Inter-Neighborhood Council, Durham, NC: Minutes 10/98
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| Minutes, Oct. 98 |
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Minutes of INC Meeting on October 27, 1998.
Approved November 24, 1998.
Attendees
Opening
Speakers
Reports
Business
Announcements
Closing
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Attendees
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- Members present
- Colony Park—Fred Mowry
Duke Homestead—Al Stone
Duke Park—Bill Anderson & Johnea Kelley
Dunbarton—J. Clinton Rogers
Greenmill—Julie Linehan
Grove Park—Rosemarie Kitchin
Hope Valley—Norm Krause
Kenwood Acres—Kathy Wright Moore
Morehead Hill—Anne Guyton
Northgate Park—Roz Wolbarsht
Old West Durham—Kelly Rimer
Stirrup Creek—Rich Kaiser
Trinity Park—Harry Dawley
Tuscaloosa Lakewood/City Council —Erick Larson
Watts Hospital-Hillandale—Mike McKinney, Mike Shiflett, & Tom Miller
- Guests
- None
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Top Attendees Opening Speakers
Reports Business Announcements Closing
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Opening
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Mike Shiflett called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. Treasurer Norm Krause reported a current balance in the checking account of $984.
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Top Attendees Opening Speakers
Reports Business Announcements Closing
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Speakers
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- Kathy Wright Moore, re Northpointe zoning
- Kathy summarized the negotiations between the developer of Northpointe Shopping Center and the five neighborhoods impacted by it.
Under pressure from City Council to reach a compromise, both sides gave ground. After two years of talks they agreed on a site plan, and the neighborhoods supported the developer’s final presentation to the City Council.
Kathy noted, however, that this August the developer applied for a change in the site plan. He asked for removal of provisions intended to discourage the building of apartments.
If the developer pushes his request on to the City Council, the result will be watched by other neighborhoods in a similar position—for example, those near the proposed Southpoint mall. Few will agree to a compromise if they believe they will soon be asked to compromise their compromise.
- Bill Anderson, “One-man litter police force”
- Bill has made headlines recently by single-handedly tracking down persons who illegally dump large amounts of trash. He described how he does it.
An address label on a magazine, for example, will list a name and street address. He may call the reference librarian at the Durham Public Library to find out who owns the home.
Often he finds that the owner of the trash is an elderly person who paid a commercial hauler to pick up the trash and dump it legally.
The next step is to ask who did the hauling. If the owner identifies the trash and the hauler, then Bill has a case he can take to the police.
At this point, Bill shifted from cops and robbers to process engineering. He explained that he’s trying to fix broken systems and to get different departments of government to work together.
If the hauler is convicted, Bill tries to follow through with the Police, the Impact Team, and the judicial system to make part of the penaly be community service devoted to picking up his (it’s always a “he”) and others’ trash.
Beyond that, it’s a question of working out arrangements that encourage legal dumping. Some time ago the dumping fee was $8 per dump truck. When the fee jumped to $40, illegal dumping jumped with it. Today the fee is $14.
Bill suggested that dumping be made cheaper and extended to more convenient hours. This would result in a net saving, he predicted, because it’ quite expensive to pick up trash dumped illegally.
A related problem is the dumping of old mattresses. It’s complicated to dispose of these legally.
You have to call Solid Waste Management at 560-4185, go to their offices in person to pay in advance, and then they will schedule a special collection on the following Wednesday. Simplifying this process would reduce illegal dumping of mattresses.
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Top Attendees Opening Speakers
Reports Business Announcements Closing
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Reports
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- County Commissioners
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- Harry Dawley reported on the October 19th forum:
Attendees opposed the proposed Southpoint Mall development, supported a merger of city and county government, and were split on Eno Drive.
- City Council
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- Mike Shiflett reported on the October 5th meeting:
- The final draft of the Southeast Durham Plan was presented to City Council. Rosemarie Kitchin added that the plan met all the neighborhood concerns—“Everyone left the last meeting [of the planning committee] smiling.”
- City Council voted to sell the old city garage next to Curt Eshelman’s proposed “Central Park” for $200,000. Mike explained that the garage is an old brick building whose handsome brick facade will be preserved by covenants attached to the sale.
The plan is to occupy the building with restaurants and other commercial establishments so that it fits in with other development in that area.
Rick Kaiser expressed satisfaction that “Curt Eshelman’s Corner” had been established. Mike Shiflett remarked that nobody spoke against the sale and cited this as evidence that neighborhoods support sound development.
- Mike Shiflett reported on the October 19th meeting:
City Council approved the zoning for Mike Waldroup’s Patterson Place development, near Home Depot. This is Durham’s first mixed-use development and comes with walks, bicycle trails, and a lake. There was little opposition, despite the size of the development—another sign that neighborhoods don’t oppose sound development.
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Top Attendees Opening Speakers
Reports Business Announcements Closing
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Business
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- INC Goals and Objectives for 1998-99
- Mike Shiflett said he would like to see INC members share their expertise on zoning issues with smaller neighborhoods that need this expertise. One step in this direction is the appointment of Kathy Wright Moore as INC zoning chair.
A second goal is to coalesce the efforts of INC with Partners Against Crime (PAC) and other groups. PAC has $25,000 for each of the four PAC districts to be spent on projects to make people feel more at ease in their homes. For example, one district bought refrigerator magnets that display phone numbers of emergency services and of neighbors.
Tom Miller read the following list of eight goals. He said that some of them were very big projects but that INC might realize one or two of them in the coming year.
- Get Durham to adopt neighborhood overlay zoning. These would come out of a process of small area planning. Once adopted, the zoning could be changed only by a super-majority of City Council. There would be a sunset period of ten years attached to the zoning.
- Improve zoning enforcement.
- Replace development plan zoning with conditional rezoning.
- Determine where future public transit centers will be and put them on the map. Currently, developers claim that an area will be a transit zone to justify high-density development there.
- Help unorganized neighborhoods build neighborhood associations.
- Have the Zoning and Planning Department articulate some principles of neighborhood protection.
- Redevelop our contacts with other neighborhood associations in North Carolina.
- Recruit candidates for city boards and commissions that affect neighborhoods.
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Top Attendees Opening Speakers
Reports Business Announcements Closing
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Announcements
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No announcements.
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Top Attendees Opening Speakers
Reports Business Announcements Closing
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Closing
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It was decided to have the next INC meeting as scheduled on Tuesday, November 24 (the Tuesday before Thanksgiving), in the usual place.
The minutes of the September INC meeting were approved without change.
The meeting was adjourned around 9:00.
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Top Attendees Opening Speakers
Reports Business Announcements Closing
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