Since I’ve been on Council these “retreats” have been planned to be in areas where we can learn from the local experience. For instance, when we went to Winston-Salem, we spent time with the local folks getting a sense of what it took for them to revitalize their downtown. What did they do? How did they do it? What would they NOT do again?  The idea being that we could learn so much from others who have attempted much of the same thing.

This time, our retreat agenda was focused on exactly THAT – but in Charlotte. We know we aren’t Charlotte and folks would probably say that we don’t want to be Charlotte, but there are always things that we can learn from another municipality that has, and is, facing similar issues and struggles.

Since I know that Councilman Frantz is posting HIS feeling on our trip, I’ll try not to cover what he did, and focus on what I learned during my “sick stupor” in the Queen City. (Yes, it’s true that I was sick during the whole trip – my biggest worry was that I didn’t want infect anyone while there.)

All Aboard

When we were first discussing Charlotte as a location, I asked if we could take the train, and what a great plan that was. The trip was fantastic – a real opportunity to use our transit system while having time to connect with staff and other council members. We had lunch on the train so that we could hit the ground running when we arrived.

Getting ready to board the train

Don, Harold, Jennifer and Lori – ready to go (Jack and Ed were already in their seats!)

We were lucky enough to have our own train car for our group of folks. After settling in we had several presenters from Amtrak that provided us with background on the Piedmont Improvement Program underway. This program’s goal is to make the train more reliable and safer, and the results are pretty impressive. The Carolinian (train from Charlotte to Raleigh and the return) has gone from a 4 hour 20 min trip in 1990 to a 3 hour, 10 min trip now. With their safety awareness outreach programs, they have seen a reduction in fatalities on the tracks as well.

Here are some interesting stats:

• Travelling at 55 MPH, it takes a mile for a train to stop

• Trucks are involved in 10 times more accidents than trains

• It is illegal to walk on the railroad tracks, they are private property

• Amtrak in NC also allows you to check a bicycle as luggage for free!

• Because of the increase in interest and ridership, a new midday service has been added between Raleigh and Charlotte

• The Cary Amtrak Station received an award from OneRail for being a National Example of Success

• The Cary Depot is the 4th busiest station in NC with 89,000 passengers

• The Cary Depot is the 2nd in the nation for customer satisfaction with a 94% customer satisfaction rate

• NC Train volunteers all over the state act as good will ambassadors – and they volunteer their time to help passengers. A number of Cary citizens are volunteers, including the president of the Train Volunteers, Bob Warner, who was on our trip

• The NC Train Volunteers are having their annual meeting in Cary this year, to be held at the Cary Theater!

Me and Bob Warner (Train volunteer extraordinaire)

The View

Seeing Cary and Morrisville from the train was so enlightening.  The new underpass at Morrisville Parkway is coming along nicely, and seeing the impact for many miles on either side of that, gives you a real view of the investment that Amtrak is making in NC.  We also slipped by the new bridge on Hopson Road, hopefully all of these improvements will improve the speed and reliability of the train schedules, as well.

Looking up Morrisville Parkway towards Target, from the train

Part of the drainage work, south of Morrisville Parkway

Shhhhh. It’s a Secret.  (Not really!)

One last set of cool items to share.

In case you were wondering, the colors used on the trains are the colors of the NC State flag. (Who knew?) And, the locomotives used on the NC Piedmont area are named for cities along the Raleigh-Charlotte rail corridor. The number of each locomotive corresponds to the incorporation date of the city that it is named for. For instance, the “City of Salisbury” is #1755. And…. (drum roll please)…  there is a new locomotive to be added soon, to be called the “Cary #1871.”  (Obviously, Cary’s incorporation date is 1871.)  How cool is that?

The NCDOT equipment program uses refurbished locomotives, which ends up being about half of the cost of newly purchased locomotives. The train that will be the Cary was originally built in the 60’s, and retired in 2013. It will cost about $900K, but a new car, fully decked out is about $4 million. They will start the refurbishing process once acquired, and all of the materials for these refurbished trains are sourced from NC businesses (from the textiles for the carpets and seats, to the wiring, brake shoes and lighting.)

