They are coming for the North, as predicted.
Open letter to Durham’s Planning Commission
Developers are seeking to have have 43 acres of land currently designated as Agricultural Reserve and OUTSIDE the Urban Growth Boundary, annexed to the city and rezoned in order to build 81 single family homes (but the tier would allow duplex, townhouses and rowhouses.) The property is located at 2503 and 2523 Hamlin Road, Durham (outside the city limits). It is in the Falls Lake and Jordan Lake watershed district.
Please don’t approve annexing land beyond the UGB. There has to be a limit to the expansion of Durham into our rural areas and the UGB is intended to be that limit. Don’t let north Durham suffer the same fate as southeast Durham.
Don’t be fooled by the label, “Conservation subdivision.” Although the original purposes of the conservation subdivision were laudable, and in 2008 the purposes were made required standards, the conservation subdivision was eviscerated by amendment in late 2023. Shockingly at the behest of the planning department, the language requiring the conservation purposes be honored was eliminated. Conservation subdivision became just another vehicle for dense development serving to maximize developers’ profits.
In this instance, the developer seeks to double, to 81 units, the maximum number of units that would be allowed without annexation. While the report indicates that up to 40 residences could be allowed under current zoning, far fewer would actually be built. Without annexation the number of houses built is limited by perk ability. The streams and topography of this now rural area also reduce the number of buildable lots.
In addition, Durham is now being wildly overbuilt, counting units built, under construction, and already approved. According to the State Office of Budget and Management and the planning department, Durham’s projected need for new residential units between 2020 and 2050, is 60,000 to 66,000 units. As of now, in only five years, the city council has approved 23,809 new units, which is 12,809 units more than should be approved by now to reach the stated goals over thirty years. Considering only the council’s approvals, we are far ahead of pace. However, the planning department has approved administratively multiple times the number of units voted on by electeds. If the planning department has approved twice the units approved by legislative vote, then the entire OSBM projected need of 60,000 – 66,000 units by the year 2050 has already been met or exceeded.
Furthermore, the OSBM projection is likely an overestimate of population growth and projected housing needs. One need only to read both local and national media to realize Trump’s cuts in the federal workforce and elimination of research grants to Triangle institutions and universities are having a devastating effect on our local economy. The only housing “crisis” now is the crisis of unneeded construction bringing mass grading of our woods, blasting life above and below the ground, contaminating our waters, and eliminating our open spaces.
Please vote “NO” on Hamlin Reserve.
Sincerely,
Katie Ross
Bahama
SaveDurham.com
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