CARY - Plans for a stalled subdivision near the Morrisville border are underway again. A developer won an early approval last week to build up to 375 houses and townhomes near the town's border with Morrisville.

A plan for the property was approved before the recession, but "it sat idle for the last three years or so," said John Myers, who was president of Wakefield Development Company for eight years. "We think it's a good location, we think it's a piece of property that has a lot of potential."

The plans include about 90 acres northwest of the intersection of Green Hope School Road and N.C. 55, across the street from the Highcroft community. It also will feature a few acres of commercial and office development, Myers said.

Earlier plans capped the subdivision at about 300 homes, but the new developers have asked the town to allow medium-density development on more of the property, which is just east of the future path of Interstate 540. Once a farm, the land is largely owned by the Fryar family and its descendants.

The Cary Town Council approved a change to the town's long-term plans last week, but the project still must win a rezoning, which a town board also considered last week.

Myers said he hopes to have full approval within two months, begin construction by early next year and finish before 2013.

Benefit talk delayed: In other business, the town council last week decided to delay its discussion of a new program that would offer town employees up to $400 per year to take an online health survey, get a physical and be inoculated, among other wellness-related tasks.

Council members said that town staff had not provided enough specific data about the financial impact and benefits of the program, which could cost an estimated $230,000 a year and is intended to improve employees' health while lowering town insurance costs.

Councilman Don Frantz said he struggled with the philosophy of the idea, which could be "government gone too far."

The council removed the matter from its consent agenda and tabled discussion until its Jan. 10 meeting.