Showing posts tagged “development”
Samiha Khanna ·
16 Dec 2009, 5:50 PM ·
4 Comments
A superior court judge found in favor of Southern Durham Development on Wednesday in its major lawsuit against the county.
Superior Court Judge Howard Manning said that lines drawn in 2006 by a former planning director that outline the protective boundaries around Jordan Lake are binding and must stand.
This means that 146 of 165 acres on which Southern Durham Development was hoping to build a mixed-use community are no longer considered part of a protected zone that heavily restricts commercial and residential development, opening the door to broader development options.
In his ruling, Manning dismissed other arguments in the lawsuit against Durham County, including claims by Southern Durham Development that county officials were trying to undermine its development plans for the land (west of N.C. 751 in South Durham), and requests for $20,000 in damages.
Both parties seemed pleased with portions of the judge’s actions.
“We feel we’ve had the facts and the law on our side the entire time, and that’s what the court said,” said Alex Mitchell, president of Southern Durham Development.
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Durham, Durham County, environment, news 751 Assemblage, Alex Mitchell, development, Durham County Commissioners, Durham planning department, Durham politics, Howard Manning, jordan lake, Lowell Siler, protest petition, Southern Durham Development
Samiha Khanna ·
3 Nov 2009, 12:11 PM ·
2 Comments
The latest update from Durham’s planning Director Steve Medlin: His staff is still evaluating a protest petition filed last month by the Haw River Assembly and Southern Environmental Law Center, and is looking specifically at signatures.
It appears, he said, that one property owner signed the petition for himself, but also on behalf of the two other co-owners. One person can’t sign for all three, Medlin said, so his staff is trying to verify the validity of the signatures.
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Durham, Durham County, news 751 Assemblage, development, Durham County Commissioners, Durham planning department, haw river assembly, jordan lake, Neal Hunter, protest petition, Southern Environmental Law Center
Samiha Khanna ·
2 Nov 2009, 2:02 PM ·
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The city and planners for the revitalization of Rolling Hills and Southside, two neighborhoods just south of downtown, are holding a community meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 10, at the Hayti Heritage Center at 804 Old Fayetteville St.
The public will be able to ask questions of the project’s steering committee and learn about plans for Rolling Hills and Southside, two blighted and troubled communities. Southside is crime-ridden neighborhood rife with vacant lots and empty homes. Development of Rolling Hills stopped before it was completed, leaving a half-built neighborhood erected with public money. Read more >>
The city recently voted to spend $745,000 to plan for the revitalization of both communities. The public meeting Nov. 10 is one of the first where the general public may weigh in.
The planners also have tentatively scheduled design charettes — public meetings on the design of the project — for Nov. 16-20, said Larry Jarvis, assistant director of Durham’s Community Development Department.
Durham, Durham County, news blight, City Council, development, Downtown Durham, Durham, Larry Jarvis, McCormack Baron Salazar, Rolling Hills, Southside
Samiha Khanna ·
30 Oct 2009, 3:49 PM ·
2 Comments
Though the Durham planning department hasn’t released any new findings on the Jordan Lake watershed rezoning protest petition, which was contested again this week, County Manager Mike Ruffin confirmed this afternoon that the planning department is sorting through signatures on the petition to ensure they are valid.
But, Ruffin said, the planning department still won’t have any conclusions to share until next week — which may or may not indicate whether Durham’s planning staff made a mistake in ruling on the petition earlier this month.
At this point, Ruffin added, any new findings would have to be decided by a judge. That is the avenue of appeal for the petitions (the Haw River Assembly and Southern Environmental Law Center) and commissioners already voted on the issue, and can’t reopen the issue and vote again, he said.
