Development narrowly wins approval

Cary council votes 4-3 to authorize plan for Prestonwood area

CARY -- Dozens of suburbanites heaved morose sighs Thursday as the Town Council approved plans to put an urban mix of shops and apartments near the Prestonwood Country Club.

The smaller Cary equivalent to Raleigh's North Hills complex passed in a 4-3 vote despite becoming a lightning rod for frustration over traffic congestion, school overcrowding and the increasing urbanization of the land of leafy cul-de-sacs.

"If I was voting by percentage, I think I'd be doing it 51-49," said council member Jack Smith, a supporter. "But I still think the merits outweigh the negative."

Neighbors of the project -- which will overlook Davis Drive and High House Road -- said they were surprised that the council would let developers bring such an urban change to their otherwise suburban area. The developer, Charlotte-based Crosland, plans to build a complex of buildings reaching up to four stories that will include enough room for up to 320 apartments, a sizable movie theater, several shops and up to 100,000 feet of office space.

"We're very disappointed," said Heather Patisaul, a member of group that started davisandhighhouse.org, a Web site opposing the project. "Our focus now is going to be on the election."

The debate over the development could be a preview of a larger conflict to come over the future of Cary, a self-styled "town" of about 121,500 that is amid a development boom.

As the town runs out of land to expand outward, developers are being encouraged by the market and town planning rules to come up with more urban projects. Residents are outraged, saying that the plans do not reflect the values of the idyllic suburbia they think Cary should be.

Council member Nels Roseland, a supporter of the project, used the debate Thursday to call for a moratorium on certain land-development techniques in town "until we as a community figure out who we are."

The question is a difficult one, even for the neighborhood around Prestonwood Country Club. Though it is mostly a residential area of big homes and cul-de-sacs, it has become the geographic center of Cary and is only a few miles from Research Triangle Park. Intersections like the one of Davis and High House have become highly traveled commuter routes.

Many in the area fear that Crosland's development will make life worse for them. Council members Marla Dorrel, Erv Portman and Julie Robison agreed and opposed the project.

Portman said the Crosland project will uncomfortably "invade" the tree-lined suburbia after people "came in and after they bought," adding something that might have prompted many current homeowners to look elsewhere.

"I think this is a great concept," he said. "But it's in the wrong place."

People opposed to the development clapped, hissed and laughed derisively as council members debated the project. It was all they could do. The council closed its public hearings on the project months ago.

Neighbors lost control over the fate of the project earlier in the month, after Crosland managed to invalidate some of their protest petitions by shrinking the size of the development parcel. (Other protest petitions were withdrawn voluntarily.) That lowered the hurdle necessary for approval of the project from six of the council's seven votes to just four.

Neighbor Patricia Lee said it made her "feel like we've been played at the end."