[Durham INC] DRAFT DRAFT Sept minutes

[Pat Carstensen]

I am resending the minutes, with the resolutions added, in preparation for next week's meeting.---


September Delegate
Meeting

First Presbyterian Church

September 28, 2010

 

Attending the meeting
were:

Delegates and Alternates

Colonial Village – Freddie Estremera

Colony Park – Don Lebkes

Cross Counties – Pat Carstensen 

Duke Park – Ian Kipp, Bill Anderson

Falconbridge – Rosemarie Kitchin

Golden Belt Neighborhood Association – DeDreana Freeman 

Lochaven Hills – Josie McNeil (also representing Friends of
West Point Park)

Morehead Hill – Kacie Martin

Northgate Park – Mike Shiflett

Old Farm – David Harris

Old North Durham – Peter Katz, Maria Sanchez

Watts Hospital Hillandale – Tom Miller, Mike Woodard

West Cornwallis Neighborhood Association – Bob Chapman

Woodcroft – Mary Gibbs

 

Visitors

Darius Little – Organizing Chadsford subdivision

Jim Wise – News and Observer

Rickea Womack – Parks and Recreation, City of Durham

Beverly B. Thompson – City of Durham

Thomas Bonfield – City of Durham

Michael M. Hughes, PE – City of Durham, Public Works

Ed Venable – City of Durham, Public Works

Lynwood D. Best – City of Durham, NIS

Janet Warner – Friends of West Point Park

 

Tom Miller opened the meeting.  Delegates and guests introduced themselves.  

 

2010 Street Bond –
The city has 680 miles of streets. 
The $20M from earlier bonds resurfaced about ½ the backlog, but 1/5 (150
mi.) remains in poor/very poor condition. 
$20M in bond will take care of these, and then new financial planning
should make maintenance pay-as-you-go (should do about 33-34 miles of street
per year).  Maintaining costs 1/3
of what it costs to re-build.  Right
now, we can borrow at 2.79%, bid prices are down, and this will provide some
jobs (all good things).  More
information at DurhamOperationGreenlight.org.  One concern is that potholes slow cars down, and better
streets make faster drivers – increasing needs for traffic calming.

 

Mike Shiflett moved and Bill Anderson seconded a motion to
have INC support the street bond. 
See Appendix.

 

Property at Black
Meadow, next to West Point on the Eno – State has a tentative agreement to
purchase the property to add to the state park.  In terms of the discussion to add West Point on the Eno to
the state park, it is too early to say anything, but clearly we need to ensure
continuity of community activities that take place at West Point.

 

Parks and Recreation
– Don’t forget the free concerts and other events: http://www.ci.durham.nc.us/departments/parks/special_events.cfm.  Also Rickea passed out information on
sliding fees and fee waivers: See http://www.ci.durham.nc.us/departments/parks/brochures_forms_apps.cfm


 

Minutes – David
moved that we approve the minutes. 
Rosemarie seconded the motion, and it passed by voice vote.

 

Billboards – Tom
attended the Board of County Commissioners meeting to speak on INC’s opposition
to change in the ordinance.  Since
the industry reps withdrew the proposal, we can put this down as a success story.  Special thanks are due to Kelly Jarrett
and John Schelp for their work on this issue.

 

Legislative Agenda
– We will first talk to city and county to see if there is traction on INC
goals of getting permission to strengthen the overlay ordinance and bullet
ownership (old resolutions, need to check with Melvin Whitley on the bullet
one), as well as a moratorium on digital billboards and licensing managers
hired by homeowner associations (possible new resolutions, see below).  

 

Mike Shiflett moved and David Harris seconded a resolution
on supporting legislation on managing homeowner associations and related issues
(see Appendix).

 

Pat Carstensen moved and David Harris seconded a resolution
supporting legislation to have a moratorium on new digital billboards until the
federal studies on their safety are completed (see Appendix).

 

Future Meetings –
We will have a “downtown panel” to talk about the vision for the area.

 

Nominating Committee
– David Harris will chair it.  Pat
Carstensen, Mike Shiflett, and Fred Foster, Jr. on it.

 

Traffic and
Transportation Issues – We formed a committee with DeDreana as chair, and Pat,
Peter, Mike and Rosemarie on it.  They
will have a list of things to monitor next month.

 

Neighborhood Reports

·     
Golden Belt has a re-zoning that would knock
down 12 homes to create a campus similar to TROSA.  Tom will meet with DeDreana to help the neighborhood.

·     
David said that there seems to be an uptick
recently in crime in some neighborhoods – related to what?

·     
Trinity Park is still struggling with pollution
from an old dry cleaning site.

·     
Falconbridge is seeing real benefit of
Neighborhood Watch – stopped an assault. 

 


Appendix: Resolutions
A RESOLUTION BY THE INTERNEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL OF DURHAM Durham Street Bonds WHEREAS the streets in the city of Durham are in need of repair and maintenance on city streets has been neglected and deferred for too long; andWHEREAS the poor condition of the streets impede the city’s renaissance and impact negatively on the community’s image; andWHEREAS current economic conditions and the general financial health of the city favor incurring modest debt to pay for long needed repairs;WHEREAS the city government has expressed its resolution to address future street repair needs on a reasonable schedule from annual revenues;NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the InterNeighborhood Council of Durham through its delegates duly assembled that the citizens of Durham should support the proposed street repair bonds by voting “yes” in the referendum on the November 2, 2010 ballot. A RESOLUTION BY THE INTERNEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL OF DURHAM Community Association Managers WHEREAS increasingly new neighborhoods and residential development of every sort are made subject to a regime of restrictive covenants which provide for private government in the form of a mandatory community association; andWHEREAS these community associations are charged with the power to make and enforce rules substantially affecting the quality of life in the neighborhood and the may also levy dues and assessments and spend the same for the welfare of the neighborhood; andWHEREAS  these same associations must employ professional managers to assist and guide the association government in the execution of its lawful powers; andWHEREAS the managers employed are often entrusted with substantial sums of money belonging to association members; andWHEREAS the security and welfare of community associations, their members, and their property are dependent upon the integrity and competence of professional managers; andWHEREAS older neighborhoods without professional managers are affected by the security and welfare of their neighboring community associations;NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the InterNeighborhood Council of Durham through its delegates duly assembled that:1)the InterNeighborhood Council urges the General Assembly of North Carolina to enact laws which require the licensure of professional community association managers and create minimum standards for their professional competence; and2)the laws so enacted should resemble in substantial measure House Bill H – 762 as it was introduced in the 2009 Session of the General Assembly. A RESOLUTION BY THE INTERNEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL OF DURHAM State-wide Billboard Moratorium WHEREAS billboards are a blight on the land and represent a bankrupt means of communication; andWHEREAS digital billboards with changeable lighted displays are especially obnoxious to the scenic environment, inimical to good urban planning, and create a distraction hazard to motor traffic on our roads and highways;NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the InterNeighborhood Council of Durham through its delegates duly assembled that:1)the InterNeighborhood Council urges the General Assembly of North Carolina to enact laws which impose a statewide moratorium on the erection of digital billboards until such time as they are determined to be no distraction to motorists and no threat to traffic safety; and2)the laws so enacted should resemble in substantial measure House Bill H – 2011 as it was introduced in the 2009 Session of the General Assembly;3)the laws so enacted should in no way interfere with the authority of the City and County of Durham to regulate and prohibit billboards as those jurisdiction currently do.

 

 

 




 		 	   		  

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