AGENDA #6
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Information Report: Implementation of Recommendations for Improvements in the Sykes Street Area
DATE: March 4, 2002
The purpose of this memorandum is to respond to a report on recommended improvements in the Sykes Street area presented to the Council on January 14, 2002, by students from the University of North Carolina Department of City and Regional Planning. Attachment 1 provides responses to questions and comments raised by the Council, and recommendations included in a student report presented to the Council at the January 14, 2002 meeting. Attachment 2 provides a status report of the implementation of recommendations for improvements in the Sykes Street area, some which have been underway since last spring.
Since January 2001, a Steering Committee, consisting of residents of the Northside neighborhood, representatives of EmPOWERment, Inc., Orange Community Housing and Land Trust, students from the University’s Department of City and Regional Planning, and Town representatives from the Planning, Police, Parks and Recreation and Housing Departments have met to discuss a variety of issues facing the Sykes Street neighborhood.
On May 21, 2001, the Department of City and Regional Planning students presented their report, “A New Approach to Development Recommendations for Resident-Driven Community Building in the Sykes Street Area” to the Council.
On September 24, 2001, a follow-up report was presented to the Council to: (1) provide a response to an Action Strategy for the Sykes Street Area prepared by the students; and (2) endorse the Sykes Street Action Plan presented by the students to the Council on May 21, 2001. At the time, the Council authorized the Town’s continued participation in implementing a plan for making improvements in the Sykes Street neighborhood.
On January 14, 2002, a second group of Planning students presented “Organizing Community Action in the Greater Sykes Street Area” to the Council (please see Attachment 3). The report focused on activities completed during the fall 2001 semester. At that time the Council received and referred the report to the Manager, thanked the Planning students for their work on this project, and directed us to return with a response to issues raised in the report.
On February 11, 2002, the Council authorized the Town’s continued participation in implementing a plan for making improvements in the Sykes Street neighborhood and budgeted $500 of Community Development funds for class expenses. This included working with a third group of students this spring.
DISCUSSION
The Sykes Street Steering Committee continues to meet to discuss strategies for implementing recommendations in the spring and fall reports and other recommendations suggested by residents and the Steering Committee. Attachment 2 lists recommendations from both reports, describes the responsible entities, summarizes activities to date, and lists potential future actions.
During the fall semester, the students and Steering Committee focused efforts on increasing community involvement from residents of the Sykes Street area. Two key events were held during the fall, a community clean up/open house in October and a neighborhood charrette in November. These events provided an opportunity for the Steering Committee to share its activities with the residents and to identify their needs and concerns and develop a plan for proceeding with activities in the future.
Based on comments received from the Council at the January 14, 2002, meeting, comments received from residents who attended the charrette, and the reports presented to the Council by the Planning students, we have identified three main areas of concern:
1. Crime and safety issues
Residents of the Sykes Street area have indicated that they are concerned about crime and safety in the neighborhood. We have responded to this concern by reassigning a sergeant position to the Northside neighborhood to supervise an eight member task force of officers. The task force provides twelve hours of coverage six days per week and their efforts are focused on problems such as loitering, drug activity and other nuisance issues such as noise, littering and illegal parking. We will continue to work with residents of the Sykes Street area and Community Watch to keep informed of any problems in the neighborhood and to make adjustments as necessary.
2. Property Maintenance/Housing Conditions
Both reports prepared by the Planning students and comments received at the charrette indicate that the residents of the Sykes Street area are concerned about property maintenance and improving housing conditions in the community. We have continued to work with EmPOWERment and Orange Community Housing and Land Trust to purchase, renovate and sell houses to low- and moderate-income, first time homebuyers. EmPOWERment is using funds from the Town and other sources to purchase and renovate 613 Sykes Street, 501 Sykes Street and 503 Sykes Street. EmPOWERment has also entered into a contract to purchase an additional house on North Graham Street. The properties will be sold to buyers earning less than 70% of the area median income (approximately $49,900 for a family of four) and will be placed in the Land Trust. We believe that Community Development funds budgeted by the Council for Neighborhood Revitalization, funds from the Housing Loan Trust Fund, and the recently established Revolving Acquisition Fund will help us continue these efforts.
We have also been implemented Town-wide programs to remove or improve dilapidated houses and cars. Since October, we have notified owners of two dilapidated houses in the Sykes Street area about violations of the Town’s Minimum Housing Code. Since January, we have notified sixteen owners in the Sykes Street area to remove their dilapidated vehicles. To date, four owners have corrected the violation.
We also believe that the proposed rental licensing program could address some of the resident’s concerns about housing conditions. The proposed program would require property owners to certify that his or her property complies with the Town’s Minimum Housing Code and would also provide information about the number of tenants and contact information for the owner of properties.
We believe that continuing activities with EmPOWERment and the Orange Community Housing and Land Trust and the level of code enforcement involved with the proposed rental licensing program could improve conditions in the neighborhood.
3. Public Improvements
The student reports and residents have recommended two main public improvements: (1) construction of sidewalks in the community; and (2) realignment of the Sykes-Nunn –Whitaker-Graham intersection. We intend to continue discussion of these issues with residents of the area and the Sykes Street Steering Committee to determine specific areas where sidewalks could be most beneficial and what they would like to accomplish from realigning the intersection. If we receive feedback from the community that they would like to proceed with these improvements, we could return to the Council with suggestions for considering these activities as a part of the 2002-2003 Community Development program.
CONCLUSION
Since January 2001, we have been working to make improvements in the Sykes Street area. We will continue to work with the Sykes Street Steering Committee and residents to identify problems and concerns in the community and to develop ideas for improvements. We will focus our immediate efforts on the Town-oriented recommendations presented to the Council by the Planning students on behalf of the residents:
Ø Monitoring increased Police coverage;
Ø Improving property maintenance and housing conditions; and
Ø Determining how best to address identified public improvements in the area.