INC NEWS - Epcon Plan Amendment (A07-13) & Rezoning (Z07-26)

[Melissa Rooney]

I thought I would forward you an email I sent to the
BOCC tonight after their 3-2 vote to approve a
comprehensive plan amendment, making way for a
doubling of the density in the area of Farrington
road, abutting Chapel Hill. It is my understanding
that much of the open space is to be 'buffered' by
'replacement trees' (i.e. saplings) at low density --
incompatible with Durham's stated desire to sustain
'natural, existing vegetation,' and certain to consume
more of our water supply (with far fewer filtering and
erosion control advantages).

I hope that you will share your concerns with the
BOCC, as well as the planning department and planning
commission, in the hopes of preserving the
environmental integrity of what is left in this area
of Durham County:

ereckhow at aol.com, bmheron at co.durham.nc.us,
lcheek at co.durham.nc.us, prcousin at earthlink.net,
mpage at co.durham.nc.us, Steve.Medlin at durhamnc.gov,
gabrine013 at msn.com

Sincerely,
Melissa Rooney

P.S. See below.

____

Dear County Commissioners,

I am deeply discouraged by your approval tonight of
Epcon's comprehensive amendment request. 

The time for upholding Durham County's stated
intentions and comprehensive plan has long passed, yet
the BOCC refuses to accept the fact that
change/improvement must start somewhere.

I commend commissioners Ellen Reckhow's and Becky
Heron's sincere concern for the long-term state of
Durham County, and their support of the 2-3 YO
comprehensive plan (which took tremendous time, hard
work and cooperation on the part of ALL Durham
citizens), as was clearly evidenced in their
intelligent discussion and their sole votes against
this comprehensive plan amendment.

As Commissioner Reckhow pointed out, and planning
director Steve Medlin confirmed, rejection of this
comprehensive plan amendment would have resulted in a
reduction of ONLY FIVE residential units. Yet, you
have now cleared the way for the slippery descent of
this area from a density of 4 units/acre to as many as
8/acre, while requiring no truly committed language
wrt concerns for greater Durham county (environmental
and otherwise).

I find it hard to believe that, after all their work
and money spent up to this point, the Epcon
Development team would have given up their development
plans for a mere 5 units. 

In addition, it is incomprehensible to me that after
more than a year in the working, the Epcon development
team was unable to offer the 'committed' elements
discussed tonight until AFTER their most recent
meeting with the planning department (and this after
an additional 2 cycle deferral). Even more disturbing
is that these elements were still declared by several
gov't officials and staff as not TRULY committed by
the language in the development plan, thus leaving
open the possibility that they may never come to
fruition anyway.

So once again, Durham is taking the developers at
their word and hoping we don't get burned (something
with which we haven't had much past success). Even if
this development team is upstanding and their actions
follow their spoken words (despite the looseness of
their written ones), the reward of a plan amendment
and subsequent rezoning without the demand for truly
committed language (as submitted TO THE PLANNING
DEPARTMENT) continues a terrible precedent in Durham
County.

If Durham were a person, they'd go to a used car lot
and buy the first car they see for the sticker price,
without negotiation and certainly without getting any
kind of warranty. No wonder Chapel Hill is driving a
hybrid limo while we're still crawling along in a 20
year old gas-guzzling jelopy.

Once again, I am left wondering why developments are
reviewed by the Planning Dept and Planning Commission
at all, when their requests for denial can be so
completely ignored.

Before you approve the rezoning for this area, I wish
you would at least REQUIRE truly committed language on
all elements, including true buffering and
preservation of EXISTING MATURE trees and vegetation
-- rather than the current plan to clear-cut,
mass-grade, and plant lower-density saplings that
require more water, and even then often die with no
replacement and no repercussions.

I hope that all of you will remember your discussion
tonight and, in line with that, prevent the new
density of this parcel from being used by future
developments to increase residential density
throughout this area. 

And I hope that all Durham citizens will remember the
way you voted tonight when they vote, themselves, in
the upcoming elections.

Sincerely,
Melissa Rooney



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Melissa Rooney, Ph.D.
Fairfield Community Awareness, 
Communications and INC representative

Durham, NC 27713
mmr121570 at yahoo.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Be a better friend, newshound, and 
know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile.  Try it now.  http://mobile.yahoo.com/;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