Thank you, Becky

Saddened to see Becky Heron stepping down from the BoCC mid-term, as much for what it says about her personal health issues as it means for Durham. Anything that gives Joe Bowser even more influence over the future of Durham County is troublesome.

Continue reading Thank you, Becky

Clown show

Which one of our County Commissioners is sending out spam emails inviting the recipient to become friends on QuePasa.com?

Three guesses

Accept the invite, and every single person in your address book will get an invitation from you to become friends, too.

I know the internet is hard, but geez Louise, can't we do any better than this?

Continue reading Clown show

751 Assemblage

So, among the other items we've been neglectful of as December hastens towards its close is updating you on the fate of the 751 South project wich seemed ot occupy so much of our time earlier this year.

Fortunately, Ray Gronberg does this for a living, and he's already told you that the developers and their attorneys are trying to get the services contract, which would bring water and sewer to the distant village-sized project in south Durham.

Council members are scheduled to get their first look at the proposed service extension contract today, and will have to decide whether to put it on the agenda for a vote at their Jan. 3 business meeting.

The request already has drawn heated opposition from one of Durham's key political groups, the People's Alliance, and from dozens of people who have e-mailed council members to say consideration of the request is premature.

. . .

City Manager Tom Bonfield, though, said the developers have questioned why he and his staff should sit on an extension contract.

"They've argued -- what's the reason we wouldn't at least consider it, or move it to the policy level," Bonfield said, alluding to the developers' contention that extensions and annexation are a matter for the city's elected political leaders and not its unelected staff to decide.

The manager also said the developers would argue that the staff has "been negligent to [an] ordinance" that sets a deadline for processing applications for utility extensions.

City Attorney Patrick Baker, however, said Monday he's aware of no such ordinance.

Officials do generally pledge an answer to applications in six months, and city officials received Southern Durham Development's Inc. request in March, Baker said.

But the city code on utility extensions to land outside the city limits does specify that decisions on such applications are discretionary as far as the council is concerned.

That means the council can say yes or no, with a no leaving developers unable to count on access to utilities and with little basis for arguing that such access is a matter of right.

Bonfield had halted work over the summer on both on the extension contract and the annexation that 751 South's developers have requested. He said he decided work should resume after the two sides in the zoning fight opted this fall to take it to court rather than going to Durham's Board of Adjustment.

One quick note here - it's my understanding of the case that County Attorney Lowell "Encyclopedia Brown" Siler made the decision that the Board of Adjustment would not be able to rule on the legality of the BoCC's decision to invalidate the original protest petition filed int he rezoning case, which necessitated the lengthier and more expensive lawsuit currently under way.

No matter, though. Our sources tell us that Council has agreed with the notion that that lawsuit should be decided before making their annexation and services extension decisions. For Durhamites who believe our elected officials, and not the attorneys of K&L Gates, should be making decisions about what the Durham of the future will look like, that's a victory indeed.

Continue reading 751 Assemblage

Rubber stamp commission

From N&O's Bull's Eye blog:

The Durham County Board of Commissioners approved a rezoning request last night to allow up to 33,500 square feet of commercial development on nearly 10 acres on Glenn School Road.

Commissioners Joe Bowser, Brenda Howerton and Chairman Michael Page voted in favor of the rezoning, which changes the zoning from rural residential to allow for a yet-to-be defined commercial development between Glenn Road and Interstate 85.

Commissioners Ellen Reckhow and Becky Heron voted against the change, saying they wanted more details about the development that would be a gateway to East Durham.

Development representative Ronald Horvath said property owners couldn’t provide specific details because they are talking to different potential buyers and exploring three or four possible uses. Those uses include a small hotel, a sit-down restaurant, a gas station, and a fast food restaurant, all intended to serve I-85 traffic, he said.

Emphasis mine.

Is it too damn much to ask of our elected officials that they at least find out what the hell it is they're approving when they approve rezoning requests like this? Do we really need another Quickie Mart with a Subway off the freeway in east Durham? Is this really what passes for economic development in the minds of our county commissioners?

