INTER-NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL

Making Better Neighborhoods

http://www.rtpnet.org/durhminc

Minutes of Meeting of July 27, 1999

Police Department Community Services Room

Members Present

Administration

Mike Shiflett called the meeting to order at 7:10.

New Business

Parks and Recreation: Gio Rodriguez summarized current projects of that department:

· Extending the American Tobacco Trail six miles, from downtown to NC 54. This trail will eventually be extended to 33 miles. The trail is for walkers and cyclists and complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act. In most places the trail is ten feet wide and paved with asphalt.

· Using funds from the 1996 bonds to build or improve parks and playgrounds. A total of 62 parks and 50 playgrounds are on the list. In the next year they will work on 18 parks and 20 playgrounds.

· Working with schools to improve soccer fields on the condition that these be available for city use when the schools are not using them. This is being done at Riverside and Hillside High Schools.

Co-housing: Mara Evans announced that there will be a public meeting on Aug. 24 at 7:00 in the downtown library about a possible co-housing project in downtown Durham. The project is inspired by Durham Central Park and might be developed by the builder of Eno Commons. There will be several speakers from Eno Commons. Eno Commons is the only co-housing project in the area where people have already moved in. Other co-housing projects in development are Solterra off Erwin Road and Acadia in Carrboro.

Tuscaloosa-Lakewood Rezoning: Eric Johnson, new president of the Tuscaloosa-Lakewood Neighborhood Association, summarized the issue facing his neighborhood and asked for help. An 11,000 sq. ft. drive-in pharmacy is planned for the intersection of James St. and Chapel Blvd. (This issue was also discussed in the June INC meeting.) Eric argued that the neighborhood had inadequate advance notice of the plans. He asked that INC members support his neighborhood's opposition to the plan, which will be voted on at the City Council meeting of Aug. 16.

Mike Shiflett plans to schedule an INC meeting in August, usually an INC vacation month, to hear the more about the issue and to invite the builder to speak.

Harry Dawley moved that we send to the INC Zoning Committee the question whether the city should have a stricter requirement for advance notification of neighborhoods about building plans that require zoning changes. The Zoning Committee is to come up with a recommendation. The motion was passed unanimously.

CAUSE: The Bocckinos reported on CAUSE's (Citizens Against Urban Sprawl Everywhere) efforts to promote a development pause in the NC54/I40 corridor. Current efforts focus on persuading Durham City Council to join with the County Commissioners in endorsing the pause. (See the June INC minutes for more information on the pause.) City Council's reluctance to do so stems from that fact that they have already approved three projects in the corridor, and they are reluctant to go back now and ask the developers to wait.

Under Construction: Ed Harris reported that he had done a spreadsheet of when road improvements will be done. It revealed that by 2002-2003, virtually every main road will have orange barrels - I-40, I-85, 15-501, Erwin Road . . . .

Neighborhood Summit: Stan Hoffman asked the membership for money to pay for a graphic poster promoting the Neighborhood Summit and INC. Harry Dawley moved that INC provide $500 to support the summit, including Stan's poster. The motion was passed unanimously.

Closing

The meeting was adjourned at 9:25.

AAS

8/23/99

Thanks to the Trinity Park and Burch Avenue neighborhood associations for their recent payment of dues.