INC NEWS - Planner says no to strip club (Herald-Sun)

[Melvin Whitley]

Thank you John.

Durham currently bars developers from opening a new adult establishment 
within 1,000 feet of residential zones, churches, day cares, schools, parks 
and libraries, or within 2,000 feet of another adult establishment. 
Developer can only open adult establishment on I-3 Zone properties. Durham 
has Eighty Six (86) I-3 Zone site in Durham where adult establishment can be 
located. We don't know how many of these (86) I-3 Zone sites would meet 
Durham requirement. What we do know is that neighborhoods should have the 
right to voice their concern before and adult establishment is open near 
them. Durham don't have a policy that would give neighborhoods a voice when 
the next developer want to put an adult establishment near us and meet the 
requirement.

We are asking all neighborhoods and organizations to ask the City and County 
to create a process in which all adult establishment would have to come 
before a Governing Body.

We must do what we can to stop Human Trafficking. We can make this happen, 
please help us.

Your Servant
Rev. Melvin Whitley
2614 Harvard Ave
Durham NC  27703
(919) 596-9691 - Home
(919) 308-2844 - Cell
tellmelvin at nc.rr.com
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John Schelp" <bwatu at yahoo.com>
To: <bwatu at yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2005 7:20 AM
Subject: Planner says no to strip club (Herald-Sun)


> Historically, the DRB rejects cases that fail to meet
> the technical standards...
>
>
> Planner says no to strip club
> by Ray Gronberg, Herald-Sun, 22 December 2005
>
> City/County Planning Director Frank Duke says a
> proposed strip club off U.S. 70 Business is too close
> to residential property to qualify for approval under
> Durham's land-use law.
>
> The planning director's ruling doesn't by itself make
> it impossible for would-be owner Larry Jones to build
> the club, but it does ensure that when his site plan
> reaches Durham's Development Review Board early next
> year, it will do so with a staff recommendation urging
> the plan's denial.
>
> Duke's office relayed word of his ruling to Jones in a
> memo dated Wednesday.
>
> The next move is up to Jones, who has to decide
> whether to appeal the planning director's ruling to
> Durham's Board of Adjustment. Jones asked for and on
> Wednesday received a letter from Duke explaining the
> department's position.
>
> Duke said the problem is that Durham's regulations for
> adult establishments require that they be at least
> 1,000 feet from any property that's zoned for
> residential uses.
>
> "The closest property that has residential zoning is
> approximately 750 feet away," he said during an
> interview Wednesday.
>
> It was not immediately clear what property Duke was
> referring to, although a memo from the planning staff
> said the required separation "is not being met along
> the eastern boundary" of the 1.5-acre project site.
>
> Durham's zoning maps show that while most of the land
> in the area that adjoins U.S. 70 Business is zoned for
> industrial uses, there's a large swath of residential
> property to the east of the highway.
>
> Duke's letter to Jones also maintained that planners
> can measure the buffer starting from the property line
> of any tract that's even partially zoned for
> residential use.
>
> Three properties along Carr Road are zoned partly for
> residential use and partly for industrial use.
>
> The Development Review Board is a staff-level body
> that by law can only rule on whether a project
> complies with letter of the city's regulations and
> design standards.
>
> The earliest it could review the proposal is February,
> Duke said.
>
> The Board of Adjustment is a separate panel that has
> the power to hear appeals of Duke's legal
> interpretations and overrule them. The earliest it
> could weigh in is also February, Duke said.
>
> The adjustment board also has to approve a "minor
> special-use permit" for the project because the club's
> driveway would cross a short stretch of land that
> isn't zoned for adult establishments.
>
> That hearing isn't likely to occur until at least
> March, Duke said.
>
> Jones couldn't be reached for comment on Wednesday.
>
> An opponent of the project, East Durham activist Rev.
> Melvin Whitley, was happy with Duke's ruling.
>
> "We're hopeful that this gives Mr. Jones a chance to
> rethink how he uses the property, and to explore the
> opportunity to work with the neighborhood to do
> something else other than having an adult
> establishment," Whitley said.
>
> Whitley and other critics of the project have said a
> strip club isn't the sort of business East Durham
> needs as it tries to fight a persistent crime problem
> that includes numerous prostitution cases.
>
>