Continue reading Rubber stamp commission

Vote?

I'm predicting a 4-1 vote against revising the billboard ordinance in the County Commission tonight.

That's 'cause Joe Bowser is a rebel who's beholden to no one, don'tcha know.

UPDATE: Kevin breaks the news that Fairway has withdrawn their request for a vote on the amendment tonight. I don't know what that means, but John Schelp seems to think it's good news.

If i recall, their defeat in City Council was accompanied by some discussion that they had to wait at least a year before bringing it up again. I assume that by not having a vote tonight at the Commission, they can come back to that body at a time of their own choosing?

UPDATE: Over at the N&O Jim Wise writes "(T)o raise the issue again would require a formal request, paying fees and going through the review process from square one."

Obviously, the money's not going to be an issue for an outfit like Fairway, but the whole formal request and review process is going to take a lot of time. They've invested two years in this so far, so it's hard to see this as anything other than throwing in the towel.

Chalk up one for the good guys.

Continue reading Vote?

Deep thought

Now that we're going to have the awesomest new Total Streets mixed use development down in th south end of the county generating all kinds of new tax revenues, maybe our County Commissioners will fund the Animal Control Department at a level that will allow them to respond to roaming dog packs before 8:30 am and after 5:30 pm, and on weekends.

Oh, who am i kidding? Providing basic services doesn't seem to be part of the BoCC's world view.

Continue reading Deep thought

Pass the popcorn

N&O:

Durham County Attorney Lowell Siler may have concluded that the state Department of Transportation had no authority to un-accept a land donation from a Durham, but NCDOT is sticking by its guns, so to speak.

Even if the business goes to court, DOT spokeswoman Greer Beaty said this afternoon.

"We stand behind our actions," she said. "We took legal action we had the authority to take."

Perhaps K&L Gates, which apparently provided County Attorney Lowell "Encyclopedia Brown" Siler with the legal advice he needed to reach his conclusion, will pick up the county's court costs?

The only good thing that's going to come out of this clusterfuck is a clean slate on the Board of County Commissioners. Too bad that can't happen till 2012.

Continue reading Pass the popcorn

Liveblogging the County Commissioners!

Oh, who am i kidding. Page's bullshit about not granting the delay request is enough to push my blood pressure into the danger zone.

Hey Mr. Chair - this process has gone on for two years. If you haven't heard enough to make a decision yet, maybe public service isn't your calling.

UPDATE: Brenda Howerton just lost whatever respect I may have had for her.

UPDATE: Hey Commissioner Bowser - the last speaker was referring to the bending of the rules when the watershed boundary protest petition was ruled invalid for your vote, then ruled valid later, and your vote was allowed to stand. That's a violation of the standards set forth in the UDO. So get off your high horse and do your job.

UPDATE: Nope, didn't see that coming.

UPDATE: Chairman Page might want to look at a map when he gets home. He might find that China and India are two different countries.

Continue reading Liveblogging the County Commissioners!

Is that Lowell Siler I hear giving his opinion about the NCDOT revocation?

Actually, no, it's not. Two weeks after saying his office needed two days to review, and a whole weekend after receiving the state AG's decision on the validity of the easement revocation, County Attorney Lowell "Encyclopedia Brown" Siler is still silent on whether NCDOT's revocation of an easement given by Southern Durham Development is valid or not. The validity of the revocation is directly proportional to the validity of a protest petition filed against a rezoning request by SDD - if the revocation is valid, the petition is valid, and SDD looks set to come up one vote short for their rezoning request. If the revocation is invalid, then so is the petition, and SDD will probably have enough votes at the Board of County Commissioners. Add to the mix is that Planning Department Director Steve Medlin is the official who actually makes the call on the validity of the petition, and he is not obligated to follow Siler's opinion. A correspondent informs me that as of 4 pm today, Medlin had still not heard from Siler.

