Old West Durham Neighborhood Association






 

 

 

 









3 Articles on Duke's Retail Plans

City panel set to weigh tonight large Duke rezoning
proposal
(Herald-Sun, 9 September 2003)

The public is invited to a hearing tonight on Duke
University's massive rezoning request before the
Zoning Committee, a group that advises the City
Council.

The 6 p.m. hearing in the City Council Chambers of
City Hall follows months of sometimes contentious
meetings between representatives from Duke and the 12
neighborhoods that border it. The Zoning Committee is
expected to recommend that the City Council approve
the rezoning request.

If passed, the rezoning would create a new
university-college district, placing new restrictions
on perimeter areas of campus, while giving the
university more flexibility in internal campus areas.

Neighborhood and university representatives have
hammered out a development plan they say will ensure
that new construction on the fringes of campus doesn't
mar the character of neighborhoods such as Watts
Hospital-Hillandale Neighborhood, Old West Durham and
Trinity Heights.

The plan calls for preserving open space, limiting new
parking on East Campus and enlarging buffers between
neighboring homes and Duke construction, among other
things. It offers written protections for Duke's
neighbors as the university gets set to rezone more
than 1,400 campus acres.

John Schelp, who represented residents of the 12
neighborhoods in the negotiations, said Duke and its
neighbors are ready to go forth with the rezoning.

"I expect that we'll walk in shoulder-to-shoulder with
Duke in support of the rezoning," Schelp said...

Rezoning for Duke cleared by committee
(Herald-Sun, 10 September 2003)

With little fanfare that belied the months of
negotiations between Duke University and its
neighbors, the City-County Zoning Committee gave the
university a unanimous nod Tuesday to rezone more than
1,400 acres.

The Zoning Committee's 5-0 approval pushes the massive
rezoning one step closer to fruition. One committee
member, Duke employee Lynn VanScoyoc, excused herself
from voting.

The City Council will make the final decision on the
plan in late October or early November.

If passed, the rezoning would place about 738 acres of
West and Central campuses under a new
university-college district, with new restrictions on
perimeter areas of campus and more flexibility for the
university in internal campus areas.

About 666 acres from five different areas of campus,
including East Campus and swaths of land near the
Washington Duke Inn, would fall under even more strict
guidelines thanks to a development plan negotiated by
officials from Duke and representatives of the 12
neighborhoods that surround it.

Among other things, the 11-point development plan
preserves open space, limits new parking, enlarges
buffers between neighboring homes and Duke
construction, and even limits the expansion of the
university president's house on Pinecrest Road to no
more than 20 percent of its current size.

It took several months and a few tense moments for
Duke and its neighbors to work out the plan's extra
protections. During a public hearing before the vote
Tuesday night, John Schelp, who along with Tom Miller
represented the neighborhoods throughout the process,
issued a simple statement.

"Never has so much time and effort gone into these
four words: 'We support the rezoning,' " he said.

Zoning Committee Chairwoman Jackie Brown said she
appreciated the effort Duke made toward the
neighborhoods.

After the vote, John Burness, Duke's senior vice
president of public relations, said he was pleased
with the result.

"Obviously, we worked very hard with Miller and Schelp
to find common ground," he said. "While at times it
wasn't pretty, everybody was working in a good-faith
effort."

The university pulled a section of West Campus out of
the rezoning application, but the land likely will
come before the City-County Planning Department some
other time. Duke eventually could build a set of
mixed-use buildings there that will include a small
hotel, "limited retail" shops and restaurants near
student apartments off Erwin Road.

Some residents remained concerned that a new retail
area would take business away from Brightleaf Square,
Ninth Street and portions of downtown. But Duke
officials insist that any new development would only
enhance the area.

Some of the protections afforded by the development
plan include:

-- Continued maintenance of the jogging trail near
Washington Duke Inn.

-- 250-foot buffers next to homes along the southern
perimeter of campus and extending north and east
toward Duke University Road and Alexander Avenue and
south and west to Academy Road.

-- No parking decks and no more than 100 new parking
spaces on East Campus.

-- A 250-foot buffer from the perimeter of East
Campus, with the exception of the academic/music
building and a new planned dormitory.

-- Limiting all new and renovated East Campus
buildings to a height of 75 feet.

-- Preserving the wall around East Campus.

-- A pledge to consult neighbors if the need ever
arose to build an 8-foot security fence on top of the
wall.

-- Modifying over time the existing athletic field
lights on East Campus to reduce the ambient light.

Durham OKs change for college zoning: Ordinance
creates new restrictions for perimeter areas
(Herald-Sun, 8 April 2003)

The Durham City Council unanimously approved a new
University-College Zoning District on Monday that
seeks to ease the transitions from Duke, N.C. Central
and Durham Tech into their surrounding neighborhoods.

Generally, the zoning ordinance allows educational
uses such as dormitories, arenas and libraries as well
as "ancillary" educational uses such as medical
centers, teaching hospitals and research labs. It
creates new restrictions for perimeter areas of
campus, while allowing more flexibility in internal
campus areas.

In a section that proved controversial, it also allows
"limited retail uses" such as dining halls and
bookstores that serve the "on-campus" populations.

The council was scheduled to vote on the new zoning
category in February but postponed it after
neighborhood groups around Duke University were caught
off guard and wanted more time to review it.

After meetings between the involved parties,
neighborhood leaders said they thought they had come
to agreement on the language in the ordinance.

But Duke officials later began lobbying the city for
broader commercial uses. City-County Planning Director
Frank Duke said university officials "actively"
lobbied for the city to drop the word "limited" from
the section about retail uses. The university also
lobbied for language that would allow retail uses
serving the "campus population," instead of the more
limited "on-campus population."

"The effect of these changes would be that any retail
designed to serve a population between the ages of 18
and 65 would be a permitted use," Duke wrote in an
e-mail. "In effect, Duke is requesting the language be
changed to permit a Streets of Southpoint as a
permitted use on the campus."

In response, neighborhood leaders last week accused
the university of going behind their backs. They said
more commercial development within Duke would hurt
commercial areas outside the campus, such as Ninth
Street, and make the campus even more isolated from
the city.

"Quite frankly, I feel as though Duke has dealt with
us in something less than good faith," Watts
Hospital-Hillandale Neighborhood Association President
Tom Miller wrote in an e-mail to Duke President Nan
Keohane.

But on Monday, planning director Duke said the
university was dropping its request for more
commercial flexibility, and neighborhood
representatives who attended Monday’s meeting said
they are pleased with the final outcome.

Under the zoning, new buildings in the internal areas
would be restricted to 120 feet in height, or 145 feet
with a Major Special Use Permit, which requires a more
thorough review.

Rules for the "perimeter" areas adjacent to
nonuniversity properties are stricter. For example,
building heights can’t be more than 150 percent of the
average height of adjacent buildings. Also, the
facades of "perimeter" buildings are required to have
designs that are compatible with the surrounding area.

The ordinance applies to all of Durham’s colleges and
universities. But the universities aren’t required to
place their properties in the new district. Instead
they can choose to keep their properties under
existing zoning, which is similar to that of other
private property around the city, designated in
categories such as residential, office or commercial.

Frank Duke said Duke University officials had informed
him that, in response to the language about commercial
use, they would likely keep a large portion of their
"central campus" property around the medical center
under its current zoning.

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