Cary townhouses, apartments move ahead at Maplewood, but neighbors still push for single-family homes

As Cary moves forward with a developer’s proposal to create 200 apartments and 50 townhomes on the long-shuttered former Maplewood School property, neighboring residents still are advocating for single-family homes to be built on the land instead.

A four-person Franke subdivision liaison team was created at the suggestion of Trustee Rick Dudek to bridge the communication gap between village officials and residents near the site. Resident Paul Ingallinera, who is part of the liaison team, also created a Facebook group called “Voice for Maplewood Residents" to gather residents' opinions in one place.

“We’re looking to work with the village every step of the way to provide them with our feedback, provide them with what our desires are for something to be developed there that can meet in the middle as far as the means of the village’s, because we understand the village has needs,” he said.

Ingallinera said the general consensus of residents is for developers to build single-family homes to match with the existing neighborhood. He hopes the village will reconsider its plans and create something similar to the expansions of the Cimarron and Fox Trails subdivisions, which both feature single-family homes.

“This [Maplewood] development and this location is obscene, and it does not fit with the continuity of our neighborhood,” Ingallinera said.

At a Committee of the Whole meeting in January, the consensus among Village Board members was that Cordogan Clark offered the least amount of residential density, a good mix of indoor and outdoor parking and rentals, along with the potential for owner-occupied options, which trustees said they liked. Earlier in January, the board was presented with three developers’ designs to consider. All three proposals had similar complexes, all with apartment buildings, separate townhome buildings, and outdoor and indoor amenities.

The Cordogan Clark proposal includes five-story apartment blocks with about 200 units oriented by Route 14 and surrounded by three-story buildings of 50 townhomes.

Community Development Director Brian Simmons said the next step is for the village to begin negotiations with the developer to enter into a pre-development agreement.

Those negotiations could include what financial incentives the village could provide to the development, potentially including land donations, tax increment financing money and tax rebates. Cordogan Clark‘s proposals include receiving the land for free and $40,000 per unit in “municipal incentives.” In return, developers propose to “share returns with the village.” The property is in the downtown TIF district that was created in 2023.

Negotiations with the developer still are in progress and are expected to be finalized with the redevelopment agreement this summer, Simmons said.

Financial breaks have been given to developers before. The village covered about $38,000 in infrastructure costs for the Ridgefield Landing townhomes, located at the corner of Route 14 and North Second Street. Developers completed their first building there and plan to construct a second building in the near future, Simmons said.

Other townhome developments in Cary also are in the pipeline, including a 38-unit development across the street from Village Hall. Construction is expected to start this year, Simmons said. Another complex by Route 31 and the Crystal Lake Walmart Supercenter was proposed in a conceptual meeting to the board in December.

At a Village Board meeting Jan. 21, all of the people who spoke said what they want built on the Maplewood School property is not rentals but single-family housing. Others said they don’t want to see four- or five-story buildings in the area, as it would change the neighborhood. A petition also has circulated, signed by many local residents, against the current plans.

Trustee Jennifer Weinhammer said in the past that she also wants single-family housing there, but time and time again homebuilders have conveyed that’s not feasible or affordable in that space.

Trustee Ellen McAlpine said that although there are people who wish to own their home, many others want different options, and Cary should offer that too.

“There is a big demographic that are not owning homes anymore. There are a lot of people that are looking for rentals for a variety of reasons,” McAlpine said.

The school district agreed to sell its Maplewood property to the village for $5.5 million and develop a new transportation site at another location in August after a yearslong battle with the village. The agreement came after the village rejected Cary School District 26’s attempts to rezone Maplewood to allow for a new transportation center.

Currently zoned single-home residential, the land houses the former school, six baseball fields and District 26’s transportation center.