The christening of the Cary locomotive will be this fall, with our own Mayor doing the honors. It should be a lot of fun!

First Stop, The Met

Our first stop was a redevelopment project called the Metropolitan.

We were met by Peter Pappas, the CEO of Terwillger Pappas who described the history of the property, from Charlottetown Mall, to Midtown Square mall, to what it is today in Midtown.

Talking about the history of the Metropolitan

The mall was the first enclosed shopping mall in the Southeast when it opened in 1959. But over time it declined, and eventually became an outlet mall. Eventually, Pappas purchased the property (2001ish) and turned it into the current mixed-use development. The 23 or so acres includes a few anchors such as Target, as well as a 10 story mixed use building that includes Trader Joe’s, Best Buy and others. It also includes condos. The discussion centered around public/private partnerships – where Charlotte worked with the owners on connections to greenways, infrastructure improvements and structured parking. It was an interesting history lesson and a long process, that goes to show you that nothing in this area of redevelopment is quick, or easy.

The urban feel of the Met

We toured the Metropolitan, and although a nice development, it’s VERY urban feeling. I wish we went to see the other Pappas property, Birkdale. I have visited that development and really like that implementation of mixed use development, and can see something like that in Cary, for sure.

Next was dinner at King’s Kitchen – a really cool not-for-profit restaurant. stablished in 2010, The King’s Kitchen donates 100% of their profits from sales to feed the poor in the Charlotte region. They also partner with local area ministries to and provide all types of training, guidance and employment internship opportunities to folks that need help.

The sweet potatoe fritters, ohhhh… right…. but Don covered that in his blog.

Day 2 – Center City Partners and Transit

We started with an overview of the Center City Partners, an organization that seems like a mix between a Chamber of Commerce and an internal city economic development group. This organization is funded by an additional (very small) tax on the area they support in Center City.

The Center City Partners have a small staff and a board of directors, and their goal is to promote the economic, cultural and development of the area. They manage events such as the Thanksgiving Parade, bring arts into the community and work closely with the Charlotte Planning department.

During our discussion with the folks from the planning department, learned of their planning framework used called the “Centers, Corridors and Wedges Framework.”

This framework is used as their planning guide for the areas within Charlotte, to help guide their development and to provide guidance on their infrastructure investment. The picture shows how they have used the visual (see, the centers as darker blue? And the wedges created by the purple transportation corridor?) From this framework, they have another 60 (?) planning guides, that details the guidelines for these specific areas.

What I like about this document is the overall visual it provides, and the direction for the expected types of uses in the areas. The guiding principals apply to the areas on the map. For instance, in the transportation corridors, you expect to see higher densities, compared to the “wedges.” Of course, Charlotte has 775,000 citizens (in the urban area, 1.5M including the surrounding area) and almost 300 square miles; where we in Cary have 150,000 citizens and 55 square miles. So, size wise, there are differences for sure, but there are always lessons that we can learn from each other.

Transit

We got a great overview of the Transit Plan and Charlotte’s commitment to light rail.  The first 9.6 miles of the light rail went live in 2007, at a cost of more than $460 million.  It was originally proposed in the1980’s, when the voters in Mecklenburg approved a ½ cent sales tax to fund it in 1998.  The extension of the Lynx is in development now, an additional 9.2 miles for about $1 Billion.  Its cost increases are due to the routes of the trains – going over bridges, to the medians, and underground, all of which increases the cost. I was a bit surprised at the numbers, and thought that they were low.  Yes, low.  Why?  Because in the Wake County Transit Advisory meetings, we were told that Light Rail averages $100 million for a 1/4 of a mile.  So, these cost estimates looked way better.

I really loved riding the Lynx; it was easy, clean, and the Lynx app helped me figure out when the train was coming.  I could see something like this in Wake County – SOMEDAY.   But I’m not sure we have the current need.  But transit is about vision, and a strategic look for our community and our future as well as the current requirements.  Here were some of the “truths about transit” that were shared with us:

Check out more at :  Truth about Transit

South End

We hopped on the Lynx to South End, a redeveloped community along the transit route.

