[Durham INC] Fw: Draft Nov/Dec minutes

[Pat Carstensen]

Please let me know about any additions or corrections.  Happy holidays, pat


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November / December Delegate Meeting of the InterNeighborhood Council of Durham
NIS Conference Room, Golden Belt
November 29, 2016

Attending the meeting were:
Neighborhoods
Downing Creek - Dick Ford
Cross Counties - Pat Carstensen
Lockhaven Hills - Keith LePage
Morehead Hill - Rochelle Araujo
Old North Durham - John Martin
Trinity Park - Philip Azar
Tuscaloosa-Lakewood - Susan Sewell
Watts-Hillandale - Tom Miller

Visitors
Will Wilson - DOST
John Killeen - City of Durham, NIS
Scott Whiteman - Durham City & County Planning

Secretary Pat Carstensen opened the meeting.  Those present introduced themselves.   There was no quorum so minutes will be approved in January.

Susan Sewell gave a year-end Report from the Treasurer.  Our expenses and income were pretty nearly matched for 2016, with the major expenses being the candidate forum, the mailbox and various communications costs.  Sixteen neighborhoods paid dues; we will do more next year to reach out to new neighborhoods and those we haven't heard from for a while.  We thanked Susan.

Scott Whiteman from the Planning Department led a discussion of items neighborhoods would like to see in the department's budget / work plan.  Some items mentioned were:

  *   Citizen's Planning Academy (the department plans to continue it)
  *   Open space, trails, use of space, pocket parks, connective spaces
  *   Bike and pedestrian safety - This is not a primary responsibility of the department, but development patterns and specific development details can make safety easier or harder
  *   Improve the Comprehensive Plan - Not necessarily a new full version, but there are sections that don't exactly get to what worries us or what we mean about what we want to see, and that therefore these sections don't get used in evaluating projects
  *   Pocket neighborhoods - INC needs to finish its proposal
  *   Trees and urban canopy
  *   Accessory dwellings and other infill methods
  *   Unenforceable rules on number of unrelated people in a dwelling unit
  *   A UDO that is easier to search - The department has signed a contract to do a web-based version of the UDO (which may not completely solve the problem, if you have to guess what term you should use to search, but should help)
  *   East Durham's mish-mash of zoning districts - There may be a look at Angier/Driver area.  Perhaps look at old small area planning, in terms of process
  *   Expand Downtown Local Historic District to east and west
  *   Affordable housing
  *   Inspections has a process where for additional fee, they work closer with someone who is likely to have complicated issues to figure out - can we do something similar for complicated infill or other projects (without someone thinking that since they have paid extra to get all the t's crossed in meeting technical requirements, they will automatically get a re-zoning)
  *   Co-housing support
  *   Is a uniform historic district definition proving to be too inflexible?
Scott will send Pat Carstensen the Planning Department's list and his notes for distribution to the list-serve for more comments.

Neighborhood and Other Reports

  *   The Durham Holiday Parade will be December 10th, with 16 marching bands.  It looks like we won't have an INC entry.  http://durhamnc.gov/2950/Holiday-Parade
Holiday Parade | Durham, NC<http://durhamnc.gov/2950/Holiday-Parade>
durhamnc.gov
Saturday, December 10 10 a.m. Downtown Durham Holiday Parade Route Map Participate in the Parade Download and complete the Participant Application Form.


  *   Holiday FunFest at Rock Quarry Park is December 3rd.  With sledding http://durhamnc.gov/1620/Holiday-Fun-Fest
  *   Santa Paws party at the Armory - December 9th.  http://durhamnc.gov/1644/Santa-Paws
  *   Senior Holiday Party - December 13th -- http://durhamnc.gov/1632/Senior-Holiday-Party




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