To: Town of Cary

Subject: Request to realign the future Weldon Ridge section off the Sadtler property

From: Mike and Carla Sadtler, 8009 Ridgeback Rd, Apex, NC

This is a request to realign the future Weldon Ridge collector road in the Southwest Area plan so that it does not impact the property owned by Mike and Carla Sadtler. The Town of Cary engineering department has identified at least one viable alternative route and we respectfully request that you adopt the alternative route.

Note that we have no immediate intentions to sell or develop our land. However, Wake county taxes on this property tripled during the last re-evaluation. As we near retirement (my husband is already retired), the financial burden of owning this land will most likely mean that we will have to leave.

We are concerned that the potential for selling the land as a single family home is greatly impacted by the alignment of the road, along with the greenway and sewer line that are also scheduled to be place on this property. The potential cost and amount of land required by the town infrastructure required on this property will also make it very difficult to sell for development.

History
In 2005, the Southwest Area Plan was passed. As part of that plan, a virtual alignment for Weldon Ridge Rd was incorporated. At the time, I asked to have the virtual alignment moved off my property, or to have the road removed. The town refused the request, saying that the alignment was only virtual and the road could go anywhere. Predictably though, as properties began to develop in the area, that virtual alignment started to become the actual alignment.

In 2008, when the transportation plan was updated, the collector roads were given actual alignments vs. virtual alignments. However, during the planning process, the maps used for the transportation plan were shown at a high level, with no property boundaries. This made it difficult, if not impossible to determine where the roads would go and who would be impacted. Property owners who were now burdened with a collector road were not notified. I raised these concerns at the P&Z meeting, hoping they would be addressed before the Town Council vote. After the P&Z meeting, the engineering firm offered to provide me a map with boundaries. This was the first time that I was actually aware that the collector road was now on my property. I met with Mayor Weinbrecht, Tim Bailey, and others before the Council vote to voice my objection, however the plan was approved.

After the plan was approved by council, I was told by the Mayor to pursue this as an update to the plan and he asked town staff to look into alternate alignments. It took a while, but town staff did come up with an alternate alignment. It was shown to me, and I was told to notify all the parties involved of the potential change. I did that via letter, and received few responses. The people that I notified and their responses are outlined in an attachment. One neighbor that was affected by the new alignment asked for time to meet with the town before I proceeded. I agreed. That meeting took place several weeks later. The staff then asked that I submit this letter.

Property characteristics
The property in question consists of 13.8 acres, rectangular in shape. Along the eastern boundary, much of the property is heavily impacted by wetlands and stream buffer requirements. Note that the attached map does not accurately portray the wetland and stream impact on the property. There is also a stream that bisects the property from east to west. The property lies in the SWAP conservation area, so potential development is based on buildable acres.

I haven’t had a survey done, but a conservative guess is that approximately 4 acres is impacted by wetland and buffers, leaving 9.8 acres of buildable land. For calculations in the conservation area, this equals a potential of 9 homes if the land were to develop.

Property impact
The Sadtler property has had not one, not two, but now three requirements placed on it for infrastructure.

1. The new Town of Cary gravity sewer is scheduled to run north to south along the long, eastern side of the property. The sewer easement is 30’; however, a much larger area will be impacted during construction.

2. The Parks and Recreation plan places a greenway that runs along the sewer line.

Together, the sewer line and greenway will consume 30-50’ in width.

3. The Weldon Ridge collector road. The characteristics of a collector road are:
• 2 Lane, no median
• 52' wide, including right of way
• Requires 50' feet of streetscape at development time. This would be to the west of the road, since the land to the east is not buildable (and would have the sewer / greenway).
• No or minimal driveway cuts
• Up to 45 MPH.

With this information, the total impact would be 50’ streetscape to the west, 52’ road, 50’ sewer/greenway to the east, or 152’. This would run for the length of the property (1200’).
This means that the additional infrastructure required by the town, over and above what is required of other landowners, is approx 4 acres of buildable land, or about half of the buildable land left.

Financial Impact: The greenway and sewer line represent a loss of land and the loss of privacy for my family. We will also most likely bear the expense of re-erecting a fence along that boundary. These impacts, while large and unfortunate, are manageable.

The road, however, is a huge loss. Collector roads do not qualify for transportation fee credits. The cost of the road is borne solely by the landowner.
• Land and house valued at $811,000
• Road runs the length of the property ~1200’
• Cost of road ($300 ft x 1200 = $360,000). Note: This number was provided by Tim Bailey, but I’m not sure if it accounts for clearing land, mitigating stream buffer issues, etc.

The cost of the road, borne solely by the property owner, will cost almost half of what the land is worth. While, the development potential of the land is 4-5 homes.

Disadvantages of the current alignment to the town
• The principles outlined for the low impact development required in the conservation area mandate that roads should follow ridge lines. The current alignment does not meet this requirement. Instead, it lies along the lowest possible point in the topography of the area. Consider the fact that it runs along the alignment for the gravity sewer, which is placed there because it is the low point of the area.
• The current alignment runs adjacent to the proposed greenway. This effectively turns a potential multi-use trail through the woods into a sidewalk along a busy road.
• The current alignment runs adjacent to wetlands. The impact can’t be known, but common sense says the further away the road is from t he wetlands, the less oil and debris that will enter the stream.
• The current alignment goes through a stand of old growth hardwood. This forestland was previously identified by the town as valuable potential open space. This designation was only removed at my request due to concerns it would impact the value of our property.
• The road would be single loaded. Traffic would only enter from the west rather than equally from two sides.
• The entire area could develop right up to our property without putting in the collector road. We are the last small piece of land lying between the developable land to the west, and the wetlands to the east that divide the LCR and VLCR areas.
• Every home built on the Sadtler property would require a driveway cut. There would be no room for additional infrastructure to minimize these cuts.

Better Alignment Options
Better alignment options exist, and the town has identified at least one alternative that engineering has said they would support. In general, though a better alignment would have some of the following characteristics:
• Run along the ridgeline, as required by the low impact development mandates for the area
• Run through pastures vs. through forest
• Favor alignments that impact income producing properties (rentals) vs. homeowners. 
• Takes advantage of an existing power line easement
• Runs along property lines to avoid one landowner having the entire responsibility
• Is placed so that it is built as the area starts to develop, rather than at the end of the process. This would mean placing in the middle of the area it is intended to collect traffic from, rather that at the edge.
• Remove the road altogether. This area is VLCR, with much of it taken up with a town park. The development potential is low, while the infrastructure burden has become high. The original justification was to provide the people in the Northwest area additional access to the Southern portion. However, this is the description of a thoroughfare, not a collector road. The number of homes that can build in this area is small. White Oak Church Road could be widened to provide adequate access, with collectors put in by each individual development to the main road.