INTER-NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL

Making Better Neighborhoods

http://www.rtpnet.org/durhminc

Minutes of Meeting of June 27, 2000

Police Department Community Services Room

Members Present

Administration and announcements

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

Treasurer Norm Krause reported that 24 neighborhoods have paid dues so far this year. The INC bank balance stands at $1186.

The minutes for May were approved

New Business

Featured Speaker: Bob Chapman, on traditional neighborhood development.

Bob identified himself as a developer who is trying to follow the principles of traditional neighborhood development in his projects. Currently he is working with Duke on the Trinity Heights project - building or replacing 37 houses or townhouses north of Duke East Campus. The project recently received awards from the Durham Historic Preservation Society. Bob's goal is to make the new units fit into the surrounding neighborhood. He counts it as a compliment when people tell him they have looked at the construction site and haven't seen anything new.

· Principles of traditional neighborhood development: a neighborhood should have an identifiable center and edge; it should be walkable - no more that about ¼ mile square; it should have a mix of land uses and building types and a network of walkable streets; and it should have special sites for civic purposes. Bob traced these principles back the classic A Pattern Language, by Christopher Alexander. Another classic source, he said, is "anything by Frederick Law Olmstead." He recommended Suburban Nation: The Decline and Fall of the American Dream as a recent summary of the movement.

· Market: Bob asserted that about one person out of three strongly prefers traditional neighborhood development. Yet only 1 out of 440 developer dollars is going to such development. There is therefore a strong demand for it.

· Zoning: "Zoning has been a horrible mistake." He argued that zoning causes sprawl. Zoning originally was a public health measure, aimed at separating residences from polluting factories. In most places this justification is obsolete, but the zoning ordnances remain on the books, forcing separation of uses. Most developers want to do what is easy, and the easiest thing to build is a new suburban subdivision. Bob found that zoning prohibited much of what he wanted to do in Trinity Heights. The existing neighborhood "was illegal" by the zoning codes. Houses were too close together and too close to the street. Yet these were features that gave the neighborhood its character. Bob argued that zoning should be a set of principles, not prohibitions.

Erick Larson commented that the zoning code for Durham City was adopted from the Durham County code, and admitted that it was not a good fit for older neighborhoods. He invited Bob and others to recommend how it might be changed.

Update on City/County Merger: Ed Harrison reported that the charter commission, of which he is a member, is meeting every Wednesday evening to wrap up its work. Recently the committee added a provision that if merger happens by extending the city lines out to the county lines, the city will not incorporate the parts of existing cities inside the county lines (Parts of Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Creedmore and Butner are inside Durham county.) Ed said that the commission might call for an election around November.

Neighborhood Summit: Mike Shiflett reported that the Committee organizing the Neighborhood Summit had its first meeting on June 1. They are looking for volunteers to various tasks including notifying displayers, producing informational fliers, and contacting speakers for workshops.

Closing

The meeting was adjourned at 9:10.

AAS

7/24/00