August Newsletter

By Sarika Bansal - August 12, 2024, 12:09pm EDT
Council update for August 2024:
  1. The project at Piney Plains was on Council’s agenda not for action but for public hearing. While there were several members in the audience supporting affordable housing initiative of allocating 5% units to the affordable housing and builder’s will to donate part of the land to habitat for humanity to build upto 16 townhomes, there was no guarantee of minimum by the builder. I am a big believer of building affordability through ownership and encourage projects that will provide the housing choice to our future citizens to own a condo or townhouse that is not out of reach for them. 19-REZ-25
  2. Green level Church Road: subdivision with upto 44 town homes and detached townhomes was pulled from the agenda due to Council’s feedback that the project lacks clarity and plan. In addition, the plan proposed too much density for that area. This proposal may or may not come back to the Council in future for decision. 22-REZ-06
  3. Cary’s municipal election: Cary Council unanimously voted to move towards plurality method that aligns with other municipalities in Wake County where the highest vote getter will claim victory and the elections will be held in Nov of odd years. Citizens have 30 days to submit a request for referendum with ~5k signatures. Next Cary election will be in 2025 for districts A, C and one at-large positions respectively.
  4. In Council’s working group meeting. Staff presented some ways to manage Town’s finances. Identifying projects that can be delayed. There are 581 projects that will go through the assessment to identify opportunities. More to come on this subject. Stay tuned!
  5. $590 million bond with $560 million for Capital projects and $30 million for housing will be on Nov’s ballot with 2 questions for Cary’s resident’s decision. Bond information.
Council update for August 2024:
  1. The project at Piney Plains was on Council’s agenda not for action but for public hearing. While there were several members in the audience supporting affordable housing initiative of allocating 5% units to the affordable housing and builder’s will to donate part of the land to habitat for humanity to build upto 16 townhomes, there was no guarantee of minimum by the builder. I am a big believer of building affordability through ownership and encourage projects that will provide the housing choice to our future citizens to own a condo or townhouse that is not out of reach for them. 19-REZ-25
  2. Green level Church Road: subdivision with upto 44 town homes and detached townhomes was pulled from the agenda due to Council’s feedback that the project lacks clarity and plan. In addition, the plan proposed too much density for that area. This proposal may or may not come back to the Council in future for decision. 22-REZ-06
  3. Cary’s municipal election: Cary Council unanimously voted to move towards plurality method that aligns with other municipalities in Wake County where the highest vote getter will claim victory and the elections will be held in Nov of odd years. Citizens have 30 days to submit a request for referendum with ~5k signatures. Next Cary election will be in 2025 for districts A, C and one at-large positions respectively.
  4. In Council’s working group meeting. Staff presented some ways to manage Town’s finances. Identifying projects that can be delayed. There are 581 projects that will go through the assessment to identify opportunities. More to come on this subject. Stay tuned!
  5. $590 million bond with $560 million for Capital projects and $30 million for housing will be on Nov’s ballot with 2 questions for Cary’s resident’s decision. Bond information.
Council events/ meetings:
  • Affordable housing: there were 2 separate events for affordable housing, one of the events was organized by Senator Gale Adcock in partnership with Tyler Swanson and the second event was organized by TOC to meet the leaders of11 non-profit organizations that are strategic partners of TOC and are critical to the projects related to affordability in Cary.
  • PRCR and ZBOA board recruitment and assignments: We have open positions in both the board that need to be backfilled. As a Council liaison, I am working with the staff to review the applications. PRCR board is the second most famous board that people like to join. I am interviewing for the two boards this week.
  • India’s 78th Independence event: It was a great event full of vibrancy, celebration and unity. I am glad that I could represent Cary in the event alongside our Mayor, Harold Weinbrecht
  • Recording for Cary Matters with Mayor Pro Tem Jennifer Robinson on the opening of 2 new parks in district D (west Cary). Cary matters.
  • Storm preparations: stopped by to deliver some donuts for the two fire stations in district D and get an update on the preparation for the storm. There were no major issues reported. Our staff worked round the clock diligently
  • RTA brunch: get an update on NCDOT initiatives, funding and future. One key take away from the discussion was the cost of products is going up that is impacting some of the construction projects.
  • Carpenter fire station road: will be a very important road to carry most of the inflow and outflow of traffic through district D into district A. I met with the staff and some residents to review the widening project that is being funded from bond 2019 and its impact on several communities in that area. The project has started already and expected to complete in 2027. Details on Cary’s website.
  • Lazy Daze event was a great success. Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend this year as it was my daughter’s birthday weekend.
  • Interview with the youth. I had 2 separate interviews with the youth and enjoyed talking to them. Sharing one of the interview: Meet Sarika Bansal. Sharing the link for my interview with Ahana (9th grader in Green level high school) and Sanika Agarwal (Freshman at UNC Chapel Hill).
Emails received this month:
I received several emails from residents of Cary in opposition to the Piney Plains and Green level church road. I was able to meet the residents of my district to understand their concerns regarding green level church road project.

Upcoming meetings:
HOA District D meeting: Oct 1st. Please let me know if you would like to attend. The meeting will be to provide an update on District D, provide resources to HOA to help them in their roles and network opportunity for HOA members in the district to discuss their challenges and successes.

Personal
My daughter turned 16 this month and we are just so proud of the person she is becoming. Our two beautiful puppies, Bella and Lyka, are doing great too.

Please feel free to reach out to me on Sarika.bansal@carync.gov for any questions or concerns. You can send me all non-Cary related requests and questions to info@sarika4cary.com.

Yours sincerely,
Sarika Bansal

Cary Town Council member representing District D