[Durham INC] Merrick-Moore Community Letter to council 2720 Faucette Avenue (Z1900021)

[bonita green]

Hello friends,
this morning, I've forwarded the following letter to the city council on
the proposed development in Merrick-Moore Community. I am also including in
the body of this email. If you see fit, MMC would greatly appreciate your
support on this issue.

Thank you,

be a kind human
Bonita Green

To Mayor O’Neal, Mayor pro tem Middleton and fellow members of the council,

As a long-time resident of the Merrick-Moore Community,  I love this
community for its rich history and the options to enjoy the outdoors in a
rural environment. I would like to express my concern over the future
proposed development at 2720 Faucette Avenue. As you may be aware, this
development sits parallel to (and most importantly upstream of) the site
where we are developing a community garden that will address issues around
food apartheid within Merrick-Moore proper.

The developer is offering a 50% open space requirement with 80% of open
space being the primary conservation area. The conservation area is the
northernmost point of the site that they were not able to annex into the
city. This pushes all of the construction into the southern corridor of the
site. This new design creates a large concern for downstream flooding from
the new development onto our community-held property.

In February of 2021, the original case, *2720 Faucette Avenue (Z1900021*)
was presented before the council. At that time, the developer committed to
handling a 200-year storm event for stormwater. The stormwater commitment
this time is for a 100-year event. We ask that the 200-year event
stormwater protections be considered for this project.

As well, there are many mature oaks on the developers' site but adjacent to
our community-held property that is important to maintain to reduce heat
and create a buffer between their development and our community garden
space.  We request that a 50ft preservation buffer be considered as it
borders our property to allow for the conservation of these trees.

Merrick-Moore is bordered by industrial zones, highways, and a freight
train line. This community was identified as a heat zone in the recent *Urban
Heat Mapping* study. While the Durham city government has done an excellent
job in reducing its carbon footprint, greenhouse gases are on the rise.
Methane, a major source of ground-level ozone pollution is 84x more potent
than CO2oz, levels are rising due to increased traffic. Therefore, we are
hopeful the trees between the development and community property can be
saved to offset these effects.

My next concern is the lack of a traffic control device, at the property
entrance. The decision to not add a traffic light is based on a traffic
study that was completed in 2020. With more than two years that have
passed, that does not give an accurate picture of what the traffic on Cheek
Road looks like today. We would like for a new traffic study to be done.

I would like to go on record in saying that we are not opposed to this
development, although we would prefer single-family homes to townhomes.
That would be a better blend into the existing community. I ask that you
give serious thought to the concerns that are laid out in this email.



Thank you for your time.

Bonita Green

President

Merrick-Moore Community Development Corporation

Merrick-Moore Community Club
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