INC NEWS - DRAFT August Minutes

[pat carstensen]

Please let me know of any corrections.  Regards, pat

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Inter-Neighborhood Council
www.DurhamINC.org
Minutes of Meeting of August 23, 2005

REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT
Carrie Mowry	Old North Durham , Historic Preservation Society of Durham
John Compton	Old North Durham , Historic Preservation Society of Durham
Ben Comfort	Spring Valley NA
Bobbe Deason	Morehead Hill
Ken Gasch	Colonial Village
David Harris	Old Farm
Frank Duke	City – County Planning
Cathy Ahrendsen	A Helping Hand
Julie Lawhorn	Food Bank of Central and Eastern NC
Don Stauffacher	Marquis Pierre
Dominique Atwater	CVNA juniors
Whitney Wickerson	Colonial Village
Bill Anderson	Duke Park
Michael Shiflett	Northgate Park
Cheryl Shiflett	NPNA
Melissa Rooney	Fairfield NNA
Donna Smith	Durham Parks & Rec
Mike Woodard	WHHNA
Tammy Brown	Durham Parks & Rec
Lugenia Mason	Riverforest Neighborhood
Josh Parker	Lakewood / Tuscaloosa
Marguerite Ward	Rockwood
Pat Carstensen	Cross County
Randy Pickle	Forest Hills

Introductions – President Bill Anderson opened the meeting.  Members 
introduced themselves.  Thanks to Anne Guyton for providing agendas.

Brief Presentations – There were a number of brief presentations.
1. The Colonial Village Junior Neighborhood Association talked about their 
projects, which include distributing window air conditioners to seniors 
without A/C and handing out Keeping in Step handbooks.
2. The Food Bank is asking neighbors to be eyes and ears for seniors who are 
living independently and are stretching their budgets to cover food; 
obviously, no-one wants to say they are hungry so confidentiality is 
important.  Call Julie at 956-2513 x224.
3. A Helping Hand does non-medical services (companionship, cooking, etc.) 
for people over 60 and for temporarily or permanently handicapped 
individuals.  They try to find ways to provide free services first, then 
charge on a sliding-fee scale.  They screen and train volunteers.  See 
http://www.ahelpinghandnc.org/
4. The legislative session is not yet over.  We will need to start lobbying 
on East End Connector for next round of transportation planning.  Perhaps 
transportation plans would be a good future topic.
5. Parks and Rec is trying to get to more community meetings to make sure 
concerns and information about what they are doing are being shared.

UDO – Pat Carstensen went over the Urban Committee’s analysis.  Frank Duke 
talked about the major changes that the UDO will make.  Zoning enforcement 
is fully staffed; in fact, 6 people removed 700 signs in one weekend.  There 
is more work to be done in making neighborhood meetings with developers more 
productive for both parties.   We approved language for INC comments at UDO 
hearing (see attachment A).

Bonds / Oversight Committee – River Forest still doesn’t have a basketball 
court so the kids play in the street.  1996 bonds didn’t go as far as 
expected and there is no way to do small projects like a basketball court.  
Cheryl will work on a resolution for the next meeting to clarify how they 
intend any oversight committee to be structured and act.

Other Items
1. As of 9/12/05 we have $1440.11 in checking, $2225.39 in savings.  The 
treasurer’s report and secretary’s minutes were accepted.
2. If you think you might want to be an officer, it’s fun.  See Mike 
Shiflett or Bill.
3. Neighborhood hero bash still has no date set.
4. Ken Gasch points out that a few houses take way more than their share of 
crime-fighting resources.  Some cities start to charge $80 / hour to the 
landlord if the police have to come to the property more than 3 times a 
year.  This might encourage landlords to be more responsible about their 
tenants.

The meeting was adjourned.

Attachment A:
INC has spent considerable time examining and discussing the UDO draft.  In 
general, we are enthusiastic about the UDO.  A framework that acknowledges 
that urban areas are not like the suburbs, tries to protect neighborhood 
character, and formalizes processes and requirements is an immense step 
ahead. We support passage of the UDO as quickly as possible to get its 
benefits – but there are a number of areas that need fixing first.   The 
details of our concerns are set forth in 45+ pages of comments.  Some 
specific areas of concern are:
1. We oppose shortening the notification interval from 14 days to 10 days.
2. We need to tighten up the regulation of driveways and front-yard parking.
3. We need to make sure that no new destabilizing uses are introduced into 
long-established neighborhoods by the UDO.  We can improve both the 
restrictions on destabilizing uses and the incentives for stabilizing uses 
in neighborhoods.
4. We support the idea of Neighborhood Protection Overlays but have concerns 
about getting the details filled in.
5. We need to put sufficient resources into training the Planning Department 
and citizens to use the new ordinance, as well as planning to thoroughly 
review the UDO in 12-18 months.
6. The threshold for doing a traffic impact analysis should be lower than 
2.5 cars per minute.