20151024 Ver 4_Impact Justification Letter (2019 Update) - NVP 11-12-19_20220203

November 1, 2019
Via F,mail
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
RE: East Chatham Street Properties: Impact Justification Letter
Whom It May Concern:
My family and I currently own land on East Chatham and East Cedar Streets in Downtown Cary.
Some of this land has been in my family for multiple generations and other portions have been
acquired in recent years. We are currently working with a developer and neighboring property
owner to master plan and develop 3.76 acres of this land, on which our consultants have
determined exists 0.142 acres of wetlands. We are requesting the right to impact these wetlands
for the purpose of developing a mixed -use project within Downtown Cary. It is our belief that
the property attributes, the Development Plan attributes, and the features of the wetlands
themselves support impacting the wetlands.
The property within the Development Plan consists of 3.76 acres of undeveloped and residential
land in Downtown Cary, NC. The property is located within the original boundaries of Cary,
when first incorporated in 1871. While Cary is a historically rural and suburban town, the
property is located in the one area of town that is considered its downtown or urban core. This
project would be considered an "urban redevelopment" as opposed to a "greenfield
development". This is further highlighted by the fact that the property is located within the
"Town Center District" of Cary, which was established in 2001 with the drafting of the "Town
Center Area Plan".
The Town Center District of Cary is considered the "heart" of Cary by town officials, and was
established when the Town made the conscious and purposeful decisions to promote sustainable,
urban redevelopment in its core. The goals of the Town Center Area Plan are to encourage a
diverse mix of uses, encourage pedestrian friendly development within walking distance of the
existing train station at sufficient densities to support the station and downtown businesses, and
to provide convenient and adequate parking for businesses and residents while minimizing visual
parking impacts.
The property is also located within the Town of Cary's "Business Improvement District", which
is an even smaller geographic area than the Town Center District. This district is the only area in
Cary with this designation, and was specifically designated as such because the Town is making
a concerted effort to promote high intensity commercial, office, and residential development in
its urban core.
The Land Use Designation and Zoning for the property is "High Intensity Mixed Use (HMXD).
This is the most intense zoning class in the Town of Cary, and the Town Center District is the
only location in the Town of Cary with this zoning. The principles of the HMXD zoning are as
follows: a mix of Commercial, Office, and High -Density Residential uses; high development

densities; close proximity to the rail station; buildings to be located close to the street and
fronting the street; and surface parking behind buildings or in parking decks. As the Town of
Cary states, "HMXD areas are the key components to creating a vibrant, walkable, and exciting
downtown."
The reason we highlight the property's location within the Town Center District and the Business
Improvement District, as well as the property's Land Use/Zoning, is that the principles/goals of
those designated areas are directly in keeping with modern, sustainable, development principles.
Those principles are as follows: intense development in the downtown urban core with
walkability to daily needs and amenities, as well as public transportation; works with existing
infrastructure; and relieves pressure on rural and suburban greenfield areas. As we will highlight
next, our Mixed -Use Development Plan is designed to meet those principles.
Our Development Plan includes a mixed -use building that includes ground floor commercial
space fronting Chatham Street, +/- 225 multi -family units in a 5-story structure, and a more than
325 space parking deck. This is a high intensity development plan that addresses a full range of
uses.
The commercial building, residential, and parking structure will be located on the site of the
existing wetlands. Providing commercial and residential uses is critical to the successes of
downtown Cary's revitalization. The multi -family residential use within the Town Center and
Business Improvement District is critical to supporting the Downtown Cary business community.
Furthermore, given the property's location within 0.4 miles of the Cary Depot rail and bus
station, it puts a high number of residents within walking distance of high speed public
transportation. This proximity to the Cary Depot will be even more critical in the near future, as
Wake County has targeted the Cary Depot for a major transit stop on the new transit plan that
was recently adopted.
Providing commercial and residential uses within the Town Center District, will promote the
revitalization of Downtown Cary; relieve traffic on suburban roads; and provide food and other
services to the historically low-income neighborhood to the SE, where many residents may not
have vehicles. The retail uses would also provide services and amenities to residents outside the
walkable geographic area. However, by bringing these residents from outside of Downtown
Cary into Downtown to shop and visit, it further supports redevelopment efforts and the
Downtown Cary business community.
The overall parking count for the Development Plan is significantly below what the Town of
Cary and the Triangle market generally require for multi -family and retail uses. Specifically, the
Town of Cary requires 2.25 parking spaces per dwelling unit for multifamily projects. The
Development Plan provides for 1.4 +/- spaces per dwelling unit, which is about a 36% reduction
from the Town of Cary's parking requirement for multi -family. The Town of Cary does not
require a minimum number of parking spaces for commercial uses within the HMXD zoning
district. Instead, the Town encourages shared parking and other creative design solutions that are
market driven, but also minimize excess parking. The Development Plan provides a market
standard parking ratio of 5.04 spaces / 1,000 SF of space for the commercial space, by utilization
of shared and on -street parking.

