AGENDA #5a
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: Joyce Brown, Council Member
Bill Strom, Council Member
Jim Ward, Council Member
SUBJECT: Information Report: Durham’s NC 54/I-40 Corridor Study
DATE: January 22, 2001
This report summarizes the key provisions of a NC 54/I-40 Corridor Study in preparation by the Durham City/County Planning Department. As your representatives to the Durham/Chapel Hill/Orange County Work Group, we provide this update on the planning process.
The NC 54/I-40 Corridor Study (please see Attachment 1) is intended to be a guide for future development in the southern portion of the City of Durham and Durham County. The Town limits of Chapel Hill form the western boundary of the study area. Durham’s Urban Growth Boundary forms the southern boundary of the study area.
At the center of the 11,950-acre study area is the new Southpoint Mall, now under construction off Fayetteville Road.
Work began on the study in December 1999. Chapel Hill Planning Department staff attended the four community meetings held on the study in August, September and October 2000. The City/County Planning Department presented the Draft Plan at the October 12 meeting. The Durham City Council sent the Draft Plan back to the Planning Committee of the Durham Planning Commission after the Council reviewed it in November. The Durham County Board of Commissioners and the Durham City Council could vote on whether to adopt the revised plan within the next two months.
The NC 54/I-40 Corridor Study Draft Plan addresses portions of the geographic area covered by three formerly adopted small area plans: South Durham, Southwest Durham and Triangle Township. The October 12 draft, the most recent version available, contains a set of statements of policies with regard to the environment, land use and transportation.
The Draft Plan states that its purpose is to provide “guidance on the issues of planning and development for the area but does not carry the force of an ordinance.”
Some of the key policies include:
· Implement the 2020 Plan goal to modify the Durham Zoning and Subdivision ordinances to allow for this more intensive development in Urban Corridor, including mixed-use, office, and multi-family development, while disallowing “Big Box” projects.
· Include office, commercial and residential components in any future mixed-use development at the intersections of Ephesus Church Road at Farrington Road and Pope Road – an area identified as a possible future transit station.
· Continue to use the Urban Growth Area policy to separate urban and rural development by not extending public water and sewer into rural areas.
· Seek programming and funding for the widening of NC 54, which should include bike lanes and other “non-vehicular/pedestrian features.”
· Expand bus routes and service.
· Designate and protect existing and future transit corridors, “especially those involving abandoned railroad lines, unfunded road segments that have been locally approved, and unbuilt road segments that have received both local approval and State funding.”
The proposed Future Land Use Map suggests new areas of commercial, mixed-use and high-density residential development near the I-40 and NC 54 corridors. A large portion of the study area currently has low-density residential and rural zoning designations. The Future Land Use Map indicates an expansion of non-residential development in the area of Southpoint Mall, with mixed-use designations south of I-40 along NC 751 and Fayetteville Road.
Maps in the Draft Plan shows three “Proposed Thoroughfares” approaching or crossing into Chapel Hill. These lines are shown but not labeled on the Future Land Use Map in the October 12 Draft Plan. The Draft Plan does not describe what these routes are.
The Future Land Use Map does not show the location of the proposed regional rail corridor crossing into Durham from the Meadowmont area. This corridor is shown on another map in the Draft Plan.
The Draft Plan states that the “planning staff resources for implementation are very limited.” Durham “residents, property owners and business operators … will need to work in tandem to effectively fulfill their related roles” in seeing that the plan is implemented. The Draft Plan also states that the City and County government should work to “coordinate and help initiate” implementation measures.
The Draft Plan contains no statement calling on Durham to communicate with Chapel Hill on development matters in the study area.
The Planning Committee has modified the Draft Plan since it was presented on October 12, 2000, according to a planner with the Durham City/County Planning Department. One significant difference relates to the proposed Future Land Use Map for the area of a proposed regional rail transit station at Ephesus Church Road near Meadowmont. The Future Land Use Map in the Draft Plan of October 12 had indicated that the area, now zoned low-density residential, would be developed as mixed use. During the review stage the Planning Committee amended the map to indicate the future land use as retaining a low-density character, apparently to discourage intense development of that area should a transit station not be built there in the future, according to the City/County Planning Department.
While the Future Land Use Map does not indicate a land use pattern for a proposed rail station, the plan contains text stating that if the station were built the area would be developed in accordance with transit-oriented development standards similar to those suggested by the Triangle Transit Authority. This essentially involves locating high-density development nearest the station, and tapering the density in areas farther away from the station.