New Hope for Durham?

A new group calls for a moratorium on development in Durham until resource and infrastructure needs are addressed. They're asking folks to attend the City Council meeting on November 19th, at which a 308 unit development off Garrett Road will be voted on.

Details at Phil's and Kevin's.

Kevin in particular notes that growth was much less of an issue in Durham elections than elsewhere in the region. Part of that, i suspect, is that regional and national developers have long eyed Durham's demographics with skepticism, not thinking that development was going to be especially profitable in and around the Bull City.

That's changing. As is the the understanding that our resources may not be adequate to support all the development that some folks might want to bring to the table.

For example, as Jim Wise noted in his column in the Durham News this past Saturday:

As days in Durham go, maybe so. Of course, that was 30 years ago, and so much has changed since then for the better.

On Nov. 3, 1977, as the second drought year in a row continued, Lake Michie was 16 feet below full.

This week, Lake Michie is down only 12.2 feet.

Yet, the water shortage this year is so much more critical, despite the fact that we have additional storage capacity online, because the population of Durham is more than double what it was thirty years ago.

If only the New Hope folks had a blog.