This historic area sits right on Charlotte’s 1st railroad – and way back when it connected it’s textile manufacturing community with Charleston, SC.

We met with the son of the original developer, hearing how the name came about (his dad just slapped up “South End” on one of the chimneys!), their commitment to leveraging the original buildings and how they created this urban area that now contains a mixture of shops and high end residential aimed at the millennials.

The apartment communities had an urban feel, with lots of concrete, metal and contemporary furniture. They had amenities that you would expect – pools, grills, fitness centers and even dog parks and stations – but they also had “transit rooms” – just outside the stations where a rider could comfortably watch for their train while sipping free coffee and watching the news. Not bad. But, these weren’t cheap apartments, with 1 bedrooms starting at $1500 for 800 sq ft.

Since transit is a key amenity of these apartments – it’s not surprising that some of these apartments have less than a single parking space for each unit.

This area is in transition – changing from dismantled warehouses, to a new urban transit hub, and it’s surrounded by poverty, and some high crime areas. Another challenge for this redevelopment area.

We went to lunch at a cool little place called the Ice House via the Atherton Mill development project. Within that project was a really unique little market – called Atherton Market – with all types of vendors selling everything from pickles, to baked goods, to soaps and more. Eclectic, fun, and truly interesting, with one of the original trolleys sitting in the back of the market.

Talking about the original trolley system

More redevelopment, art and more

After that we strolled around the area, getting a walking tour of the Camden Dilworth project and Camden Road redevelopment, the process and plan from the architect and founder of Centro Cityworks and the founder of the Historic South End. Interesting how this area redeveloped, up and down Camden Road, not all concentrated in one area as I expected. We talked about the pros and cons to having retail on the street level, the difficulty in obtaining financing, and the TIF financing that Don spoke about in his blog. The rest of the crew went to the Elder Art Gallery – but I bowed out and went back a bit early to the hotel to take care of my bronchitis.

Last Day – Bus Tour

We headed out first thing to drive around Charlotte communities. Seeing the more established areas like Dilworth and Myers Park, we got a real sense of the differences between the communities, and the identity they each have, and are proud of.

Stopping at Plaza Midwood, we spoke to a representatives from the Charlotte Neighborhood and Community Partnerships and from the Merchants Association. They spoke of the programs that have helped with the revitalization of their neighborhood from façade improvement programs (we have that!), to outreach with new developers to get the kind of development they want in their community.

Harris Teeter on the corner

Walking through this neighborhood several of us noticed that the new Harris Teeter had some great features, many of which wouldn’t currently be allowed if it was built in Cary. An example was the transparency requirement – this building had integrated art, which really accomplished what I think we want to see via our current transparency requirement. The Harris Teeter was also positioned in a way, on a corner, that made the front of the building more inviting, what we call “activating” a corner. It had a great rooftop seating area (in a Harris Teeter!) with a green roof! Talk about great sustainability, in a grocery store.

Side of Harris Teeter with integrated art

Green Roof on the Harris Teeter

Another “take away” was some of their crosswalks. The crosswalks we saw used what is called Thermoplastic paint, and added a great way to uniquely identify and delineate the crosswalks. Our current plan for crosswalks in the downtown area are focused on using different paving materials, much more expensive, and not as visually appealing, I think. Seeing these crosswalks, how they have worn (really well), and how visually appealing they were, was a real eye opener.

Unique painted crosswalks

Crazy Council Members

Along the way – we saw some of the newly implemented (and somewhat controversial) reverse angled parking. Instead of pulling into a parking spot, cars back into their spots along the street.  I actually like the idea.  Studies have shown (and our tour guides agreed) that it has slowed down traffic in the area.  It’s also safer, and provides more parking than traditional parallel parking.

Reverse angled parking

Finally we visited another unique place… a Lowes Home Improvement Store with parking on the roof. Nice to see how a store like this can fit in a more urban area, and still not take up a lot of horizontal parking.