In summary, the overall parking provided on the Development Plan is materially less than what
projects outside of Downtown Cary would provide for a project of similar scale. Therefore, it
will be necessary to incorporate shared and on -street parking to allow for enough parking to
make both the multifamily and the retail marketable. Any less parking than what is provided
would not be sufficient to make the project feasible.
The reason we are requesting the right to disturb 0.142 acres of wetlands is to allow for the
project to be developed in compliance with the Town of Cary's Development Plan for
Downtown Cary, based on the principles and characteristics described above. Without impacting
the wetlands, it is not possible to develop a project that fully meets the Town of Cary Town
Center Area and Business Improvement District objectives. Although small in overall size, the
location and distribution of the wetland pockets on the property essentially renders the property
undevelopable at a scale desired by the Town of Cary and as shown on the Town's Development
Plan. Given the wetland buffers required for grading, along with Town of Cary road and drive
aisle widths, the effective undevelopable area created by the wetlands would be approximately
0.67 acres and another approximately .20 acres has limited development use given the limited
remaining width between the wetlands and the Hunter Street right-of-way. Therefore, the total
impact of the wetlands goes from 0.142 acres to approximately .87 acres. This estimate was
determined by measuring the extent of the area surrounding the wetlands, along with property
line setbacks, and the practical limitations of designing around the small pockets of wetlands
within a small site. The attached exhibit illustrates this impact. Any marginal land remaining for
development would no longer be large enough to utilize within the Town of Cary's Development
Plan. Finally, the wetlands are located closer to the Chatham Street side of the property than the
Cedar Street side. As Chatham Street is the main corridor, any building will need to be located
in close proximity to the street along Chatham Street, as required by the Town of Cary Land
Development Ordinance.
The reason we are requesting the right to impact the entire wetland area versus a portion of the
wetlands is due to their location, distribution, site topography, and Town of Cary storm water
utilities. Because the wetlands are located and evenly distributed throughout the core of the site,
on a relatively small property, there are no wetlands that could be preserved without affecting the
development of the Development Plan. Furthermore, the topography of the site and necessary
grading could place the wetlands at a grade well below the developed building pads. If we are
required to preserve all or a portion of the wetlands, the development infrastructure, in the form
of retaining walls designed around the wetland pockets, would likely degrade the quality of the
remaining wetlands, essentially making their preservation void of the desired preservation intent.
Finally, in addition to ground water, the property is fed by 4 or more storm water sources (3 of
those being pipes discharging directly into the site). The development of the property will
require that those sources be redirected through the site, bypassing any wetlands that we are
required to preserve. This may deprive those wetlands of a substantial source of their water,
further voiding the intent of their presentation.
We welcome the opportunity to speak with you should you have any questions or concerns about
the details of our wetland impact request. Furthermore, if you would like copies of any
supporting materials referenced in our letter, such as the Town of Cary Town Center Area Plan,
the Town of Cary Land Development Ordinance, the Wake County Transit Plan, etc., we would
be happy to provide those documents.

Thank you for your time, and please let us know if you have any questions.
George H. Jordan
george@ghjordan. com
919.467.9880
P.O. Box 4422
Cary, NC 27519