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

[Tina Motley]

Yes, infrastructure is the guiding light for development.  Southeast Durham
near Falls Lake is likely to see more growth as Durham has a contract for a
master regional sewage pumping station about a mile from Falls Lake.

North Durham is probably safe.  Back in the late 80's Durham was really
concerned about development upstream of Lake Michie.  About 75% of Lake
Michie's watershed is in Person County.  Durham commissioned a study called
"Watershed Management Study:  Lake Michie and Little River Reservoir
Watersheds" by Camp Dresser & McKee (June 1989).  Durham spent $100,000 on
this thorough report. This is why Durham doesn't allow developments in its
own watersheds of Lake Michie and Little River.  Here are a few interesting
quotes:

"If uncontrolled future development causes further water quality
deterioration in Lake Michie and Little River Reservoir, it will be even
more difficult and costly for Durham to meet the new EPA drinking water
standards." (Executive Summary p. 1)

"The watershed is the "first line of defense" for protecting a drinking
water supply, and therefore effective watershed management is the logical
first step to meet EPA's new drinking water standards.  This is because the
watershed is the source of pollutants which can contaminate the water supply
reservoir.  It is far preferable to implement an affordable watershed
management plan that keeps contaminants out of the water supply reservoir,
than to rely solely on water treatment plants to treat a contaminated supply
to meet drinking water standards.  The watershed management approach offers
a greater factor of safety because it is an additional pollution "barrier"
deployed to ensure high quality drinking water at the source.  A watershed
management plan is also desirable because it is a proactive approach which
focuses on the cost-effective prevention of future water quality problems.
In the absence of a watershed management plan, there is a greater risk that
uncontrolled future development will result in water supply contamination of
crisis proportions.  The likely result of such a reactive approach to water
supply protection is the intervention by regulatory agencies when a crisis
occurs and the requirement of remedial controls which may be much more
costly than a proactive watershed management plan." (Section 1 P.4)

"Finally, a WS-1 classification is likely to have significant economic
development benefits for Durham County and the City of Durham since it means
that the water supply is among the most highly protected in the State.  With
future growth placing increasing demands on high quality water sources
throughout the State, those areas with well-protected high quality drinking
water supplies are likely to have an "edge" in attracting new industrial
development." (Section 1 p.4)

"Because such a significant percentage of the watershed area is located
within upstream jurisdictions, Durham County cannot effectively protect the
water supply reservoirs without the cooperation of the other jurisdictions."
(Section 1 p.5)

"In summary, a positive relationship between density/imperviousness and
nonpoint pollution loadings has been demonstrated by many studies." "In
addition to producing greater per acre loadings of stormwater pollution,
impervious areas are also a concern because they are the most likely
contributing area for toxic contaminants found in urban runoff." (Section 3
p.5)

There are lots of other interesting quotes from this study, charts, and
diagrams.   Anyway, that's why Lake Michie and Little River watersheds are
limited to 6%-9% impervious surface.  Person County (upstream of Lake
Michie) has development restrictions because of Durham's efforts.  One more
quote related to that:

"The fact that the upstream jurisdictions receive no direct benefit from
water supply protection efforts is a major impediment to a watershed
management program." (1-7)

About 1/5 of Durham County is cut off from development.  The only place left
for Durham to develop is the watersheds of Jordan Lake and Falls Lake.
Durham allows up to 70% impervious surface in these areas and the soils are
highly erodible and impermeable. 
All municipalities want to grow.  The geography and geology are unfortunate
challenges for Durham.

Tina 
 



-----Original Message-----
From: inc-list-bounces at rtpnet.org [mailto:inc-list-bounces at rtpnet.org] On
Behalf Of RW Pickle
Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2011 7:42 PM
To: inc-list at durhaminc.org
Subject: [Durham INC] why South Durham is what is getting developed

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

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