INC NEWS - %Time-line for Duke's on-campus retail efforts

[John Schelp]

folks,

Now might be a good time to review the time-line of
the on-campus retail discussions between Duke-Durham
Partnership Neighborhoods and Duke. 

You may find the September 2003 item of particular
interest. :)

have a wonderful weekend,
John

****

February 2003: 18 representatives of the twelve
Duke-Durham partnership neighborhoods meet at Duke
offices in the Erwin Mill building. Duke architect
tells assembled that the Durham community hasn't cared
what Duke has done for 75 years, why should they start
now?

****

March 2003: Durham Planning Director, Frank Duke,
sends the partnership neighborhoods representatives
the following email...

"At the moment [the Univ-College ordinance] does
retain the language I showed the neighborhoods and
Duke. Duke is actively lobbying to change it. They
want to change the next to last sentence of the
permitted uses section to read:

""Retail uses, such as university-related bookstores
and dining facilities located within other buildings,
shall be permitted, to the extent that they are
designed to serve the campus population of the
university and not to attract additional traffic to
the campus.""

"This proposes to delete the qualifiers of "limited"
retail and "on-"campus population. The effect of these
changes would be that any retail designed to serve a
population between the ages of 18 and 65 would be a
permitted use."

"In effect, Duke is requesting the language be changed
to permit a Streets of Southpoint as a permitted use
on the campus."

****

March 2003: Watts-Hillandale president (reflecting the
concerns of many neighborhoods) writes to Duke
President Nan Keohane...

"I am now disappointed to learn that Duke University
is asking the city for a significant change to the
proposed ordinance without first informing the other
stakeholders. If Duke was dissatisfied with the
revised version of the proposed ordinance, Duke's
representatives should have made the university's
objections known to the Planning Department and the
neighborhoods during the meetings which were set up
for the purpose of airing such concerns."

"The change that Duke is now seeking, the elimination
of limits on commercial uses within areas to be zoned
UC, runs to the very heart of the ordinance and was
the subject of the principal debate among the
stakeholders. To permit the neighborhoods and the
Planning Department to rise from the meeting table
with the impression that Duke was content with the
parties' compromise seems more than a little unfair.
This is especially troublesome considering that Duke
hosted the meetings in its own offices. Quite frankly,
I feel as though Duke has dealt with us in something
less than good faith. In the spirit of compromise,
Watts Hospital-Hillandale agreed to forgo a number of
things we wished to see included in the new UC
ordinance. Evidently, Duke did not enter into the
discussions motivated by that same spirit."

****

Spring 2003: Senior VP John Burness tries to mislead a
reporter by saying what exacerbated tensions with the
neighborhoods was City staff sharing information with
residents. In fact, what exacerbated these tensions
was the Duke Architect going behind our back to remove
"limited retail" from the local ordinance. Duke's
attempt to shift the blame from their own actions to
City staff is not appreciated.

****

Spring 2003: Duke senior VP Tallman Trask states in
the newspaper that someone told the neighborhoods Duke
wanted three big box retail stores in a row. In fact,
no one said this to us. Does Duke make such public
erroneous assertions to make the neighborhoods look
alarmist and uninformed? Although such calculated
statements are not appreciated, it is hard to blame
neighborhood residents for being suspicious when Duke
goes behind closed doors and tries to effect changes
in the local ordinance.

****

April 2003: After President Keohane receives dozens of
emails opposing on-campus retail beyond the school's
academic mission from the community, Duke pulls
Central Campus from the new Univ-College district
shortly before a City Council meeting held on April 7.


****

Spring 2003: Representing the partnership
neighborhoods, Old West Durham president John Schelp
and Tallman Trask work out Central Campus retail
agreement (ie. three small restaurants, 99-room hotel
with restaurant, university bookstore with coffee
shop, store selling Duke clothes & accessories,
bowling alley, performing arts center, and dorms). 

****

Spring 2003: Schelp presents agreement to
representatives of partnership neighborhoods at one of
their many meetings in the Northgate Mall conference
room. Neighborhood representatives discuss and vote to
endorse the agreement. On-campus retail agreement is
documented in letters to Nan Keohane and other Duke
leaders, N&O, and the Herald-Sun.

****

Summer 2003: Duke-Durham partnership neighborhoods
speak in support of Duke's rezoning plans for East
Campus, West Campus and the Medical Center before the
Zoning Committee, Planning Commission, and City
Council. Measure passes unanimously. 

