.       The Hatcher properties are located within “Neighborhood South” of the Historic Carpenter Special Planning Area, according to the Cary Community Plan 2040. 

The Cary Community Plan 2040 for “Neighborhood South” on page 189 states:

• “New residential development should be limited to single family housing and be compatible and support the historic character of the area, and blend into the landscape”
• “Residential development further afield should use a scale and density comparable to the  nearby established neighborhoods in Olde Carpenter and Magnolia Estates.”

M/I Homes’ (developer) proposal of 140 dwellings (both townhouses and detached dwellings) with a density of 5.96 dwellings/acre, does NOT have a density comparable to the nearby established neighborhoods in Olde Carpenter (2.75 dwellings/acre), and Magnolia Estates (2.02 dwellings/acre) and does not blend into the landscape. 

Furthermore, there are NO townhouses within Magnolia Estates and Olde Carpenter. 

2.       Heavy traffic on roads.  Many roads will have thousands of more vehicles (from the inflow of residents from the Hatcher properties and the other residents of other dwellings of developers in the area) traveling on them, but all the roads will be affected, and especially those with officially only one lane on each side, for example Morrisville Carpenter Road (which is next to the Hatcher properties).

3.       Crammed townhouses and crammed houses will ruin the aesthetics and natural beauty of Cary, and especially in the Historic Carpenter Area.

4.       Overcrowded schools and increased traffic around schools.  For example, looking at Wake County Public School System’s “Facilities Utilization Report” from December 2019: our two High Schools (Green Hope and Panther Creek) are the two MOST overcrowded in Wake County!  Together, they are 40% higher than the Wake County average.

5.       Negative impact on the Environment, Ecological System, Sanitary Conditions, and an increase in Pollution.  All consequences of high density. 

6.       Safety and crime rate. Rapid building expansion in this area of Cary comes at a cost. With this large inflow of people into our area the safety will decrease, and the crime rate will increase.

7.       Planning to open Magnolia Estates (Braebrook Way) and Olde Carpenter (April Bloom Lane) to the traffic from the Hatcher properties and traffic from commuters cutting through neighborhoods, will negatively impact the traffic, safety, peacefulness, and cleanliness of our already established communities, and the value of our houses and quality of our lives will decrease.  It opens up these peaceful communities to traffic from the Hatcher Properties, and traffic from all roads that will connect to the proposed development, and many people that don’t even live in our communities will cut through our peaceful neighborhoods as a shortcut. 

8.       At the time of the Public Hearing, this petition needs to be taken into consideration, in respect to the Constitution (Amendment 1) and our democratic system, which are the essence of the United States of America, and for which we are so proud of in the international world.

We, the undersigned, insist that the Town of Cary Planning and Zoning Board, and the Town Council, keep their word to the citizens of Cary and require any new development within the Special Planning Area to strictly adhere to the Cary Community Plan, and vote NO to the rezoning proposal, now and in the future, to any rezoning requests for the Hatcher properties. 

Because at present, not too many green areas are left anymore in Cary, we kindly ask our officials that the Town of  Cary to consider buying the Hatcher properties and to preserve them, as they are, without any construction, to be like a buffer between the Carpenter Historic District with its architecture from 1885 and the already established communities of Magnolia Estates and Olde Carpenter.