Wendell manager details progress on 2025 strategic plan, timelines for parks, public safety and downtown projects

Wendell — Town Manager Mark Collins presented a year-one implementation update on Wendell's 2025 strategic plan, reviewing completed steps, near-term management-in-progress items and priority initiatives across downtown redevelopment, public safety, transportation, parks and internal operations.

"This is a commitment to identify resources and what we need to do to bridge the gap between what our current reality is and what our future vision envisioned community is," Collins said, summarizing the plan's role in aligning policy and budget priorities.

Why it matters: Collins said the strategic plan provides the board's policy direction and feeds directly into budget planning. The report detailed projects that will use town staff time and capital dollars over multiple years; sequencing and interdependencies—such as timing a new recreation center, an athletic field complex and a Wake County library—shape when bond or grant funds will be borrowed and spent.

Major status highlights:

- Downtown and brownfields: Environmental assessments under the EPA-funded brownfields program are complete for several parcels; staff will issue an RFQ for Pine Street streetscape design in the coming spring and pursue downtown improvement grants and public'private partnerships.

- Parks and greenways: Buffalo Creek Greenway final easements are nearing completion and phase 1 construction documents are advancing; Main Street Neighborhood Park design is contracted and construction will follow design completion.

- Recreation and athletic complex: An RFQ for the new recreation center design was released; athletic field complex permitting is near complete with contractor selection expected in early 2026 and construction sequenced to support later library and park projects.

- Public safety and facilities: The town is evaluating a combined approach to a new police station and an updated Fire Station 1 on adjacent properties; the town has implemented a drone program and is adding a traffic unit (sergeant + two officers) later in the fiscal year to allow patrol officers to focus on response duties.

- Utilities, transportation and stormwater: Wendell's utility merger implementation with Raleigh is largely complete; pavement-condition and stormwater-equivalent-residential-unit studies are under contract to guide fee and capital decisions; a federal grant is funding intersection improvements at Wendell Falls Parkway and Wendell Boulevard.

Collins said staff are prioritizing projects identified as "top priority" by the board and that many initiatives rely on coordinated action with Wake County and developers. He described the Pleasant Grove community center and Carver site work as examples where interagency coordination and grants enabled progress.

What remains: Several design and funding decisions remain subject to future budget cycles and grant approvals. Collins emphasized that many projects are staged to avoid overborrowing and to match construction timing with partner work.

Provenance: Strategic-plan presentation and Q&A recorded during Item 4c of the meeting (start 00:55:35; finish 01:29:59).