Overview:
Duke didn’t bring more detailed development plans to the council, but it did commit to building a pedestrian and bike path near the Durham VA Center when it redevelops those sites.
Earlier this month, the Durham City Council voted 5-2 to approve a request to rezone 10 Duke University-owned parcels to give the university broad freedom for future construction.
That college and university (UC) zoning, which the city created specifically for Duke and North Carolina Central University to use, allows the universities to build essentially whatever they want without having to go back through the lengthy council approval process for development.
“It allows for planning and zoning elements, such as stormwater, parking, sidewalks, tree coverage, to be considered holistically at the campus scale, rather than on each individual building site,” Adem Gusa, director of planning and design at Duke, told the council.
The request itself was not complicated—it simply incorporated those 10 parcels in the Erwin Road/central campus area already owned and used by Duke, into that zone that surrounds most of the parcels.
But the conversation around the vote, which was continued from an August meeting, highlighted the council’s divided approach to the relationship between the city and its largest landowner and employer. Nate Baker and Chelsea Cook, two of the council’s newest members, seemed to have little faith in Duke.
“If the zoning is approved, we take ourselves out of the planning process,” said Baker, who voted against the rezoning alongside Cook. Baker argued that the UC zone is the right fit, but that the university should come back to council with a full plan for the site before asking for the rezoning.
“I personally believe that the appropriate time is later, is after the planning process,” he said.
This was not the first time Baker has voiced his skepticism of Duke. He has been a champion of the Duke Respect Durham campaign, which is trying to pressure Duke into direct payments to the city because the non-profit university is not required to pay property taxes.
Mayor Pro-tem Mark-Anthony Middleton took a jab at the dissenters, asking what change they had expected Duke to make since the August meeting.
“We need to stop sending people—giving people homework, and setting up de facto expectations, and then come back here and [changing] the parameters of the assignment,” said Middleton. “Why are we wasting these people’s time? We could have voted that night.”
Since that August meeting, though, council member Javiera Caballero has secured a commitment from Duke to build a pedestrian and bike path near the Durham VA Center at the time of redevelopment of those sites. She also got the university to promise that they would not build a golf course on the rezoned site.
“Sometimes continuances are good, and so that is why I occasionally use that tool. It is a tool I’m allowed to use as a council member,” Caballero responded to Middleton, annoyance evident in her voice.
Ultimately, the city’s universities seem to have social capital to spare: Durham’s mayor, Leonardo Williams, is an NC Central alum and his son currently studies at Duke.
Seemingly in response to Baker’s and Cook’s concerns about Duke’s intentions, Williams asked the university’s team to outline their previous contributions to affordable housing in the city, and later asked its members to share how many people the university employs.
“Don’t be bashful,” Williams said. “Duke has been a partner, as far as my experience is concerned, and I need us to know that.”
Reach Reporter Chase Pellegrini de Paur at [email protected]. Comment on this story at [email protected].