Inter-Neighborhood Council

Making Better Neighborhoods

Http://www.rtpnet.org/durhminc

Minutes of Meeting of August 24,2004

REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT

Pat Carstensen	Cross County	Lugenia Mason	River Forest
Cheryl Sweeney	Northgate Park	John Dagenhart	Trinity Park
Mike Shiflett	Northgate Park	Randy Pickle	Forest Hills
Steven Matherly	WHHNA	Deb Cristie	Colony Hill
Helena Cragg	Old North Durham	Cathy Abernathy	Hope Valley
Mike Woodward	WHHNA	Bill Anderson	Duke Park
Tom Miller	Watts Hospital -Hillandale	Lynwood D. Best	City of Durham, Housing & Comm Development
Bobbe Deason	Morehead Hills NA	Ryan Young	Durham County
Rudy Henkel	PAC4 / HVF North	Carrie Mowry	Old North Durham
Barry Ragin	Duke Park	Erica Smolow	Duke University

* Speaker

Administration and Announcements

President Cheryl Sweeney opened the meeting, and members introduced themselves.

Housekeeping / updates / items:

§ Treasurer’s Report – We voted to pay up to $10 for refreshments for each meeting until the end of the year, including re-paying Pat Carstensen for the last 2 months. Dues are $25 / year.

§ June and July Minutes – Both were approved as written.

§ Honor Your Neighborhood Hero – The nomination forms are on the website. They can be mailed in, faxed, or e-mailed to Bill or Cheryl; the deadline has been extended until September 5. Any neighborhood can participate, but the nomination can’t be for someone doing the nominee’s regular job. Steve Matherly will do a slide show on the neighborhoods so if you have something to be included, mention it in your application. The event is September 28 at Washington Duke Inn; it will take the place of the normal September meeting. We have received 9 nominations, but many neighborhoods haven’t responded. We voted to spend up to $175 for plaques and other expenses.

§ Newsletter – Cathy, Pat and Cheryl will propose what should be in it by October 1 (for example, president’s letter, resolutions, big issues). We need to look at the mailing list, both in terms of sending more newsletters electronically and improving list of who get it (eg. other non-profits). Mike Shiflett will help with the mailing list.

§ Nominating Committee – A lot of people are declining so folks should not be shy about nominating themselves or suggesting other people. It is a great opportunity to direct the energy of the organization.

§ Bill from RTPNET – We voted to pay $60 for website hosting.

§ Few Gardens Closing – Some former residents of Few Gardens will move back to public housing when re-building of public housing mixed in with market rate housing is done. It is clear that having disadvantaged families all together is not good since, for example, their children rarely see people who are successful at work. On the other hand, the interim stage, with too many former Few Gardens residents moving into already-threatened neighborhoods is not good either. There are processes for cutting off Section 8 funds for someone who is breaking the rules. There are counselors who document problem cases – but all this takes a lot of time and patience.

UDO – Tom Miller gave a report on the RU Committee work. If there is one RU zone, it will undo a lot of work people did to get R-5 zones. They had a meeting with Frank Duke, the planning director. The good news is that both the committee and Frank see the need for a new district that corresponds more closely to the current R-5 and the uses currently there.

At the end, we will have a group of people who know the intricacies of the new zoning code very well. If you want to join the fun, contact Tom Miller.

We ought to be using minor use permits more.

Durham is one of the few places that do zoning by development plan. It has kept the code simpler because it hasn’t needed to put layer after layer of design guidelines for lots of different cases. But evolution to new UDO isn’t necessarily clear.

Other announcements and events:

§ Tree Planting Partnership – The deadline for application is Sept 13.

§ Long range transportation plan – Hearing tomorrow. See www.dchc-mpo.org

§ Smoke Detectors – Lynwood Best announced Housing & Community Development is going to have a smoke detector month where they are going to put in free smoke detectors in residences that don’t have them. If you want to help install smoke detectors or know someone who needs one, contact Lynwood.

§ Partying around Duke – Mike Woodard brought up his conversation with John Burness about efforts to be make students more neighborly.

Adjournment – The meeting adjourned.