Full name: Patty Wei-Pei Cheng
Party affiliation: Republican
Campaign website: www.patty4morrisville.com
1) In 300 words or less, please give our readers your elevator pitch: Why are you running? Why should voters entrust you with this position? What prior experience will make you an effective member of Morrisville’s town council?
Since 2021, Morrisville Town Council has increased our Taxes by 36%. That’s an extra $1500 in taxes every year for the median house that’s about $500,000.
The population of Morrisville has increased by 10% in the last 5 years while the Town Budget has Increased by a ridiculous 70% from $37 to $63 Million, placing a significant burden on working class citizens, making the Town an Increasingly Unaffordable place to live.
Town Council callously spends our public funds, replacing an entire fleet of working, gasoline powered lawn mowers in 2024 with EV lawnmowers, all in the same year!
Despite 30 Citizens with a petition of 434 names telling Town Council in June 2024 that a 17% increase in our taxes was too much for one year. Every single TC member voted for the record breaking tax increase.
As an NC State Engineering Graduate, Certified by NCBELS, I believe we need to better represent the people and businesses of Morrisville.
I served as my HOA Treasurer and on the Morrisville Budget Committee, developing considerable experience serving in positions responsible for handling funds judiciously and for effective money management.
At Virginia Tech I worked as a Teaching Assistant in Engineering Economic Analysis while earning my Masters degree. Currently, I am an IT Business Analyst for the NC Department of Revenue.
Two years ago we successfully had the poorly vetted Crabtree Creek Nature Park cancelled after the cost of park designed to be built in floodplain more than doubled in 3 years.
Morrisville needs a new, reasonable voice who is willing to represent the people of Morrisville with the courage to provide a fresh perspective. I will ask the hard questions to ensure that our tax dollars are well spent on projects that are sound and well vetted.
2) What would your priorities be as a member of the town council? Please identify three of the most pressing issues Morrisville currently faces and how you believe the town should address them.
1. Developing Traffic Infrastructure.
Morrisville Raised Taxes in the 2021 Bonds for the “Airport Blvd Extension” yet, 4 years later, little progress has been shown on this project. How will the State Road cross the Railroad Tracks? What happens to the afternoon student pick up line at Cedar Fork Elementary School that has been allowed to sit in the right hand lane of Town Hall Drive on a daily basis for many years?
Town Council needs to allow for more open forums, collecting input from citizens, and communicating any detailed plans regarding the impact and benefits of costly projects if they are to be effectively implemented.
We need a detailed study of how to Improve Church Street and NC54. Where can Church St be widened to alleviate Traffic Congestion? What specific areas are preventing NC54 “Chapel Hill Road” from being widened to 4 lanes in Morrisville?
2. Promoting Smart Growth – We need to balance growth with development projects that are focused on preserving green space and promoting owner-occupied housing. I would encourage researching the option of having developers build owner-occupied condominiums instead of apartments so that new homeowners can build equity in their homes instead of being required to lease apartments “at market rate”.
(3) Re-evaluating Town Policy for Recreational Facilities – Our Parks & Recreation Policy needs to be revised so that once the facility is built, the income from the Swimming Pool, Cricket Fields, and Tennis Courts should attempt to Break Even on the cost to maintain the facility. Morrisville taxpayers need not be increasingly obligated to pay for recreational facilities that are freely provided to non-residents. Our citizens pay $800,000 per year to subsidize the Morrisville Aquatics and Fitness Center for Durham and Cary residents who comprise over half of the membership.
3) What’s the best or most important thing the Morrisville town council has done in the past year? Additionally, name a decision you believe the town should have handled differently. Please explain your answers.
Morrisville has done a nice job promoting more cultural and social events, programs for seniors, and public art – like the beautiful murals we now have.
I do think we need to limit how much additional tax money from Citizens is being spent when long-term residents who registered as vendors at a town sponsored Music in the Park event believe they were targeted, discriminated against, and intentionally made to feel unsafe and unwelcomed for presenting a different, diverse perspective from the town employees and activists who organized the event.
After being awarded $250 Million from NCDOT & CAMPO for Morrisville Area Road Projects between 2014 – 2017, our current Town Council has done little to improve the Road and Traffic infrastructure over the last 8 years. We did receive some matching CAMPO funds after Citizens provided funds for Traffic Improvements through the 2021 Bonds.
4) President Trump is working to ramp up deportations and curtail visas. At the same time, the state legislature has passed laws requiring agencies to cooperate with ICE. What do you think the town council can or should do to ensure safe, welcoming communities for immigrants in light of these policies?
