May 20, 2024
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Cary rejects District 26 transportation center despite neighbors’ pleas: ‘I am beyond frustrated’

Village denies transportation center to be at Maplewood property, delaying demolition of vacant school

By Michelle Meyer
Children practice on a ball field at Maplewood Elementary School on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023. Members of the Cary School District 26 Board of Education voted on a transportation project site design concept and project timeline that paves the way for Maplewood Elementary School to be tore down and the construction of new and larger transportation center.

Children practice on a ball field at Maplewood Elementary School in Cary last year. The village has rejected plans for the school district to build a transportation center next to the shuttered school, which the district aims to tear down. (Gregory Shaver/Gregory Shaver )

The Cary Village Board officially denied School District 26′s plans for creating a new transportation center at the Maplewood property.

The board in a 5-1 vote last month had rejected a change to village code that would have allowed school-related transportation centers in residential districts. Tuesday’s 4-1 vote codified the decision, with Mayor Mark Kownick voicing support of the outcome.

The new Maplewood Transportation Center, which was planned for the adjacent property, was supposed to include parking spaces for 40 school buses, a fuel pump, car parking, vehicle service, wash bays and an office area. In previous years, developers looked to create housing units on the property, but all plans fell through.

Multiple District 26 bus drivers and nearby residents of the Maplewood property spoke at the village board meeting Tuesday in support of keeping the transportation center at the Maplewood property. More than 125 residents signed an informal petition the development of homes on the property, resident Christy Wagner said. District 26 bus driver Kathi Davies said the current transportation center is an outdated trailer that has had water damage and mold.

“It would have been nice to have a new transportation center in a neighborhood that wants us, where we have been and in a perfect location for transporting students,” Davies said. “We all stay here because we love our community and we love the kids. We do not love our working conditions.”

Trustee Rick Walrath said they are only voting on the text ordinance, not the ultimate future of the property.

“If your working conditions are less than stellar, then the owner of that facility needs to be held accountable to make your working conditions better,” Walrath said. “What the conditions of their working environment is like have nothing to do with whether or not we approve a variance in the ordinance.”

The village has been and will continue to work with the school district on a new transportation center, Kownick said. He said he would like to see a different location for the transportation center and the Maplewood property turned into a mixed-use housing or a single-family duplex development.

“We have your best interests at heart. It may not seem like it right now, but we do,” he said. “We look at things holistically: What is going to be best for the entire community?”

The village of Cary proposed multiple scenarios to the school district to assist with the redevelopment of the property last year, which sits in the village’s downtown tax increment financing district that was created in August. Proposals included an upfront purchase of $2.75 million and a transfer agreement with hopes of the village taking control and redeveloping the property. Incentives for the district to take the offer included TIF revenue and a limit on upfront costs.

The district declined all offers, with Superintendent Brandon White citing in an Oct. 31 email to the village the potential future need for property, the desire to stay on the construction schedule and the effect of the TIF on the school district’s finances.

Trustee Jennifer Weinhammer, who was the only one who voted in favor of the transportation center at Maplewood, asked to discuss the possibility of changing ordinances at a future committee of the whole meeting. She suggested considering transportation centers in residential areas under a certain amount of acreage. Trustee Dale Collier suggested a public meeting between the village and District 26 to clear up “misinformation.”

“I am beyond frustrated that I feel that the village and the school can’t come together and make something work,” Weinhammer said. “I feel like we are fighting. We’re just constantly fighting. I don’t like it. I like taxing bodies to work with each other. I think that would be a win for everybody.”

The elementary school that has been closed for almost 14 years, along with the district’s transportation building and the concessions and restroom building used by Cary-Grove Youth Baseball and Softball, all were scheduled to be demolished before June 1, according to district documents. The district planned to have the old Maplewood School, located at 340 W. Krenz Ave., turned into a vacant grassy field, with the new transportation center built adjacent to it.

After the “unfortunate outcome” of last month’s meeting, the district’s plans to construct the transportation center are on hold until staff can determine the next steps, White said. Asbestos abatement will still be done on the Maplewood school, but the demolition is paused because the utilities for the transportation center are connected to the building, he said.

“This is far from over,” Kownick said. “Give us an opportunity to work on your behalf to come up with a plan that will work for everybody. That’s our job.”