Duke Park Shop
Neighborhood Photos
DPNA Meeting Minutes
February 10, 2005
Board members present: Barry Ragin (president), Rob Dilworth (vice president), Pam Campa (treasurer), Claire Doyle (secretary), Katherine O'Brien, Daniel Kirk, Peg Lanier (members-at-large)
Neighbors present: Richard Mullinax (OND), Andrew Preiss, Larry Crabtree, Diane Wright, a couple of others who left before I could get their names
From PSNC: Randy Pickens, Don L. Harris
From Durham DOT: Phil Loziuk
1. PSNC
Don L. Harris and Randy Pickens are gas inspectors. PSNC is doing a joint project w/ with the city, which will last 6-7 years. Gas lines that were installed around town in the 1920’s were state of the art at the time, but there are better materials available now. This project will eliminate all cast iron gas pipes in the system. What this will mean is no more crews out at 2-3:00 a.m. with fire suits on, fixing gas leaks. It’s a BIG project. Most of the cast iron is in the downtown area. Neighborhoods outside of downtown, which were built later, have plastic or steel.
Gas main and service lines will be replaced. 95% of the project is directional bore: a boring rig is set up, which can drill under the ground, so nothing is disturbed. But there is some open cutting; can’t get around it 100%, but they go out of their way to avoid cutting cable lines, water pipes, etc. Pickens joked, “We don’t want you coming out the house hollering cause you can’t watch All My Children!”
The crews will go to every house where the low-pressure, cast iron pipes need to be replaced. One side of the street may need replacing but not the other. He will hand out letters to let people know if their houses are affected. Currently there are two crews working: one on Vista St./ Knox Circle, another on Acadia St. by the park. Those areas should be done in 2-3 months. After that, the project will move down Mangum, Trinity, Geer, etc.
John Reeves from Public Works is the city contact on the project.
Pickens said there are no environmental concerns to worry about. After they complete their work in an open cut, they fill, tamp, seed & straw. No shrubbery will be pulled out; shrubs shouldn’t be a near a gas main, according to code. Right now pipes are 7”; they are going to a 60 pound system. The meter will be replaced; the new one will have a regulator on it. The regulator will reduce the 60 lbs back to 7” at the house.
The federal government will not allow a rate increase to pay for this work, so we don’t have to worry about that.
Pickens puts door hangers out on people’s doors to let them know about the work, but sometimes people toss them without looking at them. He will also knock on doors to let people know. There will be a disruption of service; PSNC sends 2-3 notices to each customer to request a convenient time for that disruption. The property owner must be there when they do the work. It will take about 45 minutes to an hour. Nobody will be without gas overnight. They will turn the pilots back on for you.
If you have additional questions, you can call Don Harris at 697-7231 or Randy Pickens at 451-4312.
2. Beaver dam
Barry Ragin spoke with Eddie Culberson from Soil & Water Conservation. They are working with NCDOT to bring latest in beaver dam technology to Durham. Durham will now participate in the state Beaver Management Program. The plan is to lower the water out of Larry Crabtree’s yard but keep the beavers happy, too. Culberson said the pipes that NCDOT put in might not be the proper width, and he is not sure where one of the pipes drains, also. He will investigate further and report to Ellen Reckhow (county commissioner) and Dan Ruffin (county manager). Larry got a call from a woman in Virginia from Beaver Management about installing the beaver dam control device. She recommended against removing the beaver, even by humane means, because if it is an attractive location, another beaver will just move in.
3. Fundraisers
The neighborhood yard sale and Stone Brothers and Byrd fundraisers will be in April. Volunteers are needed to help with both efforts. If you would like to help out with the yard sale, please contact Kathy Bartlett at 682-3288 or kathy1214@aol.com. If you would like to help out with the Stone Bros. Fundraiser, please contact Barry Ragin at 956-8054 or bragin@nc.rr.com.
