[Durham INC] Tuesday's INC Meeting First Pres Church 7 pm

[Tom Miller]

Dear Neighbors:

 

Please attend tomorrow's meeting at First Presbyterian Church, downtown.
The most important item of our business will be the proposed 751 rezoning
resolution.  I have attached the version of the resolution that I sent you
at the end of May.  Below, please see another version of the resolution
which Rosemarie has suggested.  Hers is more concise.  Please read both
version and be prepared to argue and vote for the version you like the best.
(Thanks, Rosemarie!).

 

Concerning this, many of you (like me) have been reading the listserve
chatter about another request by the developers to control the day when the
case is to be heard by the board of commissioners.  Quite frankly, I am
having trouble keeping up with the procedural maneuvers in this case.

 

At any rate, INC will take the issue up tomorrow evening.  The rest of our
agenda will be light.  For July, I hope to have Steve Medlin as our speaker.
The topic will be his frank impression of how the UDO is working for
neighborhood groups.  It's strengths and its weaknesses.

 

Thanks to you all and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow night.

 

Tom Miller

 

 

 

A RESOLUTION of the 

INTERNEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL OF DURHAM

 

 

WHEREAS developers have petitioned the County of Durham to rezone
approximately 167 acres in southern Durham County on the shores of Jordan
Lake from low density residential to mixed use allowing for approximately
1300 dwelling units and nearly 600,000 sq. ft. of non-residential uses; and

 

WHEREAS certain Durham residents and neighborhood organizations oppose the
proposed rezoning; and

 

WHEREAS the Durham City-County Planning Commission, in  fair and open
proceedings at its meeting in April 2010, voted overwhelmingly to recommend
denial of the rezoning following a public hearing and an exhaustive inquiry
into the merits of the matter; and

 

WHEREAS the matter was then scheduled for public hearing before the Durham
County Board of County Commissioners on May 24, 2010; and

 

WHEREAS the neighborhood opponents of the rezoning made a timely request for
a postponement of the hearing under the provisions of the Unified
Development Ordinance reasonably expecting thereby to delay the matter by at
least two weeks; and

 

WHEREAS the Board of County Commissioners, interfering in the customary
procedures for rezonings, and to render meaningless the grant of extra time
sought by the neighborhood opponents of the rezoning, rescheduled the
hearing on the matter to June 1, 2010, only eight days later and not even
one cycle of the board's regular scheduled meetings; and

 

WHEREAS a resident of Durham County appealed the decision of the Board of
County Commissioners to the Durham Board of Adjustment on the grounds that
the Board's decision was contrary to the letter and spirit of the ordinance
and unfair; and

 

WHEREAS the Board of County Commissioners then further interfered in the
customary procedures for rezoning by proposing to hold a closed session on
the proposed rezoning on May 24, 2010; and

 

WHEREAS no closed session was held because property owners neighboring the
subject property made a timely filing of a protest petition in anticipation
of the June 1 hearing and the appeal to the Board of Adjustment was
withdrawn; and

 

WHEREAS one of the owners signing the petition is the government of a
neighborhood association organized pursuant to a declaration of restrictive
covenants and that even though the signatures of such organizations on
protest petitions in past case have been found acceptable, Durham County
government has cast doubt on the ability of such organizations to execute
protest petitions in matters relating to these developers; and

 

WHEREAS the Board of County Commissioners, following communication with the
developers' attorneys, again rescheduled the hearing on the rezoning to June
23, 2010, in order to give the developers time to overcome the protest
petition; and

 

WHEREAS, rather than allowing this rezoning case to follow the customary
procedure for such matters, and without due regard for the recommendation of
the Planning Commission, and without concern for the due process rights and
welfare of the citizens of Durham, the Board of County Commissioners has at
every step, intervened in this matter to twist the process to assist the
developers and to confound the neighborhood opponents, and has thereby
considerably undermined the trust of Durham citizens and neighborhood
organizations in the fairness of the government of Durham County generally
and the ordinances governing development particularly;

 

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the InterNeighborhood Council of Durham,
through its government and its members, protests the unwarranted and unfair
interference of the Board of County Commissioners in the procedures
regulating this rezoning, and further that the InterNeighborhood Council,
its government and its members, call upon the Board of County Commissioners
to deny this rezoning petition in conformity with the recommendation of the
Durham City-County Planning Commission because to do otherwise would reward
the inappropriate and unfair conduct of this matter at the expense of the
trust and welfare of the citizens of Durham; and

 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the InterNeighborhood Council of Durham calls
upon the Durham County Government to treat the protest petition signed by a
neighborhood organization in this matter as valid in the same manner as such
petitions have been treated in past cases.

 

Adopted this _____ day of June, 2010

 

THE INTERNEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL OF DURHAM

 

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