Residents of 10 Cary neighborhoods included in the first phase of the town’s comprehensive annexation plan will have the opportunity this week to gain insight and ask questions about the proposed addition of their properties into Cary’s borders.

Homeowners, including those living in the following areas, have been invited by the town to attend one or both of two informational meetings: Brookridge, Carpenter Upchurch Road, Country Lane, Evans Road, Hemlock Ridge, Jenks Carpenter Road, Mickey Lane, Pleasant Grove Church Road, Reedy Creek Road and Woodland Acres.

The meetings will be held at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Cary Senior Center in Bond Park and at 5 p.m. Wednesday at the Herb C. Young Community Center on Wilkinson Avenue across from Town Hall.

“It’s a requirement for government-initiated annexations that one of the steps in the process is to have community informational meetings for the folks either earmarked for annexation or other interested citizens,” said Jeff Ulma, Cary’s planning director. “Folks can come talk to staff about what it is about, what the process involves and, if they are annexed, what it takes to get connected to the town’s utilities, among other issues.”

Ulma and Ricky Barker, Cary’s assistant planning director, hailed the meetings as being along the lines of open houses. City officials will be on hand at various stations to inform area residents about various topics related to annexation.

It’s the first step in a process that began in November, when the Town Council voted to move forward with the implementation of a comprehensive annexation report passed in 2006.

Depending on how the criteria spelled out in the report fit a particular area, homeowners could face annexation before 2011, between 2012 and 2016 or beyond 2016. The first phase of the plan includes 195 lots on about 433 acres. About 162 residences and one business are included in the first phase of the plan.

“Since 2006, all of these areas have been a part of a comprehensive annexation program,” Barker said. “The town explored all properties outside of town that qualified for town-initiated annexation. In 2006, we sent information to all residents included in the comprehensive plan and let them know the town might consider annexation in these time frames. We wanted to make sure no one was surprised or caught off guard.”

A public hearing on the annexations will be held during a Town Council meeting on Feb. 12. Barker said the Town Council might make a decision on the first-phase annexations in either March or April. Should the council approve the measure, the first-phase annexations would take effect June 30.