4. Farmer’s Market Pavilion and the Neighborhood Sign
Old North Durham has invited Duke Park to join in a fundraiser for the farmer’s market pavilion. They would like to join in sponsoring a column at the new market, which costs $5,000. They would like to split the expense 50/50 with Duke Park, or possibly 45/45 with Old Five Points kicking in 10%. Katherine O’Brien has expressed interest in donating some money. Richard Mullinax says OND raised $1100 in about 2 weeks doing door-to-door fundraising. The pavilion will be where the old Dog House was. A fundraising drive would be a conduit for people to who wish to donate to Durham Central Park. Concern was expressed that we need to raise money for our neighborhood sign, first. Andrew Preiss says we haven’t moved forward on the sign because the location will dictate if it’s a one or two-sided sign, and no location has been decided upon. Barry proposed to make a decision at the board meeting (Sunday, March 6, at Rob Dilworth’s house) on both the pillar and sign issues.
5. Park Renovations
Barry Ragin, Andrew Preiss, and several other neighbors met with Beth Timson of Durham Parks & Recreation at the Duke Park bathhouse. She made a commitment to take care of the bathrooms and get the meadow drained. Timson said the city would be willing to rent the bathhouse to DPNA for $1/year, which would give us a community room for DPNA meetings. The city might be able to fund some renovations if there were other community groups interested in using the space as well. A full renovation would be expensive. City would only commit to that if the neighborhood commits to using the facility enough to justify a $2-300,000 renovation expense. They are also willing to just tear it down. Andrew recommended we organize a work day to at least clear out junk and non-load-bearing walls. The city would provide a dumpster if we did this. Andrew estimates 10 people could clear the place out in an afternoon. At that point, we would have a usable shelter, but with no heat, A/C, or water. The building is full of corroded old plumbing and there are cracks in the foundation.
Several groups have already expressed interest in having the space renovated. This will be pursued in more detail, and the other groups invited to the March board meeting.
6. Traffic calming
Phil Loziuk, a traffic engineer with the city, addressed the meeting about the Roxboro/Markham/Mangum intersection. The design he proposes is raised concrete medians in place of the current dividers and lane markers. These would slow traffic down by making the road feel narrower. They would more clearly delineate where the cars and pedestrians should go. There could be vegetation in the barriers; under 2 feet high so it does not block visibility. In the center of the curve would be a 2-inch median, but people could still make a left turn into their driveways.
The current status on this project is that Loziuk is waiting for the state to give the city the go-ahead on the project. At that point the issue can go before city council. Once they have approved it, it can go out to bid. Phil expects to hear from the state within the next 30 days.
They may build a multi-step barrier which would rise from 8” to 28” (jersey barrier height). Because of its design, a car can hit it without severe damage. Phil likes the rhino walls (the big white barriers) because they are very maneuverable, but they’re ugly, and trash blows up against them and gets stuck there. We are more likely to get neighborhood interest in maintaining shrubbery than in picking trash off big plastic walls. Richard Mullinax proposed using the water-filled barriers as giant planters for English ivy, and could use them as part of the landscaping even on top of the curb.
Loziuk projects the cost of converting the intersection at about $180k.
Barry Ragin reminded Loziuk of the idea of a pedestrian-activated crossing light mid-block on Roxboro between Knox and Markham. No action has been taken on that yet. There is still discussion ongoing about turning Roxboro and Mangum into 2-way streets. Loziuk says it won’t happen without community input, AND until after the East End connector is built, which will not be for about 10 years. Barry thought the East End Connector was going to be funded out of the highway trust fund, but Loziuk was unaware of that. It would cost about $500,000 to convert those streets to 2-way.
Loziuk brought a photo of a removable traffic roundabout, but he doesn’t think they’ll be able to build one at the Markham/Glendale intersection. The current wisdom is not to use this solution at intersections that get over 3000 cars/day. But we also don’t have either the accident rate or the traffic volume to justify a 4-way stop at that intersection. Peg Lanier suggested going to Coffee with Council to lobby for traffic calming. Loziuk agreed that is a good plan. If he has extra money as the fiscal year winds down, it’s possible he might be able to get Mark Ahrendsen and other people on board to try the roundabout. Consensus at the meeting is that people would like to see the roundabout in place.The March DPNA meeting will be an open board meeting, on Sunday, March 6, at Rob Dilworth's residence.