Morrisville has added a Language Access Program, providing a lot of public information in different languages to our many residents from different cultures. Our population is 42% Asian, considerably higher than other NC municipalities.
We have many active, law-abiding residents serving the community who have applied for Visas (or Green cards), waiting for their applications to be processed.
I believe our police department was cooperating with ICE before the State Law was passed. When my family immigrated to the United States, my parents had to prove we would not be a burden to this country, leaders from our church sponsored us, we had to check all the required boxes to become citizens. It was not easy, but we did it legally.
I realize the immigration process is much more difficult today and the federal immigration policy still needs to be reformed but, I also believe the USA can not protect the country while allowing for immigrants to enter the country unchecked.
5) As climate change leads to more intense rainfall, communities are at greater risk of inland flooding, such as the historic floods in parts of the Triangle this summer. How would you like the town council to address climate resilience, particularly flooding?
Morrisville does not have a significant issue with inland flooding. Our Town Council has adopted a “Tree Preservation Ordinance” but, they regularly promote projects that ignore the rules in our “Unified Development Ordinance” preventing developers from building in floodplain.
We have less Tree Canopy than any other municipality in Wake County, yet Town Council wanted to clear cut trees next to Crabtree Creek and backfill the property with truckloads of dirt to build a playground for special needs children. I don’t see why they did not propose using other town-owned parkland on better property for this project.
After paying an engineering firm $400,000 to design the park, not a single Professional Engineer from the firm signed off on the plans for the so called CC “Nature Park”. It was only 3 years later when the projected project costs for building in the floodplain more than doubled and the project was indefinitely cancelled.
As an engineer I believe in respecting nature and not being so callous about building in the “hundred year floodplain”. In 2019 Town Council debated (for the second time) building an elevated bridge road above Crabtree Creek, which feeds our drinking water supply. The engineers said it was not realistically feasible given the lack of traffic channeled past the elementary schools on Town Hall Drive. After wasting another year debating the project that “could not be built in the next 25 years”, it was again voted down. Meanwhile, Morrisville lost 3 long term Professional Engineers in its service, 4 engineers on staff went to work for another Wake Co Municipality, and even both Sr. Planners who proposed the project went to work for other towns.
Even though available property in Morrisville is very limited, let’s stop considering projects to be built in the hundred year floodplain.
6) Federal funding cuts this year have hit the Triangle particularly hard, from cancelled grants to layoffs, and local government officials are having to make difficult decisions about what to fund and how. What are your ideas for how the town council can prioritize competing funding needs, close funding gaps, and support impacted residents?
I am not aware of any Federal funds that affect decisions that need to be made by Morrisville Town Council. Our taxes have increased 40% since 2019 and our Town Budget increased 70% since 2020. Hopefully, we can identify ways to prioritize funding needs with the extra money our Taxpayers are already providing.
7) Describe what sustainable growth and development mean to you in the context of Morrisville’s population growth and the plans for a new town center. Additionally, what is another municipality you believe has made smart decisions related to growth and development that could be similarly implemented in Morrisville?
Morrisville has actively taken measures to install solar panels on our municipal buildings to supplement our electric power supply.
Public funds were committed to provide electric vehicle charging stations. The policy is still controversial as the additional public funds provide services only for those who can afford electric vehicles. Working gasoline powered lawnmowers we scrapped and replaced with EV lawnmowers. While I approve of trying new technology, increasing the tax burden on citizens to replace our entire fleet of lawnmowers all in one year is not an indication of good money management.
Also, if our firefighters are not able to address EV fires, we need to be cautious of investing public funds on such capital equipment.
The design of Town Center needs to prioritize green space, observes the town’s Tree Preservation ordinance, and preserve as many trees as possible. The design should also take into consideration how rainwater is managed, maintained, and used to compliment the landscaping.
I would have to study projects developed by other municipalities to identify particular good examples to emulate. One impressive example I have seen of integrating landscaping and the natural environment into a welcoming place for people to gather is at the Red Oak Lager Haus Beer Garden in Whitsett, NC (west of Elon College). There the landscaping, flowing creek, and gardens are beautifully integrated in the relaxing gathering place.
8) As with most places in the Triangle, Morrisville is grappling with issues related to affordable housing. How would you like to see the town approach affordability issues over the next few years?
When my Dad was offered a job at Shepard Memorial Library at NC Central University in the early 1970’s, we lived near Wellons Village in East Durham and I attended Durham public schools. I re-visited Quincy Street a few years ago when I volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in the same neighborhood. Its still a modest, humble neighborhood.
My high school history teacher taught us that society grows stronger when the middle class has the opportunity improve their lifestyle.
