Durham City Council approves Duke’s rezoning proposal for land near Central Campus

Durham City Council approved Duke’s rezoning application for 10 parcels near Central Campus in a 5-2 vote at its Monday meeting.

Duke first filed a Zoning Map Change application for the 10 parcels in April, though the University withdrew its application for three of the parcels in June amid community pushback. Duke previously presented the current rezoning proposal at an Aug. 19 city council meeting, and its consideration was continued to Monday’s meeting.

Also on Monday, the council acknowledged the devastation experienced across parts of western North Carolina due to Hurricane Helene and shared local efforts to aid in the region’s recovery.

Duke’s rezoning proposal

Adem Gusa, director of planning and design at Duke, and Neil Ghosh, a land use and zoning attorney representing Duke, presented the University’s Central Campus rezoning plan to the council, which is aimed at rezoning 10 parcels of Duke-owned land to the “University College” designation to better allow for campus-wide planning initiatives.

“The primary benefit of the UC is that it allows for planning and zoning elements such as stormwater, parking, sidewalks [and] tree coverage to be considered holistically at the campus scale, rather than on each individual building site,” Gusa said.

The 10 parcels are contiguous to University-owned land that is already zoned UC or UC(D) — “University and College with a Development Plan.”

“This is really like an infill strategy to allow [for] better planning,” Gusa said.

“I think that Duke is probably very interested in the [Unified Development Ordinance] rewrite … to provide residential housing,” he said. “I think they recognize — like probably many of you — that there are a lot of people that work at Duke who live in Durham, and they can’t actually provide housing for those folks.”

The motion was passed 5-2 in favor of approving the rezoning application, with Councilmembers Nate Baker and Chelsea Cook voting against it.

Hurricane Helene aid

Council members acknowledged the ongoing recovery efforts across western North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and emphasized the role of local policy in promoting environmental security.

“My heart is really breaking for these communities. The loss of life, the loss of housing, the loss of economic security, the loss of potential many rights, voting rights being one of those, tenant security and housing and labor rights — all of these things potentially lost or made harder for folks in the western part of our state in surrounding areas,” Cook said.

Cook noted that while most policies to combat climate change are enacted at the federal level, local officials have “a lot of control over mitigation of the impacts of these storms.” She called on Durham to “think about development smarter” when making policies surrounding land use, pointing to recent decisions that have allowed for “mass clear-cutting of forests and the leveling and destruction of natural land.”

Mayor Leonardo Williams, Mayor Pro Tempore Mark-Anthony Middleton and Councilmembers Javiera Caballero, DeDreana Freeman, Carl Rist and Baker all echoed Cook’s message and the need to support western North Carolina.

“Let us continue to pray, and after we say amen when we pray, let us continue to send supplies and money and resources,” Middleton said. “It’s going to be a long, long time before we get back to a semblance of normalcy.”

Deputy City Manager Bo Ferguson broke down the contributions that the City of Durham has made to the relief effort thus far, which have included a 7-person water management crew sent to the affected area with city equipment to assist with waterline repairs and easement clearing and several Durham Fire Department teams sent to aid in search and rescue operations. He also pointed to a volunteer supply drive organized by the Durham Police Department.

In other business 

The council approved four zoning and annexation requests: a temporary construction easement at River Forest Park, annexation of the Yates Road right of way, annexation of Bristlewood right of way, annexation of Parmer Edge and a zoning map change of Sunrock Camden.

All items passed unanimously, except for the annexation of Parmer Edge, which passed 5-2, with Councilmembers Baker and Dedreana Freemen voting no.

The council made a number of ceremonial proclamations, including for Minority Enterprise Development (MED) Week, Digital Inclusion Week, National Customer Service Week and Durham Housing Authority Day, which recognizes the 75th anniversary of the incorporation of the Durham Housing Authority on Oct. 8.

Cook, Middleton and Williams all acknowledged the one-year mark of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on southern Israel and condemned the ongoing violence of the Israel-Hamas war.

Rist spoke in memory of Joel Fleishman, founding director of Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy and namesake of the Fleishman House, who recently died at age 90.

“Joel Fleishman was a visionary leader and an incomparable force of nature … who had probably as much influence arguably on the growth of Duke University as anyone in the last 50 years,” Rist said. “… May his memory be a blessing.”

Cook acknowledged the start of early voting next week and encouraged Durham residents to vote early.

“We have seen some drastic changes in terms of how the ballots are prepared, in terms of ID requirements [and] in terms of voters being purged from the rolls,” she said. “If you vote early, that is your opportunity to address issues. This is the safest time to vote.”

Williams also recognized a Duke sophomore who was recently hired as a communications intern in the mayor’s office.

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