The Durham Rescue Mission Wants to Rezone Land Near Its East Durham Campus. Residents Are Wary. 

The Durham Rescue Mission has a zoning request pending for fifteen parcels of land totaling 2.43 acres near its East Durham Campus, hoping to switch the properties’ zoning to light industrial. 

In a zoning map change application submitted to the city, the Mission provided a laundry list of what the land would not be used for. East Durham residents can rest assured that the land will not become: a cemetery, a drive-in theater, a rail or bus terminal, a correctional facility, a car wash, an indoor firing range, an adult establishment, a payday lender, or a wrecking and salvage yard.

But for community members tuning into a virtual meeting who were more interested in learning about what the Mission was intending to use the land for—as opposed to what it was not—answers were elusive. 

The Mission did not have any staff present at the Wednesday meeting, hosted by the project’s engineering and planning firm, McAdams. Instead, McAdams Senior Planner Sarah Van Every spoke on behalf of the organization.

“The proposed zoning will bring all the parcels into one zoning district and allow for the development of a retail area, training center and storage space, as well as additional parking,” Van Every said. The parcels are clustered just south of the Durham Rescue Mission’s facility at the corner of East Main Street and South Alston Avenue.

Later on the call, Van Every said the site was intended to be used for “training and educational purposes.” Durham resident Chloe Palenchar pointed out that the Mission was not bound to use the land in the ways Van Every described. 

“The information presented here about what it will be used for is not related at all to the rezoning request,” Palenchar said. “They’re not bound to this at all, to use it for retail space or training center or storage space.”

Van Every did not provide further details when asked about specifics of the plan.

The lack of specifics and community input was frustrating to neighborhood resident Aidil Ortiz, who said she felt the Rescue Mission was doing the “bare minimum” to source input from the community, and wondered about the “sense of holding people at arm’s length.”

“Why not invite some conversation and lean into those Christian values?” Ortiz said. 

“Thank you for expressing your concern,” Van Every said. 

Another caller asked if any existing structures would need to be demolished in order to enact the Rescue Mission’s existing plan. 

“I do not know at this time,” Van Every said. 

INDY asked if Van Every had received any word from the Mission about why they had not sent a representative to listen to the community’s concerns. 

“I do not have an answer for another person,” Van Every said. 

One Durham resident, who identified himself as Sean, voiced broader concerns about the Mission. In 2024, the INDY and The Assembly detailed practices at the mission that included paying residents $5 for a full week of labor (often labeled as a “benevolence” or “gift”), and paying its top three executives nearly twice the amount of “benevolent gifts” paid out to its guests.

“I don’t think we should be rezoning anything until we deal with the effects that the Durham Rescue Mission has on Durham and the city and our population as a whole,” Sean said. 

“Thank you for sharing your concern,” Van Every said in response.

The proposal heads to the city Planning Commission for a public hearing on Tuesday night. Community members wishing to offer input on the zoning request can do so here.