Morrisville has little available housing other than single family homes, high-end townhomes, and recently built high density apartments. We need to appoint individuals who are interested in innovative style, alternative style, or “affordable housing” projects to serve on the Town’s Planning and Zoning Board. Morrisville need to design and provide zoning categories for more affordable housing like owner-occupied condominiums or ‘tiny homes”.
Currently our Town Council, including the incumbent I am challenging claims to be advocates for affordable housing, although they repeatedly increase the tax burden on all citizens to provide a few government subsidized housing units. Large apartments complexes are approved when they commit to providing 5% subsidized “affordable units” when, in reality, some renters report a large complex leased at “market rate” have only 5 units, and not 5% subsidized units.
An affordable housing community near the Durham Co line was voted down by those who believe in “Not in my back yard” as many Morrisville homeowners advocate for projects that can only appreciate the value of their own properties.
Morrisville needs leaders who will truly make it a priority to work with developers in the early stages of design to develop affordable housing units, provide for reliable, public transportation and, liveable-walkable spaces with retail nearbv to promote lifestyles that are less dependent on vehicular traffic.
9) With its proximity to Durham, Cary, Raleigh, RTP, and RDU, connectivity and transportation are big issues in Morrisville. What should the town be doing to improve transportation and transit infrastructure, from getting road projects funded to investing in public transit projects?
Morrisville has limited open space that can be developed. Town Council increased our taxes in 2021 for the “Airport Boulevard Extension” but, little progress has been shown on that project. Detailed plans have not been developed to provide major funding from CAMPO for the NCDOT State Road Project to connect I-40 to Davis Drive.
Long ago, Wake County Schools asked Morrisville Town Council and staff to allow for the continued placement of the “temporary” (20 Year) Trailers to be allowed at Cedar Fork Elementary School, which is enrolled at 60% to 70% above the capacity for which the school was designed. So, the afternoon pick-up line at the Elementary school, which extends down the right hand lane of Town Hall Drive every afternoon would need to be properly addressed before Airport Blvd can be built through the residential neighborhood. Morrisville must address concerns from citizens about how the proposed new Airport Blvd will affect local residents as it cuts between two Elementary Schools.
As each ride the Morrisville Smart Shuttle provides costs our Taxpayers over $50 dollars, we need to develop more consistently reliable routing for scheduled shuttle stops to increase ridership. Let’s aim to redesign the routing with fewer nodes (stops) running on an hourly schedule or one that is easy to remember. Consider adding options to transport riders from the less frequented nodes to the primary stops using supplementary transport, encouraging rented bicycles to the primary nodes, scooters, or even a supplementary vehicles like Uber/Lyft.
As we lose more tree canopy, we need to plan & design well for how the town will look in the future. Let’s intentionally design new neighborhoods to be more live-able and walkable, with nearby bus stops accessing retail centers so residents will have the option to live less dependent on private vehicles.
10) What kinds of amenities would you like to see in Morrisville’s upcoming 25-acre town center project?
As a rural, farming community just 30 years ago, Morrisville, unlike other towns has never had a naturally developed Town Center. The recognized town center was the now demolished Jones-Sears Grocery store across Morrisville-Carpenter Rd from Volunteer Fire Station 1, next to the railroad tracks where the first train stop outside of Raleigh, NC once existed. The steam locomotives once stopped to replenish their water supply at Crabtree Creek.
Town Center 2025 is located on Town Hall Drive where there are many existing residential neighborhoods in the immediate surrounding area. The amenity that will be in greatest demand and most used are the retail shops, a basic convenience-grocery store, and a basic department store that would allow local residents to walk or bike to these neighborhood stores to get basic necessities without having to add to the traffic congestion around town.
The design of Town Center need to prioritize the preservation of green space and existing, established trees. I enjoy well designed landscaping with rain gardens integrated with the retention of rainwater in the area.
Given that this project that costs $28 Million for Phase 1A, it was not voted on by Morrisville Citizens and not vetted in our 2021 Bonds. And, our Town Budget was only $37 Million in 2020, Town Council needs to be wary of repeatedly increasing taxes on working class citizens to make living in Morrisville increasingly Unaffordable. The project took “20 years to plan” because we had Town Council members who were more focused on our road infrastructure who did not want to burden citizens with funding such a major, costly project.
Rather than providing more high density apartments leased “at market rate”, I would like to see Morrisville develop more innovative housing styles like Owner-occupied Condominiums that allows homeowners to build equity in their own homes. The smaller, individual residential units would allow seniors to stay in Morrisville while downsizing to a smaller home without their rent increasing at whatever price the market will bear.
11) If there are other issues you want to discuss, please do so here.
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