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Durham, Durham County, news 751 Assemblage, Becky Heron, development, Durham County, Durham County Commissioners, Durham Planning Commission, Durham planning department, haw river assembly, jordan lake, Mike Ruffin, protest petition, Southern Environmental Law Center
Samiha Khanna ·
29 Oct 2009, 11:57 AM ·
4 Comments
The Southern Environmental Law Center announced this morning that it is contesting a ruling by Durham’s planning director that its recent protest petition on the rezoning of Jordan Lake’s watershed was invalid.
The SELC and the Haw River Assembly argue that Durham’s planning director miscounted the amount of land owned by people who signed the petition, and therefore the petition actually was valid.
Had the petition been ruled valid, it would have required one additional affirmative vote from County Commissioners to rezone the protective boundaries around Jordan Lake. Without a valid protest petition, commissioners needed only a simple majority, and voted 3-2 on Oct. 12 to shift the protective boundaries around Jordan Lake to the west. Doing so would allow for more intensive residential and commercial development closer to the lake, which is a drinking water source for Cary and Chatham County.
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Durham, Durham County, news, politics 751 Assemblage, development, Durham County Commissioners, Durham Planning Commission, Durham planning department, haw river assembly, jordan lake, protest petition, Southern Environmental Law Center
Samiha Khanna ·
22 Oct 2009, 4:12 PM ·
1 Comment
Starting Monday, Durham city staff and contract engineers will be out in the Third Fork Creek watershed in southwest Durham to study the creek and help develop a clean-up and revitalization plan, the city announced today.
Third Fork Creek flows into New Hope Creek and Jordan Lake, the latter, of course, being the source of attention and lately because of a recent watershed rezoning that could allow for more intense development closer to the reservoir, which is a drinking water source for Chatham County and Cary. Jordan Lake already faces water-quality issues and estimates to improve the conditions and maintain water quality are in the millions of dollars. Read more about recent legislation involving mandates to clean up Jordan Lake >>
Crew members, who will be wearing orange vests for easy identification, plan to complete their field evaluation by the end of December. After the field work, the crew will prioritize potential improvement projects to include in the city’s watershed plan, which it hopes to present in May 2011, the announcement said.
A map of the neighborhoods in the watershed assessment is available here.
Durham, Durham County, North Carolina, environment, news development, Durham, jordan lake, jordan lake rules, New Hope Creek, runoff, Third Fork Creek, water quality
Samiha Khanna ·
14 Oct 2009, 9:35 AM ·
6 Comments
A member of the Durham Planning Commission, a citizen board that advises city and county leaders, sent a letter late last night resigning her post. LaDawnna Summers, whose term was set to expire next June, sent the letter to the City Council, County Commissioners, fellow Commission members and Steve Medlin, planning director.
Summers cited two controversial cases on which city and county leaders went against the Planning Commission’s recommendations — Brightleaf Commons, a shopping center planned for U.S. 70 near Falls Lake, and the rezoning of Jordan Lake’s protective boundaries, which the county approved Monday.
In both cases, the 12-member Planning Commission recommended that elected officials deny the rezoning.
From Summers’ letter:
Cases like these create a tremendous financial burden which the tax payers will have to fund in order to clean up the environmental impact. Further, our neighboring counties rely upon these drinking water sources, as will our children one day soon. We are stewards of the land and water, and these are precious resources. In light of these cases, it has become clear to me that our development process is broken in Durham. This process resulted in an outcome which did not serve the people of Durham, and disregarded the wellbeing of our neighboring counties. I feel strongly that I can no longer be a part of this process, and so I am resigning from the Planning Commission.
Durham, Durham County, environment, news 751 Assemblage, Brightleaf Commons, development, Durham City Council, Durham County Commissioners, Durham Planning Commission, Falls Lake, jordan lake
Samiha Khanna ·
13 Oct 2009, 12:06 AM ·
5 Comments
Durham’s Board of County Commissioners voted 3 to 2 Monday night to move a protected area around Jordan Lake on county maps, opening the door for a dense development being drafted for 164 acres in the southwest part of the county. Commissioners Ellen Reckhow and Becky Heron cast the opposing votes.
