[Durham INC] HS Letter: 751 Project, J Lake boundaries, & development tax deferrals

[Melissa Rooney]

Please see the Herald Sun Letter to the Editor below. I'm sure we all saw the full-page, green advertisements for Southern Durham Development that appeared in the News and Observer and Herald Sun newspapers (possibly others) a couple weeks ago. This letter is in answer to these ads, which mislead readers in their association with the 751 Assemblage project, and to the tax-deferrals being granted to the development community for unfilled buildings and uncompleted projects. 
 
If you feel strongly, please write the herald sun with your response to Ms. Fischer's letter to the editor. We need to let the press and our elected officials know that we are STILL very concerned about this issue.
  
--Melissa Rooney 
  
______________________________ 
  
  
  
NO TO 751 PROJECT 
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Herald Sun 
Letters to the Editor 
July 18, 2009
  
  
Builders are out to get our water and money. Check out the full-page green ads appearing in local papers by Southern Durham Development. Their clains of “protecting the environment” and “building smarter” do not apply to the 751 South Project (also known as the 751 Assemblage). 
  
Don’t be deceived and taxed more again. The 751 Assemblage is neither environmentally sound nor approved. It is a proposed mini-city (with tree removal, concrete paving and more sewage) in the supposedly protected one-mile boundary of Jordan Lake. 
  
On EPA’s Impaired Waters list since 2002, Jordan Lake is a drinking water supply for Durham, Wake, Orange, and Chatham counties. 
  
Increased construction in the watershed, means citizens drink runoff from the development or pay for a new water treatment plant. 
  
The 751 Assemblage will not protect our water supply and will cost taxpayers dearly – requiring city water, sewer lines and roads to service it. 
  
In the meantime, contractors have pressured elected officials to allow them to postpone paying property taxes for three years. A bill deferring taxes statewide on unsold properties is now on Governor Perdue’s desk, awaiting her signature. Tax Administrator Kim Simpson has stated that this exemption removes much of her tax base. 
  
Compensation for the uncollected taxes will fall on all citizens. Citizens should put equal pressure on our elected officials not to accept the developer-paid survey, not to move the Jordan Lake boundary, and not to allow developers to defer taxes. 
  
Helen Fischer 
Durham 
  



      
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