[Durham INC] Draft June Minutes

Tue Jun 29 08:32:14 EDT 2021

Please let me know about additions, clarifications or corrections. Thanks, pat

June Delegate Meeting of the InterNeighborhood Council of Durham

Via Zoom

June 22, 2021

Attending the meeting were:

Neighborhoods

Bragtown – Constance Wright, Vannessa Mason Evans

Colonial Village – Charles Giamberardino

Colony Park – Donald Lebkes

Cross Counties – Pat Carstensen

Liberty Park – Carmen Williams

Long Meadow – Pakis Bessias

Merrick-Moore – Bonita Green

Morehead Hill – Rochelle Araujo, Bruce Mitchell

Trappers Creek / Greymoss – Will Wilson, Eileen Sarro

Trinity Park – Philip Azar, Mimi Kessler, John Dagenhart, Mollie Flowe, Diane Amato

Tuscaloosa-Lakewood – Susan Sewell

Watts Hospital Hillandale – Tom Miller

Guests

Annette Smith -- Durham Parks and Recreation

Karmisha Wallace – City of Durham

Wanda Page – City of Durham

Shelia Huggins

President Will Wilson called the meeting to order, and those present introduced themselves. There were no adjustments to the agenda.  Philip Azar moved to approve the May minutes, Bonita Green seconded, and the minutes were approved.

Discussion with Durham City Manager Wanda Page -- Manager Page is excited to lead Durham in the critical time for the city and the nation.  She has always been focused on service.  She wants to see a strong financial recovery,  to transform government to ensure excellent service, to pursue equity, and to have a safer community.  She mentioned that the City Council approved the budget last night.   On how the Planning Department can do better at engaging and supporting residents, she mentioned the conversations in the Comprehensive Plan process, the real listening to the voices of the community and soliciting of the knowledge residents have.  On things in the city she wants to keep, she appreciates the engagement excellence of NIS and the innovation efforts of the city employees (such as the uses of the city’s drone).  Something she would like to improve is the inclusiveness of contracts.  For some neighborhoods that have been promised improvements for a long time, Manager Page said that she thinks having a concrete plan and a schedule and openness about progress will improve trust and accountability; given that there is never enough money for everything, we need to re-prioritize infrastructure spending / investment into historically underserved communities.  On the Housing Bond that was authorized in 2019, the money is part of the $160M stream from the bond and city and federal spending.  The budget passed last night includes money for the debt service on the bond and funds for implementation staff.  The program is moving, has an oversight committee (https://durhamnc.gov/4501/Affordable-Housing-Implementation-Commit), has been on the council agenda with details several times, and has a website to allow the public to track progress (https://durhamnc.gov/3932/Affordable-Housing-Bond).  On the fact that Fayette Place is now just sitting there and was not included in the redevelopment plan, the Durham Housing Authority is a partner to the City of Durham but is a separate entity to the City of Durham; DHS owns Fayette Place and has a request of proposals on redevelopment of the site (which because of federal regulations, will have affordable housing in it).  On gun violence in Durham, she knows there are no magic wands, but she is committed to addressing root causes and expanding the tool box of ways to address it (for example, with youth employment).  We thanked Manger Page for her insights and time.

NEW BUSINESS:

Trinity Park Neighborhood Fiber Installations -- The digging in the right of way to install fiber has caused a lot of concern, such as noise, traffic disruption, tree damage, equipment on sidewalks and especially harm to other utilities, most significantly gas leaks that have even caused people to have to evacuate to a hotel.  See the Trinity Park  resolution in the appendix.  Oversight and permitting need to be stronger.  We are concerned about equity with respect to the “digital divide.”  AT&T fiber created a lot of issues in Watts Hospital Hillandale, especially with sink holes created from the cutting of the drainage tiles that were installed when the neighborhood was developed.  The city approved Verizon doing whatever it needed to install 5G.  Carmen Williams said the fiber guys cut her water line, messed up her water pressure,  dug in her yard to put in box for the 5G tower, and had to re-grade the yard because of the mess the heavy equipment made in her front yard.  Tuscaloosa-Lakewood can tell where the fiber guys from the chatter on the list-serve and has seen lots of water line damage and a possible gas leak.  In TLNA, the streets with affordable housing have no fiber while the rest of the neighborhood has 4 choices.  Bruce Mitchell asked that the resolution have some requirement about notification and would like to know about what are the easement conditions that the utilities need to work within.   The city needs to be an advocate; they don’t mark beyond the curb and won’t mark sewer line.  A sewer cut means the sewer backs up into the house.   Tom Miller moved INC calls on the city and all the utilities to take greater care in their operations to ensure safety of residents and look forward to learning what happens with the meeting with city staff, Susan and Phil seconded, and we will vote on this resolution in July.   The full resolution:

Resolved that the InterNeighborhood Council calls upon the City of Durham and the firms owning and controlling the several utilities using public rights of way and utilities easements to do a better job of installing and repairing utility lines so as to cause the least surprise, damage and risk to the residents of Durham.

