Fayetteville Street Planning Group

Two Historic Districts Threatened by Opposition to Fayetteville Street Land Use Update 

If we don't value our history, why should others?

 Three property owners want to change the city staff's recommendation on their properties which are located on Fayettevile Street between Price Avenue and Dupree Street.    

     If opponents of the Fayetteville Street - University Land Use Update have their way on March 19, 2012, the Durham City Council will change one of the key recommendations in this update --  to keep Fayetteville Street as an predominantly historic residential area. Several of the affected properties where property owners have challanged city staff's and the commnity's recommendation are shown above.

     The question still remains (as stated in a post below) that both the Planning Commission and the City Council unanimously approved the land use update in 2011 -- less than 6 months ago. With such approvals, why is the Planning Commission modifying its recommendation when it's time to do the actual rezoning.

     We recognize that citizens should always have the right to appeal a decision by council. But in this case, with lengthy community meetings stretching over 3 years and 2 rounds of unanimous votes (one from the Planning Commission and one from City Council), is it fair or even reasonable for the objections of 3 property owners to override the widespread concensus of our community and the city?

     Stakeholders in the Fayetteville Street corridor have worked for over a decade to protect this historic area from destructive tear downs and to rebuild it as a destination for historic preservation and tourism. If all the historic structures are torn down, there will be nothing left to see of the homes of those who built Hayti and Fayetteville Street over 100 years ago.

     Remember the history of the Rivera House which was torn down by NCCU to see the history that is being demolished right before our eyes at http://fayettevillestreetgroup.com/fayetteville_street_history/admin.

     This challenge is just the beginning of a move to dismantle all the hard work our community has undertaken over the past decade to preserve and rebuild the neighborhoods along the Fayetteville Street corridor. Too much property demolition may threaten the local and national historic districts by reducing the number of "contributing properties" to these historic districts.

   If we allow this destruction to continue and allow the camel's nose under the tent, the tent will fall and our history will be torn down, brick by brick, until there's nothing left of those who built this community over 100 years ago.

    If you support preserving our community and our history on Fayetteville Street, please attend the March 12, 2012 Unity in the Community (UCP) meeting at 7:00 pm at Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church to hear the discussion on this item. Call 919-680-2878 with any questions you may have.

NCCU University-College (UC2) Zoning Meeting on February 16, 2012

      The City of Durham has created a new zoning district for NCCU's campus known as University - College (UC2). The required community meeting to present information to the public on this new zone is Thursday, February 16, 2012 at the NCCU Student Union (507 Nelson Street). The time is 5:30 pm until 7:00 pm. Free parking will be available in the Nelson Street surface parking lot across the street.

     This action is part of a larger land use and zoning update for the Fayetteville Street corridor from Umstead Street to Nelson Street -- which comprises the Fayetteville Street Local Historic District.

     Fayetteville Street contains the only African American local historic district in the City of Durham. It's main function is the preservation of existing historic homes and structures along Fayetteville Street by preventing the automatic demolition of homes and setting/enforcing standards for the exterior appearance of these structures. Because of the local historic district, all requests to demolish a structure in the historic district must first be approved by the Durham Historic Preservation Commission. It is the local historic district that gives our historic structures some measure of protection against automatic tear downs.

     Due to increasing land pressure around NCCU and the entire Fayetteville Street corridor, it is important that all interested citizens attend this meeting to understand the impacts of what's being proposed for NCCU's campus.

     Call 919-680-2878 if you have any questions prior to the meeting.

Fayetteville Street Land Use Discussion Highlights Conflicts and Bad Comparisons

     The discussion about land use and zoning in Fayetteville Street's local and national historic districts at the January 10, 2012 Planning Commission underscored the tension between free-market economics and the desire of local stakeholders in this area to preserve the area as an historic and predominantly single family area.

   The discussion was particularly insightful because Fayetteville Street has been "ground zero" for government-led redevelopment efforts that have already displaced over 1,000 residents from the area -- and threaten to displace even more if government-led plans are successful.

     For local residents and business owners, it is a fight for survival against market forces that, if not for the historic district zoning, would enable the tear down of historic homes and structures for large-footprint structures and high-intensity commercial development. Fayetteville Street advocates created the Fayetteville Street Local Historic District in 2000 and have been active in the planning and zoning for the area since that time.

