[Durham INC] Draft May minutes

[Pat Carstensen]

Please let me know about any additions or corrections, regards, pat



May  Delegate Meeting

InterNeighborhood Council of Durham, Via Zoom

May 23, 2023


Attending the meeting were:

Neighborhoods

Cross Counties – Pat Carstensen, Ed Harrison

Falconbridge – Richard Ford

Leesville Road Coalition – Steven Knill

Long Meadow – Pakis Bessias

Morehead Hill – Bruce Mitchell

Old North Durham – Mimi O’Brien

Old West Durham – Quade Gallagher

Trinity Park –  Mimi Kessler

Tuscaloosa-Lakewood – Susan Sewell




Vice-President Steven Knill called the meeting to order and welcomed everyone; those present introduced themselves.  There were no adjustments to the agenda.


State Assembly Bills – The NC General Assembly is considering a couple bills that would relax standards to help developers.  The Workforce Housing Bill did not “cross over” – that is, get through the first legislative hurdle.  The Streamline Review Bill would speed up applications for multi-family residences by requiring a review to happen within 21 days, or have it sent to a private reviewer.  House Bill 409 would forbid local governments from banning ADUs; the concern is the ADUs would be used as vacation rentals rather then cheap housing.  Details will be sent out over the list-serve.


Mimi Kessler moved to approve the April minutes; Mimi O’Brien seconded and this passed.


SCAD – Mayor O’Neal asked the SCAD proponents to meet with neighborhood folks to see what agreements can be found.  They met once and were supposed to meet today, but the proponents send an email to an old address to ask for our objections in writing, and then said they couldn’t meet because there had been no response to their request.  There is a new protocol to make sure the communications work in the future.  The city attorney has determined that the sections are separate amendments so Council can vote for some pieces and not others.  It might be good to have other neighborhood groups at the table.


Neighborhood Reports

  *   Trinity Park – Duke and Gregson Streets go through Trinity Park and are major raceways (in spite of the speed limit of 35).  Roxboro and Mangum is the other “major pair” that affects Old North Durham and Duke Park.  Trinity Park is interested in possibly taking Duke and Gregson back from NCDOT to make them city streets, which would let us reduce posted speeds and potentially make them 2-way.  Taking over a state road is extremely expensive, so the idea would be to make a trade.  Morehead Hill wants to keep Duke and Gregson 2-way in their area because of the driveways that would be impossible to get out of with 2-way traffic.  Old Chapel Hill Street is 2-way and still has speed issues and accidents – lots of cars running into yards and fences.

  *   Old North Durham had its annual Art Walk at the end of April; they had beautiful weather.    The next day was supposed to be the neighborhood social but it was rained out.

  *   Old West Durham is having a lot of events, including one about trees.  They are also talking about pedestrian and bike safety and traffic-speed issues.

  *   Leesville Road Coalition had a panel / town hall on the Future of NC70.  The Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) asked for alternatives, with bike lanes and slower traffic and a boulevard character, to the current plan, which is a limited access freeway.  The forum was very well attended.  The forum is recorded at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsHp2vfJzLg, https://www.prwlaw.com/are-highways-safer-than-roads/, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6862437/




Adjourn - Next meeting June 27, 2023, @7 PM.

INC Dues

Dues are $25/year (January to December) but neighborhoods are encouraged to pay more than the minimum to support INC's work.

Please alert your neighborhood treasurer that INC dues for 2023 are due in January/February.

Dues may be given to your INC rep who will give them to INC Treasurer, Susan Sewell, or they may be mailed to:

InterNeighborhood Council of Durham

732 Ninth St, #700, Durham, NC 27705


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