INC NEWS - Photo & article on Morreene Road development

[John Schelp]

Recommendation delayed on Morreene Rd. development
By Jime Wise, News & Observer, 27 Oct 2007

* Photo of new warehouse next to houses:
www.thedurhamnews.com/bull_market/story/95346.html

The curious case of D&L Parts vs. a Morreene Road
neighborhood continues - at least until December.
That's when the Durham Board of Adjustment will take
the matter up again, after agreeing to a neighborhood
request for continuance at its meeting Tuesday.

Between the residents, D&L and the city, there remain
issues "to work through," as interim Planning Director
Steve Medlin put it.

WHAT'S UP: In 2006, D&L Parts, "a wholesale
distributor of parts, supplies, and equipment for
major appliances, refrigeration, and heating and air
conditioning systems" according to the company Web
site, bought the former Mariner's Cove restaurant
property at Morreene Road and Linden Terrace. This
summer, it began to build a 13,000-square-foot sales
and storage building there, to replace its current
quarters in Bragtown.

The two-acre lot is zoned for "neighborhood
commercial" use, a designation carried over from the
restaurant, which predated the surrounding
neighborhood. However, once nearby residents saw D&L's
building taking shape, they protested that the
company's business does not fit the ordinance
definition of "neighborhood commercial."

The new building, they contend, is a warehouse rather
than the retail store permitted under neighborhood
commercial zoning; they have also expressed concern
about the building's aesthetics and buffers between it
and residential properties.

Earlier this month, Linden Terrace resident Janet
Mittman, on behalf of the neighborhood, filed an
appeal of now-departed Planning Director Frank Duke's
interpretation of the ordinance that allowed
construction to go ahead. Her appeal was scheduled for
hearing by the quasi-legal Board of Adjustment this
week.

WHAT'S HAPPENED: Medlin said he met with the city
attorney and determined that the appeal was allowable.
Exercising due diligence, he reviewed D&L's plan and
determined that the stated use was fine; however, he
said, "Some later investigations indicated they were
going to use it otherwise."

Subsequently, he said, he met with D&L and the
company's attorneys and advised them of the possible
problem.

"If they do any construction, they are doing so at
their own risk," he said. The city will not let D&L
move in unless the use question is resolved.

Medlin also met with residents of the Morreene-Linden
neighborhood last week.

"I think there has been further definition of what
issues are," he said.

AND THEN: "We decided to do the continuance because it
started to come clear that we needed legal
representation," Mittman said Thursday. Her neighbor
Will Robinson concurred.

At the Board of Adjustment, an attorney represented
D&L; Medlin represented the city; no one spoke from
the neighborhood, which is seeking an attorney.

"People around here are not rich, and [lawyers] ask a
lot," said Cecilia Eichenberger of Morreene Road.

Mittman said the neighbors may still be open to
negotiating with D&L. The "usage question" remains
worrisome, though, and it's not just a Morreene/Linden
issue, she said, rather one of city-wide import.

"I really want people to drive by and consider,"
Mittman said, "what their impression would be if this
was being built across from their house."

AND NOW: Construction continues on Morreene Road, said
Mike Murray, D&L manager.

"What we're doing now is drying the fixture in to
protect it from the elements," he said.

As for controversy: "We're working with the planning
department and trying to work with the neighborhood
where everybody is happy.

"The city is concerned because the neighborhood is
concerned," he said. "We [will] have very little
impact on the neighborhood. ... Everything's going to
be clean and neat," and pleasingly landscaped, he
said.

Murray said he still expects to be in the new building
this fall, "Once we get OK from the planning
department."

AND SO: The neighborhood's appeal is the first item on
the agenda for the Board of Adjustment meeting Dec.
11.


* You can see photograph of new warehouse going up
next to houses here:
www.thedurhamnews.com/bull_market/story/95346.html