Board finds Calix senior-living rezoning consistent with Cary plan despite some reservations
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Summary
The Cary Planning & Zoning Board recommended approval of a rezoning to allow a 75-unit senior living community at Reedy Creek Road with commitments on setbacks, a greenway, transit pad and one-story buildings; one board member voted against the consistency finding.
The Cary Planning and Zoning Board voted to find a rezoning application for roughly 7.4 acres at 1005–1017 Reedy Creek Road consistent with the comprehensive plan, advancing a proposal to permit a life care community or nursing home limited to 75 units.
Staff presented the request as Office and Institutional Conditional Use (OICU) with zoning conditions that cap buildings at one story and 35 feet, set a 75-foot setback for buildings and parking from the southern property line, require construction of a greenway segment on-site as shown in the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources plan, and include a bus-stop pad and sidewalk along North Harrison Avenue. Staff noted the commitment to the greenway exceeds a simple easement but added that a stronger multimodal commitment would better meet forthcoming bike-plan guidance.
Applicant attorney Erin Catlett of Fox Rothschild said the proposed Calix Senior Living community would be low-impact and residential in character, reiterated the conditions (75 units, one-story 35-foot height limit, greenway construction, bus-stop pad and sidewalk), and said the developer has met repeatedly with neighbors and council members while making changes to respond to concerns.
Board members questioned whether assisted-living and nursing-home uses differ under the ordinance (staff said each use has different buffer requirements and that the conditions allow both uses), the feasibility of widening or routing a larger multimodal facility along Harrison given steep topography, the presence of Duke Energy poles and a guardrail, and potential impacts to nearby well-and-septic systems. The applicant's engineering consultants said geotechnical reviews and groundwater sampling analyses included in the staff packet indicate no expected adverse impacts to private wells and outlined how stormwater will be managed under Cary's requirements.
A motion to find the rezoning consistent carried on a voice vote with one recorded nay. Board members who supported the consistency finding stressed the need for close development-plan review because of the site's steep grades, drainage and utility constraints; members also suggested the town and applicant continue to refine multimodal and greenway details before final engineering.
Because the site is currently in the extraterritorial jurisdiction, annexation and development-plan review will follow a favorable rezoning outcome to resolve access, stormwater and other technical matters.
