The Town of Cary has
developed a Secondary and Cumulative Impacts (SCI) Master Mitigation Plan.
The purpose of the SCI Master Mitigation Plan is to provide a holistic
review of the environmental impacts associated with planned land use changes
and infrastructure projects deemed necessary by the Town Council. The SCI Master Mitigation
Plan identifies the environmental impacts associated with the Town’s
plans for creating, expanding, and/or changing water, sewer, and transportation
facilities and the programs in place that mitigate identified impacts. Looking at all the
secondary impacts for all proposed projects is a new approach that the
Town of Cary has partnered with the N.C.
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NC DENR) on developing.
The Towns of Apex, Morrisville, and Holly Springs are also trying out
this new planning approach and process. This new planning
process will aid the Towns, their citizens, interested parties, and state
and federal agencies in the environmental review process by allowing a
comprehensive review of impacts, improving efficiency of document production
for local governments, and improving efficiency of agency review of NCEPA
documents. The Town of Cary has
entered into a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)
with NCDENR about the use of the documents. The MOA describes the background
of the SCI Master Mitigation Plan process, reporting requirements, period
of applicability for the Plan (10 years), and the circumstances under
which it must be updated earlier than 10 years. Separate environmental
documents that follow N.C.
Environmental Policy Act requirements will be prepared to address
the direct impacts of individual infrastructure projects implemented by
the Town. These environmental documents will reference the SCI Master
Mitigation Plan for secondary impacts. A public meeting to
provide information on the SCI Master Mitigation Plan and obtain feedback
will be held on Tuesday Aug. 23, 2005 at 6 p.m. in the Ground Floor Hearing
Room within the Archdale
Building in Raleigh. As noted earlier,
NC DENR has been working with other communities in western Wake County
on this new process and would like to promote this approach to other communities
once these initial SCI Master Mitigation Plans have been completed. Thus,
one joint public meeting will be held for the SCI Master Mitigation Plans
for the Towns of Apex, Cary, Holly Springs, and Morrisville in the NC
DENR offices. The joint public meeting
will begin with an overview of the SCI Master Mitigation Plan process.
The meeting will then have four concurrent sessions where information
on the individual Town’s mitigation programs will be provided. There
will be opportunity for the public to ask questions and to provide feedback
on the process. Hard copies of our
SCI Master Mitigation Plan and MOA may be viewed at the Eva
Perry Library (2100 Shepherds Vineyard Drive, Apex, NC 27502 or in
the Town Clerk’s office in Town Hall (The length and complexity
of the document precludes our being able to host it on this Web site and
meet our commitment to ADA standards).
Secondary and Cumulative
Impacts (SCI) Master Mitigation Plan
July 19, 2005