[Durham INC] June minutes

[Pat Carstensen]

Please let me know about any additions or revisions.  Thanks, pat
----


June
Delegate Meeting of the InterNeighborhood Council of Durham

First Presbyterian Church

June 28, 2011

 

Attending the meeting were:

Neighborhoods

Bay Pointe HOA – Heather Myers

Colony Park – Don Lebkos

Cross Counties – Pat Carstensen,
Ed Harrison 

Duke Park – Ian Kipp, Bill
Anderson

Long Meadow – Pakis Bessias

Magnolia Place – Darius Little

Northgate Park – Mike Shiflett,
Nancy Kneepkens

Old Farm – David Harris

Old North Durham – Peter Katz

Old West Durham – Eric Heidt

Trinity Park – Philip Azar, John
Swansey

Watts Hospital Hillandale – Tom
Miller

Woodcroft – Scott Carter

 

Visitors 

Marge Clemons – DMFPD / Peace
Action

Betsy Crites – NC Peace Action

Joe Moran – Dir. Church World
Service / CROP Hunger Walks of SE USA

 

 

Tom Miller called the meeting to order, and members
introduced themselves.  David Harris moved to approve the May minutes. Peter Katz seconded the
motion, and the delegates voted to approve the minutes.  About seven neighborhoods have paid
their 2011 dues; please pay up.  We
will also be trying to recruit new neighborhoods.

 

David Harris presented a
proposed resolution (See Appendix A) on bringing
war dollars home.  He pointed
out that keeping one soldier in Afghanistan for a year costs $1M, which could
instead be used for 22 teachers or 23 fire fighters or 132 kids in Head Start (www.ncpeaceaction.org).  He asked delegates to take the
resolution back to their neighborhoods to be discussed in July.  There was some concern expressed about
whether this is an INC issue; the bylaws state that we deal with issues “of
general neighborhood interest.”

 

Tom Miller went over the
resolution (Appendix B) on the General Assembly’s bill on regulating rentals; the resolution was discussed on the
list-serve, tentatively passed on by the Executive Committee, and needed to be
ratified by the delegates.  A
substantially different bill came out of the General Assembly, and Durham’s
program can move forward under this bill so Mike Shiflett moved that we
permanently postpone the question; David Harris seconded and the delegates
votes to postpone the question.  

 

The delegates next discussed a
resolution concerning the historic bathhouse
at Duke Park (Appendix C). 
“Re-purpose” is needed because with no pool, the bathhouse would be used
for new community activities.  The
resolution was passed.

 

Mike Shiflett gave a report from
the Transportation Committee.   The county will be voting this
fall on a 1/2¢ tax to invest in transit, NCDOT is resurfacing lots of roads /
streets, the Triangle Connector (formerly East End Connector) scored high among
state road needs and is moving forward, the American Tobacco Trail bridge is
funded and will be done by fall of 2012, and the Tour de Fat bike event
downtown was a lot of fun and will probably be back next year.

 

Pat Carstensen gave a brief
update on the Mixed-Use Zoning Ordinance
Update.  Although we’ve been
seeing presentations of vibrant mixed use spaces for at least 20 years, it
isn’t clear that standards and policies about mixed use in the UDO are creating
developments that meet these expectations.  Thus, the Planning Department has started a process to
revise the mixed-use parts of the UDO. 
Right now they are doing focus groups and otherwise gathering
information.  Pat will continue to
bring in updates.  For more info:  http://www.ci.durham.nc.us/departments/planning/mixed_use_update.cfm


 

The first Neighborhood Awards
were 10 years ago.  We might think
about new kinds of awards, both in terms of venue (something more casual like
Full Steam Brewery?) and choice of whom to honor (people whose jobs help
neighborhoods?).  A committee of
Mike Shiflett, David Harris, Tom Miller, Scott Carter and Bill Anderson will
investigate.

 

Elections for new INC officers will occur in September.  The Executive Committee will act as a Nominating Committee.  If you have ideas about someone who
would be a good officer (including yourself), please contact one of them.

 

Tom Miller spoke to city council on planning
fees for re-zoning.  We will
have to keep pushing on this.

 

As an update on legislation:

·       Billboards
– Due to a mix-up, the final billboard bill didn’t get to the governor.  When the General Assembly gets back
into session in mid-July, they will probably send the bill to the governor, and
we will be asking her to veto it.  

·       Licensing
of HOA Managers – It was killed in committee.

·       Homeowner
Bill of Rights – It was watered down, and then passed. 

 

Neighborhood news and announcements
included:

·      
751 Project Update –
Council received the report on cost-benefit analysis of annexing the project,
and the staff is getting answers to council’s questions.

·      
Old West Durham and Ninth
Street Apartments – The neighborhoods are looking at the latest revisions.  Planning is hoping to be able to use
the Ninth Street Design District agreements for other compact areas, which may
or may not be appropriate in other areas.

·      
Old North Durham – The
ABC Commission essentially gave a slap on the wrist to Nice & Easy “Food”
Mart on Roxboro and Geer, for the stolen TV incident.  Disappointing.

·      
WHHNA – Folks are invited
to the 62nd Annual 4th of July Parade. 

·      
Trinity Park and
McPherson Hospital – Progress continues although they have gotten a letter from
the developer’s attorney raising questions about putting conditions on the site
plan versus having SUP clauses (which affect how any future revisions would be
made).

·      
National night out – It
is past the deadline to participate officially, but neighborhoods can still
decide to do it informally.

·      
Unfinished streets in
HOAs abandoned by their developers – INC may want to have a position on this
issue.  

·      
Pauli Murray Historic
Home – The Self-Help Credit Union has a CD with part of the interest going to
restore the Fitzgerald Home.  http://www.self-help.org/invest-with-us/self-help-credit-union/pauli-murray-fitzgerald-house-term-certificate  

 

The meeting adjourned.




 		 	   		  
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