After Maplewood plans thwarted, Cary District 26 moves forward with new transportation center by Aldi

Cary School District 26 is moving forward with plans to build a new transportation center near Aldi after a yearslong dispute with the village over the former Maplewood School property.

The new transportation center is set to be built near the intersection of Three Oaks Road and Georgetown Drive next to Aldi. The District 26 board passed the site layout in a 5-1 vote Monday.

For next steps, District 26 will need to get approval from Cary’s Zoning, Planning and Appeals Board.

“We are on track to have that paperwork in to go through zoning, I believe, in April, with ultimate approval of all this in May,” Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations David Shepherd said.

Board President Deanna Darling, who was the sole board member to vote against the plan, brought up concerns over the 55 staff parking spaces and an access road that connects to the Aldi parking lot.

“I’m just thinking after hours when we’re not there, we’ve got people driving through our parking lot, and I don’t know why they would need access to that portion of the transportation center, like driving right through the middle of our property,” she said.

The road was designed by civil engineers to alleviate congestion with cars driving in and out of the neighboring grocery store, and the bus lot will be fenced off and secured. Because of the size and shape of the property, there are “very limited avenues to make changes,” Shepherd said.

The 55 parking spaces will be useful when the center hosts regional training courses, and the full transportation staff is 30 people, Shepherd said.

District 26 sold its Maplewood property to the village for $5.5 million in August and agreed to develop a new transportation site at another location. The district originally planned to demolish the former Maplewood School building and construct a new $6 million transportation center on the property.

The sale came after the village rejected District 26’s attempts to rezone Maplewood to allow for a new transportation center. The village offered to buy the property last year for $2.75 million, which the district declined.

The transportation center will be allowed to stay at Maplewood until the new center at another location is completed, District 26 Superintendent Brandon White said.

Meanwhile, the village has received resident backlash over its plans to redevelop the Maplewood property into a complex with multifamily townhome and five-story apartment complex. Plans still are in the conceptual phases, but multiple neighboring residents have pushed for developers to build single-family homes, a plan that homebuilders have said is not feasible.