     As pointed out by the city's planning staff, the community expressed an overwhelming desire to preserve both the local and national historic districts as residential over the three year period that the update was under review. City staff also indicated that the multi-famiy homes, which were the subject of the opposition to residential zoning, would be grandfathered, i.e., retain their multi-family use as along as they remained multi-family residential. Given these two statements, then what's the fuss all about?

    In a nutshell, some of the opposing land owners have no intention of retaining the homes for multi-family use and want to tear them down and build large-footprint structures. If the owners continue to use the homes as multi-family, there is no problem according to city planning staff. But if the zoning changes to residential, any new development by these owners would have to be single-family -- thereby complicating plans for a 250+ room dormintory planned for this section of the historic district.

    And then there's the ever-present comparison of Fayetteville Street for NCCU students with Franklin Street for UNC students. However, a visit to Franklin Street actually supports the preservation of Fayetteville Street.

    First, the historic homes on Franklin Street have retained their historic facades while adaptively reusing the interiors for various purposes, including fraternity and sorority houses and other business uses. And some residents in Chapel Hill live in these homes despite being located near a commercial corridor and on a very busy section of Franklin Street. Clearly residential and commercial development have been able to co-exist here while preserving the historic character of this area.

     Second, the commercial corridor on Franklin Street is overwhelmingly populated by local businesses and there are few national or chain stores in the mix.

     So in the end, the Franklin Street comparison illustrates how historic preservation can exist alongside new development near a university's campus. It is unfortunate that critics of the plan fail to see that the economic development potential of historic preservation could be a win-win for both Fayetteville Street, NCCU and individual property owners.

 Fayetteville Street Land Use Update Faces Opposition

      After three years of sustained community input and unanimous Planning Commission and City Council approvals in 2011, the Fayetteville Street - University Land Use Update faced a challenge from some local property owners at the January 10, 2012 Planning Commission meeting.

     The challenge came as opposition to rezoning parcels near NCCU from multi-family to single-family residential. Although staff explained that these properties would be grandfathered for the existing multi-family use and that removal of these parcels from the land use update might erode the integrity of both local and national historic districts on and around Fayetteville Street, the Plannng Commission voted to send an alternate recommendation on to the city council removing what's shown as Section 9 from the land use update.

     Fayetteville Street now contains two historic districts. The oldest of the two is the Fayetteville Street Local Historic District which was approved in 2000 and is supported by the Fayetteville Street Historic Preservation Plan, also approved the Durham City Council. The second is the Stokesdale National Historic District which was recently established and like the local district are the only African American historic districts in Durham.

     It is the local historic district, however, that prevents the automatic demolition of structures in its boundary. Before any structure can be demolished, it must be approved by Durham's Historic Preservation Commission.

     For those who know Durham's black history, it is no accident that these districts were established on the Fayetteville Street corridor. Fayetteville Street dates back to Durham's earliest founding and was one of the black enclaves that flourished after the end of the Civil War. The history here is long, well-established and worthy of preserving.

     Community advocates for the preservation of homes and businesses in the historic Fayetteville Street corridor have worked for the past decade to preserve this area as a key historic neighborhood in the City of Durham. Those advocates attending the meeting were stunned to hear some Planning Commission members expressing a desire to reverse the hard-fought-for gains to restore Fayetteville Street to its prior position of prominance in our city.

     The city's planning staff reminded the Planning Commission that this body, along with the city council, unanimously approved the land use update in 2011 and that this meeting was being held to implement the update as official land use and rezoning actions. Planning staff also signaled a decided reluctance to reverse course without explicit direction from the city council.

     Community advocates also weighed in on this issue and wondered if some on the Planning Commission had come down with amnesia -- since some of these same opponents had participated in the meetings and in the public hearings on this item. Advocates for Fayetteville Street also cautioned the Planning Commission that the community is not responsible for the profit of individual property owners as these owners knew (or should have done their proper title research) that the local historic district had been approved since 2000 and any property purchased was subject to those zoning restrictions.

     Community advocates also wondered about the Planning Commission's sudden interest in revising its unanimous vote just a few months ago for a few parcels on Fayetteville Street -- when it has shown no interest in reversing its vote that blighted 451 parcels in Southside in January 2010.

     The appeal to overturn a long-standing city council directive for the benefit of a few sets a bad precedent for reversing official actions based on serving narrow interests. The social and economic benefits of historic preservation are well-documneted and the resulting rehabilitation of homes and tourism have been viewed as a vehicle to improve the economics of the Fayetteville Street corridor and the stakeholders in this area.