“Park” at Garner Station

Council Voted 3-2 to Approve this project.

Councilmembers Gra Singleton and Demian Dellinger were the only “no” votes.

Thank You, Everyone who came out to council and/or completed the survey.

While not a victory this time, there is always and election to make our voices heard.

Image 1: Current Site with canopy. (click image)

Image 2: Proposed Development (click image)

Survey

Survey Results

The survey was conducted March 17th and 18th 2024.

Approximately 98 Respondents.

87 of the 98 Survey Respondents provided a name and/or address.

Some Survey Respondent Comments

See all comments in the survey results HERE

The forest area in question is absolutely beautiful. It’s mostly old growth, and theres not much of that left in or around our area, especially within city limits. Me, my wife, family, and friends have been enjoying this forest and its trails for years and years. Lots of wonderful memories made within those beautiful trees. Abundant nature, native plant and tree life, and tons of beautiful creek crossings. Please don’t approve this project. There are other areas that could be developed that don’t have old growth forests on site. Some of those trees are 5-6’ wide and over 100’+ tall. It’s so natural out there. Also, the water runoff/drainage could get tricky due to the topography. This piece of land is such a GEM for Garner. We were just at the park with our one year old yesterday telling another couple about how wonderful the trails were that went through the forest. Broke my heart seeing this email. Please keg me know if I can help preserve this amazing piece of land! Thanks - Randy

It would be devastating to the local ecosystem to remove that much forested area. There would be a loss of biodiversity and destruction of habitat for many different species of wildlife.

Uncontrolled expansive growth is negatively impacting the local communities with increased traffic and usage of town services/infrastructure as well as schools.

I understand that growth is good for the town, but it needs to be done responsibly. Clear cutting acres and acres of land to build DENSE neighborhoods is not responsible growth. It increases the population too quickly, increases the carbon footprint of the town, and is designed to increase the profits of large developers while destroying the small town feel that made Garner a great place to be. We need developers to leave as many existing trees as possible. Clear cut neighborhoods increase the amount of energy needed to cool the homes in the summer because there is no shade, reduces biodiversity, increases run-off, increases traffic and pollution, and decreases the amount of natural spaces for wildlife.

I live in Chadwick Apartments, which is right next to this proposed development. It will significantly degrade the quality of my life.

I TRULY believe that housing is not the greatest need in our town. Better plans for current communities should be first & much better planning for existing parks/recreation -improvements should be prioritized over “cheap” & “cheaply built” housing. I believe “affordable” housing or be important & if existing communities saw improvements around them, interest in re-investments would come, leading to many more “affordable” living opportunities. “Cheaply built” leads into MANY worse situations in just 10-15 years for our community. It is unfair to place anyone in a home that only stands well for a few years. Those who can hardly afford to live can not be expected to upkeep! And cheap-builds are done by bigger developers who are never planning to stay around to ensure upkeep!! PLEASE PLEASE do not give in to any more “golden-spun” words of those who are truly making promises that will ultimately turn to dust!!!!! Smell the stink of it, I beg you. Re-Invest in the good that you have built already & you will see “good” growth! Growth that can & will maintain itself.

I lived on Creech for 8 years in the 80’s! Traffic was bad then! I just sold a rental house and NOW traffic is a nightmare…..so bad day and night! What a big mistake any more development on that road would be, unless it could be 4 lanes, first! It would be worse than Jones Sausage Rd. and it is bad! I’m am hospitalized and can’t be there Tues. but PLEASE vote NO. I am a lifetime resident of Garner and have it’s best interest at heart ❤️ Thank You, Sue Kelly Gill.

One can simply sit at the corner of Creech and Garner Roads any weekday morning or afternoon to see what a devastating impact this project will have on Garner. Way more cars with exhaust fumes and way less trees to clean the air is a recipe for disaster for our lovely town. If growth is inevitable we should only allow growth after considering the impacts it will have on the citizens of Garner and the wider area.

