Cary’s Keeping the Woods

After weeks of debate over what to do with the roughly $1.07 million worth of property at 600 and 604 Kildaire Farm Road, Town Council has directed staff to come back with options for permanently preserving the land as natural open space.

The wooded properties sit between Cary Elementary School and Shirley Drive, immediately beside Higgins Greenway just south of downtown.

If those addresses sound familiar, there is a reason.

The properties were purchased in 2024 under former Town Manager Sean Stegall and became one of the issues examined in the state audit released this summer.

For a while, it looked like Cary might sell the land. Mayor Harold Weinbrecht proposed exploring a sale, arguing that doing so could return the money to the Town and address concerns surrounding how the properties were originally purchased.

However, neighbors pushed back.

Casey Midkiff, who lives beside the property, spoke at the Aug. 27 Town Council meeting and started a petition the following day asking Cary to preserve the land. That petition has now collected more than 1,400 signatures. You can see the petition here.

“This little patch of forest contains so much of what Cary values most — nature, life, and history. Preserving it honors who we are as a community,” Midkiff told The Cary Report.

The properties also sit within an important piece of Cary’s African American history.

Cary First Christian Church was founded by Cary’s African American community in 1868. The congregation moved its services to the area near present-day Cary Elementary in 1883, and a church building later stood on land beside the Town-owned parcels. Remnants of its foundation remain nearby.

There was also a school.

The Cary Colored School operated in this area beginning in the 1890s, serving African American children until the building burned in 1935. The Friends of the Page-Walker believe the school may have stood on one of the properties Cary now owns, although Town staff has said the exact location has not yet been confirmed.

Preserving the land means that research can continue without the immediate possibility of the property being sold and redeveloped.

At the Sept. 22 work session, Town Council spent more than an hour discussing the properties before reaching a consensus. Staff was directed to return with options for permanently preserving the properties as natural open space.

Exactly how Cary will accomplish that has not been decided yet. One possibility discussed was a deed restriction, but staff will now research the available options and bring them back to council. We’ll keep you posted with what ends up being decided.