INC NEWS - Durham residents seek to keep say in growth (News & Observer)

Fri May 16 18:26:14 EDT 2008

Among the neighborhood folks discussing the UDO, one of our strongest and most repeated requests was notification more than 2 weeks before the hearing.  We kept being told that state law sets a limit of 25 days, but I never got a satisfactory answer about whether that was at least 25 or no more than 25.

I think more clarity on what department does what would be helpful to neighborhoods as well as developers (you need to know who to complain to)

My understanding is that re-zoning is not a right -- it is completely a political question of what is best for the community.  The job of the Planning Department is to make sure that the planned development works technically -- they deal only with what the law says.  The law can never be delicate enough to deal with reality -- which is why you have the Planning Commission and elected officials.   

Regards, pat

> Date: Fri, 16 May 2008 06:06:29 -0700
> From: bwatu at yahoo.com
> To: inc-list at DurhamINC.org
> Subject: INC NEWS - Durham residents seek to keep say in growth (News &	Observer)
> 
> Durham residents seek to keep say in growth
> By Matt Dees, News & Observer, 16 May 2008
> 
> Some of Durham's many neighborhood activists are
> worried that speeding up the development review
> process means cutting them out of it.
> 
> Outrage has radiated from neighborhood e-mail lists
> since the city staff announced last week a plan to
> examine over the next nine months every facet of how
> development proposals are vetted, with an eye toward
> streamlining.
> 
> Developers say the process is deeply flawed, if not
> broken.
> 
> The myriad departments that review a project often
> send mixed messages, and there's a general lack of
> drive in City Hall to review projects in a timely
> fashion, they contend. Developers have gotten some
> support from Mayor Bill Bell, City Council member
> Eugene Brown and others who have pushed the staff hard
> in recent months to come up with a reform plan.
> 
> But citizens groups contend that the process is
> laborious for good reason: Land that can be developed
> is becoming scarce in Durham, so a rigorous review to
> prevent bad projects is essential.
> 
> They're worried that developers now have the ear of
> city leaders.
> 
> "This is a very sneaky attempt to undermine the
> neighborhoods by going around the neighborhoods and
> getting everyone on council lined up before opening up
> the plans, " said John Schelp, president of the Old
> West Durham Neighborhood Association.
> 
> City officials laid out a timetable for examining
> different elements of the plan in each of the next
> nine months -- rezonings in June, site-plan reviews in
> September and so on.
> 
> Members of the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce and
> other development leaders have been at the table with
> city staff members as they've formulated the reform
> plan. Schelp said residents have not been granted such
> access.
> 
> The process laid out last week would be the first
> broad examination of development procedures since
> 2005, when the city and county adopted a comprehensive
> land-use plan and a related set of zoning laws known
> as the Unified Development Ordinance.
> 
> Developers must get permission to rezone their
> property if a proposed project doesn't jibe with
> existing law.
> 
> Don Moffitt, a planning commission member, questions
> whether that should even be an option.
> 
> The comprehensive plan, produced after three years of
> community discussion, lays out how Durham County
> should and should not grow in certain areas. Moffitt
> said he thinks it should be reviewed every three years
> and changed if needed. Outside of that, he said,
> developers should submit only plans that conform with
> zoning laws.
> 
> "I am deeply disturbed by the process today, never
> mind the changes they want to make to it, because it
> treats the comprehensive plan as nothing more than an
> impediment to rezoning," Moffitt said.
> 
> "We're down to the most valuable property in Durham
> County, and we should be treating it that way."
> 
> Developers argue that clogging a development proposal
> at City Hall helps no one -- including those worried
> about incompatible growth.
> 
> "We're not asking for a reduction in requirements or
> for city staff not to pay attention to things," said
> George Stanziale, co-founder of a design and
> engineering firm with an office in Durham.
> 
> "The process needs predictability. [Developers] want
> to know how much time and how much cost is going to be
> involved, and they want to be able to count on that."
> 
> Too often, Stanziale and others say, city staff
> members don't follow the letter of the law when
> reviewing projects. They'll ask for items, such as
> construction of sidewalks on property the developer
> doesn't own, that aren't required by ordinance. That
> contributes to a bad reputation among developers,
> which could scare away good development while not
> necessarily preventing bad, Stanziale said.
> 
> "If we submit a plan that meets each of the
> requirements, then theoretically we should be able to
> go through a single review," he said.
> 
> Schelp said residents don't want unnecessary delays
> either, and he points out that his neighborhood has
> supported high-density developments in its midst.
> 
> But citizen review and comment, he said, should not be
> treated as an afterthought.
> 
> Schelp and many others were irked by a proposal last
> week to curb the ability of the City-County Planning
> Commission, a citizen advisory board, to delay
> decisions on proposed projects.
> 
> Residents living near a proposed development often
> first learn of it 10 days before it goes to the
> planning commission, via a legally required notice.
> 
> That leaves little time for neighborhood groups to
> make thoughtful comments, Schelp said, which is why
> the suggestion of limiting the commission's ability to
> delay a decision is meeting resistance.
> 
> "The planning commission is one of the few places
> where a neighborhood can have a say," he said. "We
> need more neighborhood involvement, not less."
> 
> But Nick Tennyson, executive vice president of the
> Home Builders Association of Durham, Orange and
> Chatham Counties and a former Durham mayor, said
> residents "get the first bite of the apple" in the
> form of the comprehensive plan.
> 
> "The burden of proof that it should be changed rests
> with somebody coming in saying it should be changed,"
> he said. 
> 
> 
> 
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