The Town of Cary has recently proposed a new bond referendum to fund the development of new recreation centers. While on the surface this sounds like a positive step forward, a closer look reveals a significant issue: the proposed bond does not include plans for ANY aquatic facilities. Details here: https://carybonds.org/

Community Input Ignored

During the planning process for the Mills Park Community Center, the Town of Cary conducted an online survey. An overwhelming 70% of the 2,740 respondents expressed a strong desire for indoor aquatic activities. Despite this clear demand, the current bond proposal completely ignores the need for aquatic components.

Cary Behind Other Triangle Communities

Cary is currently the only town among its Triangle peers—Durham, Chapel Hill, Morrisville, and Raleigh—that lacks municipal aquatic facilities. While neighboring communities offer their residents access to public pools and aquatic centers, Cary’s options are limited to private or non-profit facilities. This gap puts undue strain on families and swimmers, who face long commutes or high membership costs—burdens that not all families can afford.

Addressing Western Cary Needs

Western Cary, in particular, suffers from a severe shortage of lap lanes. Many families are forced to make lengthy trips to the Triangle Aquatic Center (TAC) for practices or swim meets. This inconvenience affects daily life and, in some cases, may even deter families from participating in swimming altogether.

Vote NO

Given the strong community support for aquatic facilities, the exclusion of such amenities from this bond referendum is unacceptable. Approving the bond as it stands means missing a crucial opportunity to address a significant need. With the bond amounting to $500 million, it’s uncertain when Twon of Cary will next have the chance to consider adding aquatic facilities.

Send a clear message to the Town of Cary: Vote NO on November 5th to ensure our community’s needs are met.

Longtime Cary Town Manager Ben Shivar retired late last year.  Now after a lengthy search, Town of Cary has selected Sean Stegall, city manager of Elgin, Illinois, as his replacement.  Of obvious importance to this site, “does he like pools?”  Well the US Masters Swim site returned no results for “Stegall” for any race.  So maybe not a best case scenario hire.  But all is not lost.  A quick perusal of the Elgin website revealed that lovely Eglin has three city provided aquatic centers.  Three! That’s amazing!  Eglin is only 70% the size of Cary and has a median household income much less than Cary – yet, Eglin still recognized the importance of providing adequate public aquatic resources to their citizens.

Mr. Stegall starts work in Cary on August 4th.  Guess who his first email will be from?  I encourage you to do the same.

The Town of Cary 2011-2012 Parks Recreation and Cultural Resources Master Plan compared the Town of Cary against seven other communities. According to the plan, “Comparative data from the following seven communities was collected and analyzed in relation to the Town of Cary. The Communities were chosen because they are known for having quality parks and recreation systems.”

Let’s see how the number of municipal pools compared…

It’s worth re-iterating that I didn’t pick these cities to compare Cary against.  These were picked by the group authoring the Parks Recreation and Cultural Resources Master Plan.  You’d think they would have used at least picked one other community without a municipal pool.  Anyway – the numbers sort of speak for themselves.  Town of Cary continues to stand out amongst its national peers