[Durham INC] why South Durham is what is getting developed

[RW Pickle]

I've been meaning to write this for some time in a effort to sort of put a
bigger picture on why South Durham is/has been a hotbed for development;
not just today, but in the last 20+ years. This just didn't happen
overnight. And it happened long before I arrived here. Because what
brought me here 30+ years ago was a plan that had already been set in
motion long before I arrived.

I came here as a field engineer for a construction company out of TN that
was the general contractor for what was then the newest and largest waste
water treatment plant (WWTP) in the region. It is the main WWTP on
Ferrington Road for Durham. Now is all of this getting a little clearer...

With the additional upgrades and expansion to the County's WWTP on Hwy.
55, most of the treatment capacity of waste water is on this side of town.
Hence, all of the development. Without a treatment plant to tie into, you
can not have density because you have to rely on septic systems. And with
the soils in South Durham being what they are, some land would never perk
to even be allowed to be buildable.

So as we were building this WWTP facility, Cary was just getting started.
Hard to believe it was just a sleepy little crossroads 30 years ago. If
Durham had not built this plant and Cary or Chapel Hill would have
expanded their services, we may have lost part of Durham to another city
as it annexed areas into it that it served with water and sewer. Water
isn't much of an issue as long as you have it somewhere because it flows
under pressure. But waste water generally flows downhill by gravity.

Meanwhile, the Little River Resevoir was being built to add water to the
plan. And as it all has unfolded, South Durham has grown. I-40 came
through. And for the most part, it now borders Chapel Hill and Cary.

So what's next as our visionaries look toward the future? One can only
think that with everything closing in on 3 of our sides that North Durham
is the next big growth area. And there's plenty of room to grow. But
they'll need WWTP and water as well as some major roads. But one great
thing that seems untapped about North Durham is there is an abandoned rail
spur that runs to Roxboro that would make the first great connection of
that area to downtown by high-speed rail. And all the density you could
want to build around it is there for the building because most of that
land is undeveloped. It would change Durham if this plan was executed. The
geographic density base would shift outside of the City to an area that
could be planned. They'd say... "you can even see Durham from out here on
a clear day..." as the ride the high-speed rail into Durham in 12 minutes
from Roxboro.

Someone's already planning our future just like it was planned when I
arrived he 30+ years ago to build infrastructure. Don't just sit back and
fuss about somethings that are already pretty much predetermined. Get
involved and write the future because that is what will change Durham.

Randy Pickle