Lunch and the Music Factory

We had lunch at Amelie’s French Bakery – a well known spot in NoDa (Northern Davidson’s Art District) where we were joined by the Mayor Pro-Tem of Charlotte and the Charlotte city manager and a member of the University City Partners.

BRIEF DESSERT INTERMISSION

An amazing dessert (photo by City Guide)

Ok, I had the best dessert I’ve had in years there – called a Salted Caramel Brownie.

I found the recipe soon after – this sucker is getting made at my house, soon. (If you make it, let me know!)

Finally, we headed to the Music Factory. It was really a combination of everything we have seen – the unique use of older buildings to reinvigorate and spur economic development, while still preserving the historic area.

Home Bound

Afterwards, we headed to the train for our trip home. One of the best parts of taking the train was the ability to work and connect while traveling. On the way back we debriefed, shared our thoughts and just relaxed. It was a long trip, and considering I was sick, it seemed even longer. But all in all, it was a great trip and I believed I learned a lot, and hope to take it into account as we move forward in Cary.

Why travel to another city?

Although I took vacation from my “day job” to attend this Intercity trip, it was definitely a “work trip.” Every minute was filled with meeting our host city representatives and learning about their environment.  Many of these municipalities are dealing with the same challenges and opportunities that we face in Cary. Whether it was issues surrounding growth, planning, transit, or sports or public art – we got a chance to hear about their solutions. Our trip to the “Texas Hill Country” included time in Austin, Round Rock and a lesson on transit challenges from the folks in Leander.

Our goal and objective was to gather ideas, hear from our various speakers about their lessons learned and to hopefully come back with a slate of actionable items and thoughts to move forward and to continue to create and support the best place to live, work, do business, and raise a family.

Trip Report

DOWNTOWN AUSTIN:  We started in Austin, meeting the Honorable Mayor Lee Leffingwell and Representative Mark Strama; both are extremely passionate about their city.  Our lunch was on the Mayor’s Balcony – I have the distinct feeling that Mayor Weinbrecht would love one of those.

Austin has a population of more than 750,000 people and is the 4th largest city in Texas.  They are home to the University of Texas in Austin, the music and film festival – South by Southwest (SXSW), and known for their slogan, “Keeping Austin Weird.” We were treated to a historical overview of Austin’s past, the public private partnerships that have shaped Austin, along with a wonderful walking tour of downtown.  Their downtown has undergone a revitalization – and they are continuing to make progress.

MetroRail

TRANSIT: Austin has been making strides in the area of Transit – and they MUST as they have the third worst traffic in the country.  They are limited by their current road structure – so the only way out of that pain is to embrace multi-modal transportation and mass transit.  We rode the new Metro Rail which was a real treat. These rail cars are Swiss designed, diesel/electric, quiet and energy efficient with places for cyclist to hang or hold their bikes.  Transit is gaining traction, and more and more people are starting to take advantage of it.

SPORTS: We were lucky to get a tour of the University of Texas at Austin – Texas Memorial Stadium. Standing on the field was amazing – it’s a state of the art facility from the field turf to player workout area, they were gracious hosts to our large group.

Dell Diamond, Round Rock

We also got a chance to visit Dell Diamand, the home of the Round Rock Express, a triple A minor league baseball team affiliated with the Texas Rangers, and baseball hall of famer Nolan Ryan.  The City of Round Rock owns the Dell Diamond, and they were wonderful hosts to us at the field (or as they like to call it, their convention center.)

Round Rock: This is a city very similar to Cary in many respects – with close to 100,000 people (Cary has 140,000+), with a 63.4% population increase in the last 10 years.  (Cary had a 43% increase from 2000-2010.) Our tour consisted of their downtown area, several communities and a drive through areas where new hospitals and community colleges were locating.

Old Control Tower onsite

Mueller – Greenfield Development: One of the most interesting tours was of a new mixed use area near Austin, built on the site of the old Robert Mueller Municipal airport. The 700 acre site became available when the airport relocated in 1999, and it will eventually be home to almost 10,000 people.  Built with a master plan, significant innovative investment methodologies, it’s a unique design, home to families, businesses, a town center, senior community, school, parks and greenways.