Gee, i wonder how this will play out?

Continue reading Is that Lowell Siler I hear giving his opinion about the NCDOT revocation?

751 decision tonight? Billboards on the agenda?

Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey's Greatest Show on Earth Durham Board of County Commissioners meets tonight with two, count 'em two, pressing issues on the agenda, although one might get dropped.

First up, a continuation of the hearing begun 2 weeks ago regarding the rezoning application for the proposed 751 South development project down near Jordan Lake. Since we last checked in with the Commissioners, County Attorney Lowell "Encyclopedia Brown" Siler has received his answer from the NC Attorney General's office regarding the legal grounds the state believes it has to revoke the NCDOT's acceptance of a land easement from the developer, Southern Durham Development, Inc. The 41 foot wide strip of land was just wide enough to push the boundaries of the property far enough away from that of many of the signatories to a protest petition against the rezoning, which would have had the effect of invalidating the petition.

Of interest to note in this process is that one of SDD's attorneys, Patrick Byker of Keystone Kops law firm K&L Gates, was quoted by NCDOT officials who originally accepted the easement as saying the gift was made to "show good faith." Byker's client, Alex Mitchell, was subsequently quoted by area reporters as saying the easement was given specifically to invalidate the petition. It's precisely this action by Byker that has a number of local residents, according to some rumors we're hearing, considering filing complaints with the NC Bar Association. Stay tuned for developments on that, which i'm sure will be lots of fun if they turn out to be true.

Anyway, it's up to Siler to render an opinion on whether or not NCDOT's revocation of the easement passes muster. Planning Department Director Steve Medlin can then accept Siler's reasoning or, as i understand it, issue an independent judgment on the validity of the protest petition. Either way, expect to hear from one or the other party tomorrow night that further legal action is being prepared.

Also on the agenda, maybe, is the proposed amendments to Durham's Uniform Development Ordinance to make billboards legal again, and invite new hi tech digital billboards into the county. Fresh on their stinging 7-0 rebuke at the hands of the City Council last Monday, though, Fairway Outdoor Advertising and their attorney, Patrick Byker of K&L Gates (dejá vu, anyone?) have asked for a one month delay in having the BoCC consider the billboard issue. Byker was quoted by local media as saying the request was based out of concern for the Commissioners having to deal with too many difficult issues in one night.

I give about as much credence to that as i do to his statement about "showing good faith" with NCDOT, to be honest.

The fun and games kick off at 7 pm at the County Commissioners chambers in the Old Courthouse, 200 East Main.

Or you can stay home, make a big bucket of popcorn, and watch proceedings on Time Warner Cable channel 8. Let's hope Chair Michael Page watched Mayor Bill Bell manage the billboard issue at last week's Council meeting. Another fiasco like the BoCC's meeting two weeks ago and Durham might start to develop a reputation, if you know what i mean.

Get all the background you need from Samiha Khanna at the Indy's Triangulator blog; Jim Wise at the N&O's Bull's Eye blog; Ray Gronberg at the Herald Sun; and Kevin and Rob at BCR. Search on 751 or billboards when you get to their sites.

Continue reading 751 decision tonight? Billboards on the agenda?

Remember when?

Remember when County Commissioner Joe Bowser called NCDOT's rejection of SDD's easement a "prank" and suggested that it didn't count because they weren't elected?

Good times.

Continue reading Remember when?

Ark of the Covenant located at last!

Samiha at the Indy reports that W. Richard Moore at the NC Attorney General's office has given Boy Detective Encyclopedia Brown County Attorney Lowell Siler a letter outlining the state's authority to reject Southern Durham Development's gift of an easement along NC 751.

The easement would have invalidated a protest petition filed against a rezoning request by moving the boundary of the land more than 100 feet from a number of signatories on the petition. By rejecting the easement, the state seeks to step away from Durham's internal processes and allow the case to be decided by current law. I imagine that Siler will have a busy weekend looking for holes in the State's document.

