W. Michael Leigh, of Horvath Associates and Meredith Chandler, Senior Planner for the Town of Cary

Monday night marked the 2nd Public Site Design Standards meeting held by the Town. This open house session was held at the Bond Park Community Center.

Town Staff has been working hard to make their language clear  for citizens to understand and developers to implement. Frequently I walk drive/ walk or bike around town in frustration at wasted space spent on parking instead of green areas, or puzzled by out-parcels that create islands within strip centers which  remain unconnected to the surrounding shopping.

Well , you will be happy to know the town is working valiantly to make their design guidelines for future development and re-development more pedestrian and people friendly.

How are they doing this you ask?

One item that they are pushing will require that parking lots that exceed 250 spaces build UP not out – that’s right- parking decks. These cost more, but create a smaller footprint and save green space.

They will also require more park areas, or green space, within developments and they will specify that on a scale relating to overall site size.

Another clarifier will be that sites have internal traffic controls or roadways so that cars travel in more predictable ways within a shopping center. Think about how badly vehicles travel in the Walmart area at Crescent Commons. If an actual travel route had been laid out within that parking lot, it would be safer for cars, pedestrians and bikers.

Staff and their consultants are also looking to get buildings closer to the road. This will hold many benefits. First, passing cars will be able to actually SEE what they are driving by, as opposed to having to get off the road and into a site before knowing what’s there (think how bad the old Waverly Place was – set down and back from the road). Also this will connect the pedestrians and cyclists to shopping access without having to traverse excessively large parking lots.

And one last thing they would like to see more of: gathering spots and focal points within sites. By creating outdoor seating and recreation you encourage a human interaction that quite frankly is missing from most suburban developments in our area.

I look forward to following up on this story. Development may have slowed for now, but the Town is using this time to put plans in place that will improve how we grow in the future.