OLD BUSINESS:

Bylaws Revision Update -- Report next time

INC Vice President -- Bonita Green has agreed to be the Vice President.  Susan moved and Phil seconded that by acclimation Bonita be elected as Vice President.  This passed.

Neighborhood Reports and Announcements

  *   Deficiency Analysis of 2050 Transportation Plan -- Comments are due June 30.  The draft shows what travel times look like in 2050 under their assumptions of growth (in short, really bad).  http://www.dchcmpo.org/programs/transport/2050mtp/default.asp#tabs6

  *   National Night Out is August 3; register at the Police Department and nationally with Neighborhood Watch.

  *   72nd Annual Watts-Hillandale July 4 Parade will be Sunday July 4,  10-11:30 AM at Oval Drive Park on West Club. Please join us if your schedule permits.

  *   Parks and Rec is sponsoring the Bulls game and a laser light show for July.  EnoFest is happening this year, but with size limits to promote distancing.

  *   Small home design links:   http://www.blink-lab.com/landing.html and

https://futureofhousing.aarp.org/wp-content/themes/aarp-housing/dist/ADU-Technical-Drawings.pdf

Adjournment

Appendix: MEMO about Fiber Installation Issues

To: Durham INC

From: Executive Committee of the Trinity Park Neighborhood Association

Subject: Resolution about the disruption and damage relating to the placement of internet fiber optic cables

Date: June 17, 2021

We, the Executive Committee of the Trinity Park Neighborhood Association Board of Directors, have concerns relating to the placement of internet fiber optic cables in city right-of-ways in our neighborhood.

>From October 2020 until the present, residents have been experiencing minor and major disruptions resulting from fiber optic cable work, in many cases without advance notice or any communication. Experiences including prolonged periods of construction noise, tree damage, sidewalk damage, yard damage, traffic flow disruptions, and cutting of utility lines (internet, water, sewer), sometimes resulting in extensive private property damage or personal expense, with inadequate repair or compensation. In one instance, a gas line was damaged, necessitating late night evacuations in a significant portion of the neighborhood, causing widespread fear and distress, especially in the wake of the devastating 2019 gas explosion on N. Duke St.

Trinity Park residents have asked TPNA for support in advocating for better handling of the situation. In response, we have drafted the resolution below to lift up concerns to city staff and elected officials. We request that they take action to improve communication with residents and to improve supervision of fiber optic cable placement so as to prevent additional disruption and damage. We will also lift up these concerns and repeat our requests through a neighborhood meeting devoted to the issue on July 7.

Because we see the concerns as being potentially relevant to other neighborhoods throughout the city, we request that INC continue to monitor this issue and stay engaged. Below we share our concerns and the actions we resolve to take, for consideration in formulating a Durham INC resolution.

Sincerely, TPNA Executive Committee

Karalyn Colopy, TPNA President

Mollie Flowe, TPNA Vice President

Waugh Wright, TPNA Secretary

Adam McClellen, TPNA Treasurer

Diane Amato, TPNA Past President

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the placement of internet fiber optic cables (“fiber optic”) in Durham has led to repeated disruptions of downtown, arterial and neighborhood streets, seemingly often with little coordination with neighborhood residents;

WHEREAS, there has also been a major gas explosion (with fatalities) at the corner of N. Duke and Main Street, as well as a recent gas leak in Trinity Park (in conjunction with fiber optic placement) and another on Alston Avenue;

WHEREAS, a number of concerned Trinity Park residents have approached the Trinity Park Neighborhood Association (“TPNA”) and asked for support in coordinating or liaising with the City / County and fiber optic providers, with advocating for tighter supervision of providers and/or their subcontractors, in particular as relating to the positive identification of all utilities in the right-of-way before digging may begin, for more rigorous safety standards and/or bonding and insurance requirements, and with requests to tell their stories publicly and seek reimbursement for damages from fiber optic providers or subcontractors; and

WHEREAS, TPNA sees the aforementioned concerns as both neighborhood and Durham-wide issues;

NOW, THEREFORE, TPNA through its Executive Committee resolves as follows:

1. To devote its next meeting on July 7 to the issue, with a focus on hearing the concerns and experiences of neighborhood residents and asking appropriate city staff and elected officials to also hear those experiences and concerns;

2. To request that the city review its supervision of fiber optic providers (and sub- and/or lower-tier contractors) and its safety standards and/or binding and insurance requirements of the same;

3. To request that the city benchmark its reviews outlined in item 2 against best practices in surrounding and other jurisdictions;

4. To request that the city report those findings to Durham city and county elected officials in open public meetings;

5. To request that the city place stop orders on all fiber optic placements within 200 feet of gas lines until such time as the review is completed and changes, if any, made to policies and procedures such that residents feel safe and “in the loop” as to what is going on around them and disruptions are minimized;

6. To request that INC and other neighborhood organizations continue to monitor this issue and to stay engaged;

Passed this 17th day of June 2021 by the Trinity Park Neighborhood Association Executive Committee, meeting between regularly scheduled meetings of the board.

Signed, Waugh Wright, TPNA Secretary

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