[Durham INC] DRAFT September minutes

[Pat Carstensen]

September Delegate
Meeting of the InterNeighborhood Council of Durham


NIS Conference
Room, Golden Belt

September 22, 2015

 

Attending
the meeting were:

Neighborhoods

Colony Park – Don Lebkes

Cross
Counties – Pat Carstensen

Duke Park – Bill Anderson

Long Meadow
– Pakis Bessias

Morehead
Hill – Rochelle Araujo

Northgate
Park – Debra Hawkins, Mike Shiflett

Old Farm – David Harris

Old North
Durham – John Martin, Pete Katz

Old West
Durham – Vicky Welch

Stage Stop – Dolly Fehrenbacher

Trinity
Park – Philip Azar

Tuscaloosa-Lakewood
– Susan Sewell 

Woodcroft
– Scott Carter

 

Visitors 

Lynwood
D. Best – City of Durham, NIS

John
Killeen – City of Durham, NIS

Will
Wilson – DOST

Annette
Smith – Durham Parks Foundation

Megan
Anise Carroll – Greener Durham – City and County Sustainability Office

Jeff
Hughes – UNC 

Someone
from Stormwater

 

President
Phil Azar opened the meeting.  Members
introduced themselves. There were no adjustments to the agenda.  John Martin moved to approve the August minutes, David Harris seconded
and delegates voted to do this.  The treasurer reported that we have $4901.01
and 15 member neighborhoods; we expect bills soon for the post office box, IT
costs and the 2015candidate forum. 

 

Don
Lebkes said the candidate forum
would be October 14th in City Council Chambers, with introductions
of candidates starting at 6:45.  DeWarren
Langley will be the moderator, and the forum will be on TV and YouTube.  Please send in questions.  Other forums will be a PAC forum on October
10th and a League of Women Voters follow-up sometime.

 

Jeff Hughes, Lecturer and Director,
Environmental Finance Center, UNC School of Government gave an overview of Stormwater Finance, Governance and
Partnerships.  Stormwater is complex
technically (measuring the value of things you do – and pay for – to reduce
nutrient loading and stormwater volume) and governmentally (with city, county,
state and federal agencies following their own pieces of the law).  Public involvement in stormwater choices is
mandated in the Clean Water Act.  The
Soil and Water Districts are institutionally older, are oriented to providing
services for citizens, and generally look for voluntary actions.  Newer stormwater utilities, formed in the
last 20 years or so, are now spending the bulk of the money ($17M in Durham, a
lot of it to maintain facilities we have installed); they are more about
regulation.  There are other parts of
local government, such as erosion control, with some involvement in
stormwater.  The structure is not there
for getting credit for off-property controls. 


 

Megan Carroll talked about Trees Across Durham’s
effort to identify Durham’s Finest Trees
(https://durhammastergardeners.wordpress.com/durhams-finest-trees/);
the deadline for nominations is November 1st.  She also gave information on the fall Cankerworm program, which will have
information meetings October 15th and 25th at the main
library, November 11th at Cooperative Extension and somewhere in
East Durham.  Cankerworms are those
creepy green worms that dangle in your face in the spring.  There is an issue of getting the goo.  Northgate Park has been banding for several
years and it seems to be helping.  

 

Committee Reports

Pocket Neighborhoods – Planning says that 2 changes to
the UDO would permit pocket neighborhoods, but the committee needs to study the
ideas more.

Zoning – Ellen Reckhow wrote Pat
Carstensen that the concerns about the new science research zone being too “flexible”
are being dealt with.

Outreach and Membership – Durham Co-ops Neighborhood Day
was worth participating in.

 

Neighborhood Reports and Announcements


 Northgate Park
     Food Rodeo and Chalk Walk – Thursday, September 24, 5PM
 The first annual
     Monarch Festival is October 10th at Sandy Creek Park.
 Northeast Creek
     folks, Durham Soil and Water, and Parkwood will have two lawn clinics, one
     on October 3rd more about lawn matters and one on October 24th,
     more about keeping rainwater from becoming stormwater.
 City Council’s
     Thursday work session will be working on the revisions to the special
     events permits since the current proposals are not too good at making
     (small events) == (small hassle).
 PULTE Homes has
     come back with a new proposal next to Colony Park.  The new proposal has less density but a
     lot of the same water issues.
 The road diet on
     Business 15-501 has temporary markings that are hard to see at night.
 Annette Smith
     talked about her new role with the Durham Parks Foundation, as well as the
     Latino Festival (September 26th) and WoofStock (October 4th),
     both at Rock Quarry Park.


 

Annual Meeting

•       Elections – John Martin moved acceptance of the report of the Nominating
Committee, closure of nominations, election of the following officers, and
(accepting a friendly amendment) thanks to the Nominating Committee.  Susan Sewell seconded and the delegates voted
yes for:

President:              DeDreana
Freeman, Golden Belt

Vice President:  Peter Katz, Old North Durham

Secretary:               Pat
Carstensen, Cross-Counties

Treasurer:             Susan
Sewell, Tuscaloosa-Lakewood

At Large:                  Dick
Ford, Downing Creek

     
                               Jose Miguel Sandoval, Woodcroft

Communications:  
Pakis Bessias, Long Meadow

Past President:  Philip Azar, Trinity Park

 

•       President’s Report and
Passing of the Gavel – Philip Azar presented a
summary of accomplishments of the past year and thanks for all the efforts from
committees and individuals.  See the
Appendix.

 

 

Old Business

None.

 

New Business

None.

 




Appendix:
The President’s Reflections on the 2014-2015 Term

 

•  
Thank you 

 

Nothing we do here can be accomplished alone: 

•  
Wireless Communications Facilities 

◦         
Showed that we were a respected player at both
city and county levels ◦         
Capable of handling very complex issues 



•  
Traffic Enforcement 

◦         
Stood up for all neighborhoods ◦         
Showed the importance of managing smaller law
enforcement issues as part of well-managed city 



•  
Neighborhood Heroes 

◦         
Importance of the social ◦         
Modeling the way and celebrated it – celebrated
those who model the way in their neighborhoods 



•  
Transit 

◦         
Stayed focused on difficult tasks ◦         
Raised important issues ◦         
Held major stakeholders accountable 





•  
Assists 

◦         
Colony Park ◦         
Road diet 



•  
A bit of next year’s agenda emerging 

◦         
Water ◦         
Pocket neighborhoods/density ◦         
The environmental issues that we always address –
oil storage and solar city as examples from the last year 





 

Personal reflections 

 

•  
Importance of INC as one of few places with a
county or city wide reach and general jurisdiction 

•  
Importance of neighborhood soft power as well as
strong power 

◦         
Strong:  Land use in a specific area ◦         
Soft:  Convener of multiple
stakeholders:  Heroes, Water, perhaps roads going forward., pocket
neighborhoods 



•  
Need for us all to reflect on the nature of
neighborhood power as Durham grows, becomes more dense, and what one
neighborhood wants affects others and things that we are trying to achieve as a
city. 

 

Thank you 

•  
Job well done 

•  
Support DeDreana as she goes forward to see that
INC remains relevant, engaged and respected. 

 

 		 	   		   		 	   		  
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