****

September 2003: Duke senior vice president John
Burness writes letter to Schelp and Miller saying, "I
did want to formally acknowledge my very deep
appreciation for the time, effort, patience, and
commitment you showed in negotiating, on behalf of
Duke's neighbors, a UC Zone plan which ultimately
achieved the unanimous support of the zoning board
last week... just as representing the interests of the
university is not a simple affair, I know that
representing the interests of the neighborhood
associations wasn't either... You guys deserve a lot
of credit for the even-handed leadership you provided
that made the process ultimately successful..."

****

Fall 2003: Duke officials repeatedly promise to tell
the partnership neighborhoods when the Central Campus
plans were ready. 

****

December 2003: Chance encounter with Duke VP for
capital assets at Elmo's Diner discloses that Central
Campus plans are ready. When approached by
neighborhood representatives asking to see the plans,
more senior officials quickly change their tune,
saying plans will be ready in January, then February,
then March. During this delay, Duke officials meet
with City officials to go over their plans.

****

March 2004: After months of accusing partnership
neighborhoods reps of spreading "rumors" about Duke's
on-campus retail plans, Tallman Trask states at a
public forum in Trinity Heights that Duke is
considering "general commercial" zoning category (ie.
unlimited retail) for Central Campus. This action is
consistent with Duke's efforts a year ago to remove
"limited retail" from the ordinance and again produces
tensions with tensions with partnership neighborhoods.
Duke officials assure forum participants they will do
better communicating Duke's plans for Central Campus.

****

March 2004: Duke officials start inviting new
presidents of partnership neighborhoods to meetings.
The exclusion of those with whom Duke had been
negotiating Central Campus plans for months from this
meeting raises suspicions that Duke is trying to
foster divisions between the partnership neighborhoods
they say they want to help.

****

April 2004: John Hope Franklin Center hosts campus
forum asking whether Duke is isolating itself from
Durham. Several students, faculty and community reps
state that a self-contained retail area on campus
would isolate Duke from Durham. Public Affairs rep
says Duke "only wants 10,000 extra sq feet." This
extra retail represents a violation of our agreement
and is inconsistent with Mr. Trask's recent comments
that he couldn't say how much retail Duke wanted to
build. Moreover, if Duke succeeds in obtaining a
general commercial zoning, which allows for unlimited
retail, there is nothing that would limit Duke to
10,000 sq feet of additional retail.

****

April 2004: Herald-Sun editorial says Duke has raised
"justifiable ire" with its plans for Central Campus
and needs to win back the neighborhood's trust.

****

June 2004: The InterNeighborhood Council of Durham
voted to endorse a statement saying INC "supports the
position that the new University-College District is
the most appropriate zoning designation for Duke's
Central Campus. The INC also supports the list of
limited retail uses that was worked out with Duke and
endorsed by the partnership neighborhoods in 2003."

Despite the efforts of a Duke official at the meeting
to have the last sentence of the INC statement
removed, the measure was passed overwhelmingly.

****

December 2004: Despite assurances at the March forum
to better communicate its Central Campus plans with
the neighborhoods, we've heard nothing from Duke. We
then read in the Duke Chronicle (11/29/04) that Duke's
Board of Trustees was set to approve proposals for
Central Campus. Duke officials insist the article was
wrong. Duke could have set the record straight. One
thing this episode shows is that Duke doesn't yet get
that they need to be proactive in contacting and
sharing information with its partnership
neighborhoods.

The fact remains that, despite their assurances to
better communicate with the partnership neighborhoods,
we hadn't heard a word from Duke over nine months.

****

February 2005: Duke holds a meeting and has less to
report than its March 2004 meeting. Partnership
neighborhoods ask to participate on Duke's planning
committees but Duke officials refuse.

****

February 2005: Durham Chamber of Commerce writes
letter to editor saying, "The provision of
non-residential space has prompted concern on the part
of nearby neighborhoods about how much non-residential
space will be provided. This concern is commendable.
No one is interested in seeing a project that will
negatively impact nearby commercial areas along Ninth
and Broad streets."

****

April 2005: Duke alumnus writes column in Duke
Chronicle asking, "How does using tax-free money to
fund businesses that compete with the local economy,
serve the mission of education?"

****