Though the vote approved just the zoning of Jordan Lake’s protective buffer — not an actual development plan — the change cleared a major hurdle for the much-contested development, 751 Assemblage, which would contain 1,300 residences and 600,000 square feet of office and retail space. (Read more about the proposed development and its history here.) Monday night’s change takes the land to be developed from protected and virtually unable to be developed to a less-protected designation that allows for the mixed-use vision of the developer, Southern Durham Development.
More than 70 people signed up to speak on the proposed shift of the critical and protected buffers around Jordan Lake, which is a drinking water reservoir for Cary and Chatham County, and could soon provide water to Durham’s residents, too. Most who spoke opposed the rezoning, saying it would allow development too close to the water source and would further pollute already tainted waters. Opposers included members of the Haw River Assembly, who attempted to petition the change (read more here) and residents of neighboring developments.
Supporters of the zoning change mostly were also supporters of 751 Assemblage who wanted this obstacle, which has loomed for three years, out of the way. They said the new development could bring jobs, possibly a land donation for new schools and a larger tax base for the county. Supporters included members of the developer’s cadre of lawyers and architects, city council candidate Donald Hughes and Lavonia Allison of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People.
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Durham, Durham County, Pittsboro, news, politics 751 Assemblage, development, Durham County Commissioners, haw river assembly, jordan lake, protest petition, Southern Durham Development
Samiha Khanna ·
9 Oct 2009, 6:43 PM ·
5 Comments
A nonprofit group’s attempt to hinder a controversial rezoning case near Jordan Lake fell flat Friday, as Durham officials denied the validity of a petition filed by the organization. The petitioner, the Haw River Assembly, did not include signatures of enough landowners around the area to be rezoned, said Durham City-County Planning Director Steve Medlin.
With its petition, the group was hoping to influence the outcome of a vote by Durham County Commissioners, who on Monday will decide whether to redraw boundaries protecting Jordan Lake and its watershed. Shifting the boundaries would allow Southern Durham Development to build a 164-acre mixed-use development, 751 Assemblage, in an area many say should remain undeveloped. (View Monday’s agenda here.)
On Monday night, Commissioners need just a simple majority – three affirmative votes – to redraw the boundaries. Had the petition been valid, the rezoning would have required a supermajority, or four affirmative votes, to pass.
The petition is a small piece of a circuitous, four-year-old issue surrounding the rezoning of land around Jordan Lake, a drinking water reservoir that spans Durham and Chatham counties. Most of the disagreement among public officials, developers and other stakeholders is where exactly the critical watershed should be, and which methodology is best to evaluate factors that determine those boundaries. (Read more about the history of this issue here.)
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Durham, Durham County, Uncategorized, news, politics 751 Assemblage, development, Durham County, haw river assembly, jordan lake, Neal Hunter, planning, protest petition, Southern Durham Development
Samiha Khanna ·
5 Oct 2009, 9:29 PM ·
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As reported last week on Triangulator, Durham property owner Mozella McLaughlin has excised The Know Book Store from plans for the jazz center she hopes to build at 2520 Fayetteville St. McLaughlin also has downsized the renovations she planned for the building, thus postponing any vote the City Council would have made Monday night to give her a neighborhood revitalization grant.
Among the changes, McLaughlin will nix plans for a rooftop garden, her son William McLaughlin told Triangulator last week. The revision could trim $200,000 from the initial proposal of $575,000 in renovations. The smaller total investment by McLaughlin could change the city’s participation through a revitalization grant. The changes will become clear once the Office of Economic and Workforce Development reviews the modified plan and presents recommendations to Council, sometime in the near future.
Meanwhile, as McLaughlin also told Triangulator last week, Bruce Bridges, owner of The Know, has been notified that he must move out of the building by Dec. 31.
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Durham, arts, business, news business, development, Durham City Council, incentives, Know