ImagineAustin: An overview of the process and comprehensive plan that Austin put together in their efforts to move forward.  Creating ImagineAustin was truly an effort that included citizens from all over Austin. The city put together a well thought out plan for citizen engagement to create the vision for their future.  From their “meeting in a box”, to Town Halls and reaching out to church groups and through online methods, the staff used any and all mechanism to connect. The Comprehensive Plan took 2 years, and is just going to CIty Council now.

Lessons Learned

1. A walkable downtown really brings folks out and about. The Austin streetscape project is comfortable, at a human scale, and I can absolutely see something like that in Downtown Cary. Their street trees were planted in a way that protects the trees, and offers a lovely canopy while protecting the root systems.
   

   New streetscape

2. Revitalization can be done in a sustainable way – their City Hall used native plantings that are watered from runoff from the air-conditioning units.
3. Public Art is important to Austin – seen in their bridges, within City Hall, it’s part of who they are, and what defines them.
4. They embrace what’s unique about them.  Whether it’s their “Bat Bridge,” their motto of being the “Live Music Capital of the World” – they highlight and market the heck out of it.  We should do the same for our Amateur Sports leadership.
5. Surprises were everywhere! From the swings that were located throughout the city, to a sculpture of bottle caps in City Hall.
   

   Mayor Pro Tem Adcock found a swing

6. Quote that I loved – “Done beats perfect every time!”
7. Round Rock has some great marketing for their youth sports called “Game On” – with a marketing, branding and media campaign that has caught the attention of teams across the country.
8. Technology is in use all over Austin – from QR codes on coasters, to streaming a city meeting, twitter feeds and blogs. It was great to see technology all over the place.
9. ImagineAustin is a great model for what will will need to do for our new Comprehensive Planning process.  Maybe we can call it “CreateCary!”  
10. Public private partnerships can really accelerate all types of activities – whether transit, development or sustainability.

 Glad to be Home

It’s always nice to travel to see new places.  But, as Dorothy said in the Wizard of Oz – there’s no place like home.

–Featured picture by Knowsphotos

Here are the Top 10 items of what I garnered from the session (some larger learnings, some tidbits):

1. So many of the routes that were shown for expanded bus service seemed to come through Cary. “All roads lead through Cary.”
2. I was surprised the number of Wake municipalities that DO NOT have BUS service today. This regional plan will certainly help many of them, and allowing them to participate in the cost, as well.)
3. This is a 3 phased plan – from Expanded Bus Service (2013) –> to Commuter Rail (2019) –> to Light Rail (2022)
4. Should the new bus plan come to fruition, the service hours available to citizens will almost DOUBLE (90% increase) in the first 5 years. (Surprisingly, Cary’s C-Tran service has increased significantly over the last few years. I hope to get an update from that on staff, soon.)
5. Having technology on the buses, that will allow riders to find out the location of the buses (and more importantly, know if they missed it) will make the system MUCH more interesting and increase ridership.  Ok, I was really interested in this section.
6. Commuter rail – using commuter trains on the freight train tracks will provide services from Garner to RTP, with new park-and-ride lots and service every 30 min during peak hours. And could be completed in as quickly as 5 to 6 years once approved.
7. Light Rail is INCREDIBLY expensive. (New tracks, etc.)  About $1.1B for 13.9 miles of track (from Downtown Cary to Millbrook Road)  VERY SURPRISING.
8. Light Rail plan is 16 stations, service every 10 min during peak hours
9. There are many organizations and 12 municipalities involved, and a significant number of Interlocal Agreements (ILA). Lots of moving parts, and a significant amount of work.
10. Hardly ANY of this expansion is possible without the proposed 1/2 cent sales tax and/or the new county vehicle registration fee.  The sales tax is being tied to a referendum that will come before voters in each municipality.

Would love to know what you think about this plan – please feel free to let me know, or post your comments here.