Spotlight On: Spotlight On: TJ Cawley, Mayor, Town of Morrisville

Key points:

• • Morrisville is managing rapid growth through infrastructure upgrades, downtown development, and careful budgeting.
• • The town is expanding support for small businesses, life sciences, and mobility initiatives.
• • Mayor TJ Cawley says Morrisville’s growth is driven by intentional leadership and community-focused planning.

May 2026 — Invest: spoke with TJ Cawley, mayor of the town of Morrisville, about the budget pressures, infrastructure priorities, and quality-of-life investments shaping the town’s next phase of growth. “Our economic success really comes from intentional leadership and a community-first mindset,” Cawley said.

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What changes over the past year have had the biggest impact on Morrisville, and how have they shaped your priorities as mayor?

Right off the bat, our legislature is thinking about changing the property tax and how we are able to collect that, so that is making us be a little bit more conservative in our budgeting. We are in the midst of our budget process right now, so we are concerned, as are pretty much all the municipalities in North Carolina, that the legislature might try to do a one-size-fits-all approach without really knowing how it will affect the individual municipalities.

Otherwise, over the last few years, we have been leaning into a public-private partnership with a private developer, Singh Development LLC, to build a downtown, because Morrisville grew rapidly as a suburban community, and this project allows us to create the vibrant, walkable downtown our residents have long wanted. We are looking to create a space where residents and businesses can come together and have a central place that is civic-based. It is going to be a two-acre green that can seat thousands of people, with a stage at one end and eight cottage retail units around it. We are excited about that, and it should be opening in about 16 months.

What role do small and local businesses play in the Town’s economic strategy, and how are their needs changing in the environment?

Our economic success really comes from intentional leadership and a community-first mindset. We focus on removing barriers, building partnerships, and asking, how can we help? A good example is that a few years ago, we opened up 400 acres of fresh development by adding a road through an area that did not have any roadway network. In opening that up, we heard from the development community that we needed to embrace life sciences a little bit more, so we looked into our Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), changed things, and made it more attractive. That area is now experiencing significant life science investment and high-quality development.

For small businesses, we now have an Economic Development department that includes a Small Business Specialist who works hand in hand with our Morrisville Chamber of Commerce. I think we collaborate on around 48 events a year. A lot of that is with the Small Business Administration, bringing people in to give talks about AI and other business needs, because a lot of these small businesses are not strong on back-office. If we can help support them and help them understand how to have a successful business, that matters.

The Town also supports the Chamber of Commerce’s  Launch Morrisville program. They work with Wake Technical Community College to take 10 to 15 entrepreneurs every year through a six-week cohort where they have a mentor to help them grow their business intentionally with a business plan, and those businesses have been successful.

How would you describe Morrisville’s economic position within the Research Triangle, and what is driving that momentum today?

Morrisville continues to be one of the most desirable locations in the Triangle for both residents and employers. We are nearly built out, which reflects how desirable Morrisville has become for residents and employers. Otherwise, I think we would be having a lot more of the development that maybe Holly Springs is getting, for example. They have more space and more dedicated pads. If we had more space, we would probably have more life sciences coming as well.

As I mentioned, we changed our UDO to make it work well, and that is not just us. The whole area has a diverse, highly skilled workforce, and that is one of our greatest assets. We support it by modeling service-oriented leadership and creating an environment where people feel valued, included, and empowered to contribute.

One other thing I would mention is that cricket is one of the largest sports in the world, and Morrisville has one of the premier cricket facilities in the United States, and it continues to attract national-level events and growing tourism. We have leaned into giving our community what it wants. Companies in the area lean in, too. 

What are some of the most pressing infrastructure needs today, and how are you aligning transportation and land use planning to support future demand?

We invest in infrastructure with purpose. Every sidewalk, facility upgrade, and mobility improvement reflects our commitment to serving residents and anticipating the needs of a growing, connected community.

When we build up, one of the rules in place is that you have to improve the roadway and the sidewalk in front of your property. Over time, that means some roads have a sidewalk, and then it stops, so we are working intentionally to connect those sidewalk gaps and make them work better.

Morrisville Parkway is one of our main east-west thoroughfares, and it has had some issues with traffic, so we did an intersection improvement study. We are now finishing the design, and we are going to improve those intersections, including the possibility of a stoplight in front of a local elementary school.

Traffic is one of our biggest issues. Our local roadway network is strong, but regional commuter traffic from western Wake County creates challenges we are addressing through coordinated planning. However, we are serving much of western Wake County, with people driving through Morrisville to get to Research Triangle Park (RTP) or to the airport. That is where the real challenge is. We are working with the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) in an active partnership to have bridges constructed over the railroad at McCrimmon Parkway and at Airport Boulevard, where they intersect Chapel Hill Road.

We are also leaning into mobility. We have the Smart Shuttle, which is a node-based shuttle service with two buses going around all the time, and we are adding a third bus this fall because it is so popular. People use an app to schedule their ride, where they want to be picked up and dropped off, and then go to the bus stop. It’s a flexible, app-based service that provides convenient mobility without the limitations of a fixed-route system.

Looking ahead, what opportunities do you see to strengthen Morrisville’s position as both a business destination and a place to live over the next few years?

Our quality of life is rooted in listening to our residents, and we respond with programs, parks, and cultural events that reflect who we are. Our guiding question is, how can we help our community live connected and live well?

When I first got elected in 2013, we had maybe four or five major events every year. Now we are doing upwards of 24. We just had our first Eid festival to celebrate the Muslim culture. We do a Holi festival and a Diwali festival. We are going to have our July 2 fireworks this year, which is our biggest event every year. We lean into bringing the community together through meaningful events, and by celebrating everyone’s culture, we show that we value their culture. That makes us a welcoming community.

For businesses, we are being intentional about putting resources forward. Tiffany McNeill, our Economic Development Director, is out networking and making sure we have the connections so we have a seat at the table. Morrisville is one of the smaller municipalities in Wake County, but we play an outsized role in the region thanks to our strategic location and strong partnerships.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

We have strong regional partnerships with Wake County, RTP, and neighboring municipalities to ensure coordinated growth. One thing I did not mention is how we work with Cary and Apex in what we call the CAM model for fire response. Whenever there is a call for a fire emergency, dispatch sends whoever is closest, regardless of jurisdiction. By working intentionally on a regional basis, we have been successful.

Cricket is also a unique economic driver for Morrisville. It attracts national events, visitors, and tourism spending. Wake County recently awarded us $2 million to expand our facilities there, and we are going to be adding higher-quality lights and a new pitch.

We are also trying to be intentional about affordable housing. We do have 3% of our residents living below the poverty line, so we are working on rental assistance and down payment assistance. We also work with Neighbor Up, formerly Dorcas Ministries, which provides a food pantry and lots of support to help people come up out of poverty.

There are also a couple of new infrastructure items. We have a new public works facility coming up. We were going to build it from the ground up, but in order to save money, we found an existing building that we are upfitting, which is saving taxpayers about $10 million. We also purchased the Morrisville Chamber of Commerce building and our Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Resources Department will move into that space to eliminate an existing lease. We are hoping to expand our parks and greenways, and we are also looking at more programming, especially for teens, while expanding our senior center to meet growing demand.

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