Keystone Kops Law Firm K&L Gates attorney Patrick Byker, representing SDD has threatened to sue the state if they give the land back. That ought to be amusing.

I swear, you can't buy entertainment like this at any price.

Continue reading Ark of the Covenant located at last!

The dog ate my homework

The Indy and BCR are reporting that Keystone Kops Law Firm K&L Gates, attorneys for Fairway Outdoor Advertising, are requesting a postponement of Monday's scheduled public hearing and vote by the BoCC on Fairway's billboard rezoning request. The postponement request comes on the heels of Fairway's loss at the City Council on Monday night.

The Indy sez that Byker has concern's about the BoCC's ability to manage two contentious issues in one night.

The reason for the request is to relieve county commissioners of having to deal with two very contentious issues—changes to the billboard ordinance, and a rezoning case that would allow a controversial development—on the same night, he said. Both are scheduled for public hearings during Monday's meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. A meeting just about that controversial development, 751 South, pushed past midnight two weeks ago.

"I don't think it's fair to county commissioners to have to deal with both on the same night," Byker said. He indicated there was no other reason for asking for the delay, including any benefit to the firm itself, by giving it more time to prepare.

This, of course, is the same Patrick Byker who told NCDOT that his other client, SDD, Inc., was giving a 41 foot wide strip of land as an easement to the highway people to "show good faith," while his client was telling newspaper reporters that the easement was created specifically to invalidate a protest petition that could very well derail the rezoning SDD needs for the project.

Given that, we can assume that Mr. Byker probably had other concerns on his mind than the well-being of our County commissioners.

Continue reading The dog ate my homework

So many lawsuits, so little time

According to Jim Wise at the N&O, K&L Gates attorney Patrick Byker, representing Southern Durham Development, Inc., is threatening to sue the NCDOT if they don't rescind their revocation of their acceptance of the easement that Byker gave them back on July 13 of a 41 foot wide strip of land. NCDOT says that Byker claimed he was giving the easement to the state to "show good faith," but his client was later quoted as saying that the gift was intended to push the boundary of the land far enough away from the folks at the Chancellor's Ridge subdivision that their signatures could no longer be counted on the protest petition that's been filed against this rezoning request.

Reader RH writes to me to say that this very technique was used a decade and a half ago in Chapel Hill to get approval for the Hogan Farm subdivision; before my time, i think, so i'll leave it to you as an exercise in Google to see what happened in that case, and who the attorneys might have been.

But what's Byker going to sue on? He's claiming the revocation is "unlawful." If it is, then i'm sure that Boy Detective Encyclopedia Brown County Attorney Lowell Siler will figure that out in the nick of time before Monday's BoCC meeting, and rule the petition invalid, at least long enough for the commissioners to vote 3-2 in favor of the developer. If Siler can't find the grounds to invalidate the revocation, and lord knows he's spent enough time looking, then Byker's just blowing smoke, and he knows it, and so does NCDOT. A lot of folks i talk to believe that Siler will come up with something around 6:00 pm on Monday night to make the determination that the protest petition is invalid.

That, though, will almost certainly invite a second lawsuit against the county, since, as yoiu may recall, Siler similarly ruled a protest petition invalid last fall, allowing a 3-2 vote to be recorded accepting the new watershed boundary, only later to determine that the petition was in fact valid, but that no new vote needed to be taken.

Will recent history repeat itself Monday night?

My money says yes, but i'm just a cynical old fart with no faith in the goodness of humanity.

Continue reading So many lawsuits, so little time

I've got an idea

To handle the growth issue in Durham.

Simply require all prospective residents of Durham County to watch the video of tonight's meeting. No one will want to move here.

Thank you Joe Bowser!

Continue reading I've got an idea

He's really gotta go

Joe Bowser thinks it's OK for the developers of the 751 project to notify the county that they've deeded an easement to the state on a Friday afternoon at 5:00 in order to invalidate a protest petition, but if the state attempts to revoke that easement, that's a last minute bit of outside interference?

