|
October Delegate Meeting
First Presbyterian Church
October 26, 2010
Attending the meeting were:
Delegates and Alternates
Colony Park – Don Lebkes
Cross Counties – Pat Carstensen
Duke Park – Ian Kipp, Bill Anderson
Falconbridge – Rosemarie Kitchin
Golden Belt Neighborhood Association – DeDreana Freeman
Hope Valley Farms – Nancy Cox (non-voting)
Northgate Park – Mike Shiflett
Old East Durham / Uplift East Durham – Chloe’ Palenchar
Old Farm – David Harris
Old North Durham – Peter Katz
Old West Durham – Karen Verhaeghe, Brett Walters
Parkwood – Mike Brooks
Watts Hospital Hillandale – Tom Miller, Mike Woodard
West Cornwallis Neighborhood Association – Bob Chapman
Woodcroft – Scott Carter
Visitors
Darius Little – Organizing Chadsford subdivision
Jim Wise – News and Observer
Lynwood D. Best – City of Durham, NIS
Steve Mihaich – Durham Police
Minutes
Tom Miller opened the meeting, and delegates and visitors introduced themselves. David Harris moved and Rosemarie Kitchin seconded to approve the minutes, which we did by voice vote.
David Harris moved and Rosemarie Kitchin seconded to approve the following resolution on street bonds, which we did by voice vote, with Watts Hospital Hillandale abstaining. We will send a copy to the list-serve for sharing among neighborhoods. Old North Durham continues to have concerns about speeding on better streets. Several neighborhoods would like to see line items in the budget to make sure this is the last time we do bonds to take care of maintenance.
WHEREAS the streets in the city of Durham are in need of repair and maintenance on city streets has been neglected and deferred for too long; and
WHEREAS the poor condition of the streets impede the city’s renaissance and impact negatively on the community’s image; and
WHEREAS current economic conditions and the general financial health of the city favor incurring modest debt to pay for long needed repairs;
WHEREAS the city government has expressed its resolution to address future street repair needs on a reasonable schedule from annual revenues;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the InterNeighborhood Council of Durham through its delegates duly assembled that the citizens of Durham should support the proposed street repair bonds by voting “yes” in the referendum on the November 2, 2010 ballot.
We then passed the following (amended) resolution on a State-wide Moratorium of Digital Billboards unanimously by voice vote.
WHEREAS the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration commissioned a report, The Possible Effects of Commercial Electronic Variable Message Signs (CEVMS) on Driving Safety – Phase 1, in an effort to better understand the relationship between CEVMS exposure and crash rates,
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the InterNeighborhood Council of Durham through its delegates duly assembled that:
1)the InterNeighborhood Council urges the General Assembly of North Carolina to enact laws which impose a statewide moratorium on the erection of digital billboards until such time as they are determined to be no distraction to motorists and no threat to traffic safety; and
2)the laws so enacted should resemble in substantial measure House Bill H – 2011 as it was introduced in the 2009 Session of the General Assembly;
3)the laws so enacted should in no way interfere with the authority of the City and County of Durham to regulate and prohibit billboards as those jurisdiction currently do.
Then we passed the following resolution on Community Association Managers with abstentions by Trinity Park and Watts Hospital Hillandale. There was quite a bit of discussion of the costs.
WHEREAS increasingly new neighborhoods and residential development of every sort are made subject to a regime of restrictive covenants which provide for private government in the form of a mandatory community association; and
WHEREAS these community associations are charged with the power to make and enforce rules substantially affecting the quality of life in the neighborhood and the may also levy dues and assessments and spend the same for the welfare of the neighborhood; and
WHEREAS these same associations must employ professional managers to assist and guide the association government in the execution of its lawful powers; and
WHEREAS the managers employed are often entrusted with substantial sums of money belonging to association members; and
WHEREAS the security and welfare of community associations, their members, and their property are dependent upon the integrity and competence of professional managers; and
WHEREAS older neighborhoods without professional managers are affected by the security and welfare of their neighboring community associations;
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the InterNeighborhood Council of Durham through its delegates duly assembled that:
1)the InterNeighborhood Council urges the General Assembly of North Carolina to enact laws which require the licensure of professional community association managers and create minimum standards for their professional competence; and
2)the laws so enacted should resemble in substantial measure House Bill H – 762 as it was introduced in the 2009 Session of the General Assembly.
On liquor permits, crime and neighborhoods, there was a running gun battle at a new place on Hillandale and two other establishments with significant neighborhood concerns. One of the best levers the community has against establishments like this is their license to sell liquor, but that depends on the ABC Board acting. They do apparently levy some significant fines, but have only revoked two licenses across the whole state in the last two years. The Police Department has met with the ABC folks to review reports of incidents at the 3 places, and on confident that the board is going to take them seriously. Tom will ask someone from the ABC enforcement to come to a future INC meeting to talk about what they do.
Delegates were asked to encourage statements of support from their neighborhoods on the Pauli Murray Marker. In the future, we may want to show support for restoring the Fitzgerald house.
There are a number of ways that INC could help neighborhood newsletters, in terms of both advertising and content, and possibly printing. We could also organize programs so experienced newsletter editors can share tips with less-experienced ones. A communications committee, consisting of Darius, Colin, Bill and Kevin will look into what can be done.
The Nominating Committee is working. If they ask you to serve, please say “yes.” The Transportation Committee will send out a report to the list-serve.
There were a number of neighborhood reports.
· Trinity Park is facing a new proposal for a hotel on the site of McPherson Hospital; the new proposal is even bigger than the last one. This time they are not trusting the Planning Department.
· For Old West Durham, there was a lot of participation in developing the particulars on the Ninth Street Plan, and now the Planning Department seems to be helping developers build everything bigger than envisioned; especially disappointing is that comments have to be in before the final version is available. Also the plans for a church expansion would mean the closing of part of Warner Street.
· Parkwood has been working with Public Works on the rebuilding of Revere Road, which was built by a developer, started falling apart when the first car drove on it, and now needs to be dug out to 18-24 inches. Every property owner will be able to get home every night and there will be an interactive website to show closures, alternate routes, and so on.
· David Harris of Old Farm mentioned citizen concern about loss of programming, such as summer camps, if West Point on the Eno is taken over by the state, but they are working on it.
· East Durham had an awesome home tour – some houses had 40-50 visitors.
· The Third Fork Creek Trail is now extended from Woodcroft Parkway to South Roxboro and on to the Martin Luther King Junior Parkway. When it is complete in a few months it will extend from Southern Boundaries Park to Garrett Road Park.
· Golden Belt is having a lot of meetings on the Durham Rescue Mission re-zoning. The Alston Road widening is also a concern.
The next meeting will be on November 30th (the 5th Tuesday). We will decide then on December meetings.
The meeting was adjourned.
|
