Cary board approves downtown plan with outdoor plaza, 'opportunity sites'

A downtown plan for the village of Cary highlighting several areas for development, and allowing a potential public plaza on Spring Street, was approved by the village board last week.

The plan has been worked on for a while, with virtual and in-person open houses to gather community input held throughout the last year.

While some aspects of the plan are larger in nature, including suggestions for new development, others will be smaller undertakings, such as working with property and business owners to make sure their signage and building storefronts are complementary to the downtown streetscape.

Similar to what happened with the comprehensive plan adopted in 2015, meant to guide Cary's decision-making for the next 20 years, the downtown plan will be used as a document village staff can use in the future, Community Development Director Brian Simmons said.

"As we implement this plan going forward, certain pieces of the plan may be met at first versus other areas," Simmons said, comparing the plan to a puzzle. "Overall, (we're) very happy with where we're at this point."

One of the biggest things those who worked on the plan heard about from the community was a lack of community space in downtown, said Scott Ruhland, with the Lakota Group, the firm that assisted the village in developing the plan.

One part of the plan involves creating a permanent, or semi-permanent, closure of Spring Street, just south of Main Street, for outdoor seating and community events.

A copy of the plan attached to the meeting's agenda shows that turning Spring Street into a plaza would come with improved intersections, pedestrian safety enhancements, branding elements, a partial or phased expansion of streetscape character to the south, and other street improvements.

"We're in suburban Chicago, but we have an urban flair to our community, we have a very vibrant downtown," Cary Mayor Mark Kownick said. "We need to continue to nurture that ... I love the ideas that they're bringing forward."

Several "opportunity sites" were highlighted in the downtown plan, showing areas where future development, street improvements and other work could take place.

On the west side of the village, Cary School District 26's Maplewood school site, which currently is under contract to be sold, and Main Street were pointed to as opportunity sites.

A major focus of the plan is enhancing downtown blocks along Main Street west of the railroad tracks and Route 14. Suggested for this area is infill development and potentially additional parking on underutilized sites, according to the plan.

East side opportunity sites include Route 14, the vacant bank site at 25 W. Main St. and Route 14 and Second Street.

Goals for those who worked on the downtown plan included improving Cary's position in the real estate market, its overall physical appearance, and the village's transportation and mobility, Ruhland said.

Different strategies were suggested to achieve these goals in the final plan, including creating land-use efficiencies and increasing the density, and types of development allowed downtown.

Partnerships with different agencies will be an important part of implementing the downtown plan, Ruhland said.