This is a good location for Workforce housing due to its bus accessibility but such density with the current roads is ridiculous. Additionally, we do not need to create unhealthy living environments for people who's there in more dense housing. Sacrificing the health of the environment and our quality of life in the town for Developers to make a larger profit is something we should be voting against. Developers can last for all the money and profit they want but the town must stand with integrity looking out for the well-being of the residence and the current and future health of our environment

Got the tee shirt on this one. Adding this many housing units without expanding infrastructure is a recipe for disaster. Roads, water, sewer, storm water, electrical, schools, etc etc will be overwhelmed. You guys will be floating a bond issue in a few years to upgrade/pay for all this other stuff, and I don't see why I should have to help pay for it. "Developers" really screwed the citizens in the last place we lived. They made a few bucks and the rest of us had to put up with the mess of unbridled growth. Recommend you concentrate on the citizens you already have and try to actually do something for them.

Garner has been saying yes to any and all developers and we’re now seeing the impact of growth without proper infrastructure. We need the council to address roads, amenities, schools, public services, and more before adding additional residents that can’t be supported. Developers coming to Garner need to bring value to the town and this development isn’t going to bring anything but additional traffic.

I think there should be some single family homes mixed in here. I have not seen enough of these in any recent developments.

I also don't think our park should suffer for apartments or any other developments that are not park related. Those can be built elsewhere.

I don't know anything about the quality of the builders/products. I think we should hold builders to a higher standard, particularly around main street and there should be many more trees protected. Nice colors and bushes, not cheapest possible options while painting everything white/beige and adding no windows. I feel like there has been too much of that going on and it makes the town look cheap.
I don't mind the development, but it will impact traffic. I do not want to see Garner road widened, but maybe some traffic flow changes can be made, like round-abouts that will keep traffic moving in all directions and will also control speeding and wrecks. We can also use this to beautify the area with trees and plantings in the middle. If you want to go all out, a fountain or a piece of public art commissioned by one of our local artists would be extra nice. I want to see our downtown thrive and have more people to support more businesses coming to downtown (hopefully), I just think we need to be careful how we get there. Thank you for listening.

The challenge we see all around us in Garner is the fact that the infrastructure is not keeping up with the growth. The town is not pumping the brakes on developers scooping up land and then they approve the development of large neighborhoods, without considering the impact to the already strained roadways and ingress/egress spaces around Garner. I'm saddened to see so many trees taken down - clear cut, such as at the corner of Hebron Church and New Bethel, where national developers come in and build cheaply made homes on as much land as they can squeeze them. It's so disappointing to see.

School over crowding and not enough infrastructure to support this all around.

Stop cutting down the natarual areas and overcrowding the area with buildings. Garner has enough residential areas as it is. Instead of tearing down the natarual areas, protect them. Traffic is bad enough in Garner we do not need more homes to add more cars to the overcrowded roads.

The traffic in garner is already horrible. The roads just weren’t made for this many residents. It is already taking me 20-25 min during rush hour to get from Aversboro and Timber to Clifford Rd. That is usually a 6 min drive. The town roads are not set up for this. And there already is no policing on a lot of these roads as they are maintained by the state, not the town.
If the town wants to develop that land then I would propose a park or shopping center like Cary has been developing.

Over the last several years none of the projects in the Garner area have benefited the current residents. The only projects being approved are clear cutting huge residences, and clear-cutting commercial sites. As a resident of Garner, I am gaining nothing except higher taxes living here. There are no good restaurants, shops or culture. Clayton is doing 200% better in their town development than Garner is. It sucks because I love my neighborhood and my house.

Not enough consideration has been given to the overall impact to schools, roads, and supporting public staff/services necessary to support this project. I agree with the council's reasons why this project IS NOT GOOD for our town! Please VOTE NO!!!

18 year residents here who moved from the busle of South Florida and its overdeveloped landscape filled with communities like you what we see here. We fell in love with Garner and are raising our children here. What has made Garner special is the small town feel without being over developed. The town purchased this land with the promise of making it a park and now wants to build a cheap high density community that further erodes the homeliness of Garner and looks like all the other places people are running from to move to North Carolina. The greenery is what makes Garner special not the congestion.

That park is a gem of Garner. It brings people to the area and provides beautiful park access to those who may not otherwise have easy access. It is a mainstay of the Garner community and continuing to develop in this manner will only hurt this area in the long run. There are only so many retention ponds and buffers that can be built, all to the detriment of the natural beauty and community of local citizens. There are plenty of underdeveloped areas in the city and surrounding counties (Wake and Johnston) that lie vacant and would serve as a better location. It is shameful to reduce our dedicated park land to insatiable national developers.