[Durham INC] Help requested: Burch Ave Rezoning

[R Z]

Hi folks,

Duke has decided to request UC (University/College) zoning for some of its
properties on the periphery of campus. This includes a lot in our
neighborhood (Burch Avenue) at *400 Gattis Street*, also known as the Old
Laundry.

Duke's rezoning request will go before the Planning Commission on *April 9*.
Duke has two submissions in play, one requesting additions to the UC zone
on East Campus, and another for UC additions to Central Campus. We are
asking neighbors to write to the Planning Commission and request that they *not
*recommend approval of *Z2200048-A2200003 Duke East Campus Addition.*

The Planning Commission email address is
DurhamPlanningCommission at durhamnc.gov.

The UC zone gives Duke a lot of freedom in how they develop their campus.
They can pretty much build any type of infrastructure needed for their
university, without further community input, once a property is zoned UC.
This includes very intensive development like multi-story parking decks,
and large dormitories.

This request for rezoning is not a by-right request. In fact, when the UC
zone was first created over twenty years ago, the city negotiated with Duke
to accept several committed elements for the original creation of its UC
zone, including a prohibition on parking decks in East Campus. Those
original committed elements accepted for East Campus over 20 years ago,
Duke does *not* want applied to the UC additions to East Campus they are
now requesting.

Our neighborhood does not oppose development of the property in question.
We have worked for two years to have Duke commit in writing to development
that would respect the residential character of our neighborhood and
mitigate any negative traffic effects. The university has accepted some
token committed elements for that property. However, for most of the really
intensive types of development (e.g. a multi-story parking deck, gas plant,
or dorm) they refuse to consider committed elements limiting what they can
do.

400 Gattis Street is at the intersection of two dead-end streets, in a
small neighborhood that has been cut off from the larger city grid on two
sides by the building of highway 147. There are no sidewalks on that end of
Gattis and the other end of Gattis is one-way street. The streets in our
neighborhood are very narrow and we have a lot of children playing in and
near this intersection throughout the day. Traffic mitigation is a real
concern here. Duke has refused to commit to any meaningful traffic plans
for the property at this time.

Finally, when the University requested their original UC zoning for East
Campus over 20 years ago they also rezoned the Old Laundry at 400 Gattis
Street. The zoning they requested then was residential and the plan they
submitted said the property would be developed into apartments for elder
housing. Our neighborhood board believes the best use of the property would
be for it to remain zoned residential given Duke cannot tell us how it
would otherwise develop that property.

If you have read this far, I want to thank you for your time and
consideration. I have attached the official letter our neighborhood board
sent to the Planning Commission. It outlines our objections in a little
more detail. Please read this if you are interested in learning more about
where Burch Avenue stands as a neighborhood.

And thank you for supporting us in this matter if you have chosen to do so.

Richard Ziglar
Burch Avenue
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