[Durham INC] DRAFT January minutes

[Pat Carstensen]

Please let me know about any corrections or additions.  Regards, pat





January Delegate Meeting of the InterNeighborhood Council of Durham

NIS Conference Room, Golden Belt

January 23, 2018



Attending the meeting were:
Neighborhoods

Colony Park – Don Lebkes

Cross Counties – Pat Carstensen

Forest Hills – Matt McDowell

Golden Belt – DeDreana Freeman, Rama Darbha, Graciela Seila

Long Meadow – Matthew Pait

Morehead Hill – Rochelle Araujo

Old North Durham –Peter Katz, John Martin

Old West Durham – John Killeen

Trinity Park – Philip Azar

Tuscaloosa-Lakewood – Susan Sewell

Watts-Hillandale – Tom Miller

Woodcroft –Jose Sandoval, Scott Carter



Visitors

Lynwood D. Best – City of Durham, NIS

Annette Smtih – Durham Parks and Rec



Peter Katz opened the meeting; those present introduced themselves.  Philip Azar moved and John Martin seconded approval of the October minutes; this passed.  Susan Sewell, the treasurer, reported that the current balance is $4,560.15 and reminded folks that dues are due.



Neighborhood Reports and Announcements

  *   A developer has submitted a site plan for 343 apartments spread over 16 buildings on a site along Southwest Durham Drive across from Patterson Place and immediately adjacent to the New Hope Creek Corridor.  Relying on a 1998 rezoning, the developer need not get approval from Planning Commission or City Council, but rather an administrative review by City Planning staff.  As proposed, the development would disturb steep slopes on the New Hope Creek side of the site.  The New Hope Creek Corridor Advisory Committee has filed an objection to the plan, citing the slope protection specifically called for in the adopted 1992 New Hope Plan as well as repeated assurances by Durham planners that these slopes would be protected in the Patterson Place Compact Neighborhood Plan, part of ongoing planning for the Light Rail system.
  *   Folks can still participate in the Library winter reading program and get a “zombie detecting pencil.”
  *   The Sierra Club will be putting on a forum on GenX-type chemicals in drinking water supplies in March.
  *   Tuscaloosa Lakewood is working with Lakewood businesses because of all the new businesses coming to the area.
  *   Tuscaloosa Lakewood has been successful in shutting down drug corners. Also a silver car from outside the neighborhood has been connected to crimes in the area, including a robbery at gunpoint; the neighborhood is building a gun violence response to support neighbors.
  *   We had a useful meeting with PAC 5 on differences and overlap of INC and PACs.
  *   Conversations with elected officials are coming up.
  *   DeDreana is doing a soft push on homelessness prevention.
  *   We had a discussion of possible presentations / programs at INC meetings.
  *   Post-script: Deb says Mardi Gras will happen in Durham on February 13 this year.  Look for updates.



Old Business



  *   The Old West Durham board will decide on Thursday on whether the current language in the Neighborhood Protection Overlay is what should be put up for approval.  If they pass it, it could go to Planning Commission as early as March.  The neighborhood may propose a more detailed resolution, but for now, Philip Azar moved and Tom Miller seconded the following resolution: “Assuming the OWD Board approves the NPO, the InterNeighborhood Council of Durham acknowledges and supports the effort, process and general substance, including the idea of Floor Area Ratio, of the OWD NPO.”  [Update: OWD did unanimously endorse the NPO.  John will be getting out a one-pager on it for INC on the process, high points, and relevance to other neighborhoods.  We may want to add the following text to the resolution: "the neighborhood believes key elements of this draft ordinance, as well as aspects of the process used, can be important tools for other Durham neighborhoods seeking to advance community-driven planning goals."]
  *   Tom Miller met with Planning about the minimum density resolution (see appendix) that would apply not only to the Pinecrest proposal (which keeps getting worse as the developer squanders good will), but also to areas in Watts Hillandale and other neighborhoods.  Recent NC General Assembly actions are affecting how zoning and comprehensive plans interact, as well the rules on required buffers, so we will hold off action on the resolution to give Planning staff more time to work on it.




Appendix A: Text of Minimum Density Resolution



INC should support the following change to the Comprehensive Plan:



Policy 2.3.4d. Adjust Minimum Residential Densities for Certain Land. Residential densities less than the minimum densities indicated on the Future Land Use Map or for each tier in table 2-1 may be considered when a significant portion of land to be developed lies within required buffers, setbacks, easements, or rights-of-way, or is otherwise affected by physical conditions that makes the resulting concentration of the minimum number of dwelling units under the maps or table incompatible with the surrounding patterns of development, environmentally undesirable, or inconsistent with the policies of the Comprehensive Plan.





Appendix B: E-Mail from John Killeen on the OWD NPO





OWD did unanimously endorse the NPO on Thursday evening. I will try to get a one-page, why-this-is-relevant sheet together, per Susan's request, and share it later this week. From the top, there are key valuable elements to this NPO for other neighborhoods: using floor/area ratios (this one includes accessory structures with the primary structure); keeping ADUs subordinate to the primary structure but increasing their maximum size to 50% of primary structure, giving further encouragement to backyard rentals; removing the requirement to provide off-street parking for ADUs. The further details (see attached) might be interesting and relevant around town for different reasons, but these feel like the highlights right now - along with process, of course. We had 17 public or open-invite sessions on this as well as 10 working group sessions and boatloads of listserv and door-to-door activity. (Not least in our outreach efforts was pushing Planning to send mailings to street addresses as well as owner addresses - thus informing renters of all official meetings.)



So your note about the topic from last week looks accurate. The spirit of OWD contributions to an INC resolution is something like "the neighborhood believes key elements of this draft ordinance, as well as aspects of the process used, can be important tools for other Durham neighborhoods seeking to advance community-driven planning goals."


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