Holy christ.

Does North Carolina have a recall process?

UPDATE: alas, no.

Continue reading He's really gotta go

They've gotta go

So, everybody and their brother at the county commissioners meeting tonight knows how the vote is going to turn out. The only issue is whether or not the 3-2 vote will be sufficient to grant the rezoning approval. And that, apparently, will depend on a ruling from the county attorney.

So why are Chair Michael Page and Commissioner Joe Bowser willing to spend 15 minutes arguing about whether or not we need to take the time before the public speaks to learn what Lowell Siler has to say about the document received today from NCDOT referenced below? It's a cut and dried, yes it is or no it isn't statement that would take all of 15 seconds to read and process. Is NCDOT's rejection of SDD's easement legally valid or isn't it?

We won't know until the kabuki theater runs its course.

Those men cannot be re-elected to the BoCC in 2012.

UPDATE: Put Lowell Siler on the list of people who should be looking for new jobs too. Oh, and Joe Bowser? Last i checked, the North Carolina Attorney General is elected by the people of North Carolina. Civics 101, it shouldn't be over your head.

Continue reading They've gotta go

A victory for common sense

Email just received from NCDOT revoking the easement from Southern Durham Development. This means the protest petition is still valid, and the developers will need 4 votes to get their rezoning request approved.

Good luck with that.

NCDOT ISSUES "REVOCATION OF ACCEPTANCE" REGARDING DONATION OF RIGHT OF WAY

ALONG N.C. 751 IN DURHAM COUNTY

RALEIGH — The N.C. Department of Transportation (NCDOT) learned last weekend that by accepting the donation of right of way along N.C. 751 in Durham, the Department had inadvertently interfered in an active public participation process.

In order to rectify this and restore the public voice in a local zoning issue, NCDOT has issued an immediate “Revocation of Acceptance.” This legally-binding action restores the local public process to its original state.

NCDOT accepted the Right-of-Way in good faith, having not been notified of the “100-foot rule” in Durham County or how accepting this donation would impact the public process. Had NCDOT staff known in advance that this would interfere in that process, we would not have accepted the donation at that time.

Copies of this statement and the “Revocation of Acceptance” are being faxed to the Durham County manager’s office and the attorney for the property owner at this time.

i just need to add that this is the first time in a very long time that i feel as though my contact with a public official has resulted in some sort of positive change. Thanks to everyone who emailed Transportation Secretary Conti today to make this request. And thanks to the Secretary for recognizing the importance of the local process, and the nature of the game that SSD and K&L Gates attempted to play with the process.

Continue reading A victory for common sense

I'll be there

At the county commissioners meeting tonight to rubber stamp vote on the rezoning application for the 751 Assemblage. Not that i have any conviction that our current crop of County Commissioners is capable of comprehending any argument more complex than "jobs," but it'll be an interesting civics lesson nonetheless.

Inter-Neighborhood Council's current president Tom Miller makes the case in an email being circulated today:

The developer’s fancy tricks and the abysmal handling of this matter by the BOCC have continued unabated. The developer has now granted an easement to the NC DOT to defeat the protest petition declared valid by the planning department. The easement ostensibly makes the road too wide for the property owners on the other side to participate in the protest petition. The problem is, NC DOT has no plans to widen the road and while the easement sits unused by the DOT, the developer may use it as rezoned (if the BOCC goes along with this ploy). The development plan submitted to the county is entirely silent on the easement since it was never part of the developer’s intention to grant right of way to the DOT until the protest petition was declared to be valid. ‘Seems that so significant a change to the plan ought to require a resubmittal of the rezoning application with an appropriately modified development plan. Will the county government require this? Under its current leadership, I doubt it. From the beginning, this developer has wanted to have its cake and to eat it too and at least a majority of the commissioners has shown themselves willing to let them have it. Never mind that the Planning Commission voted overwhelmingly against the project. Never mind that the project violates the County’s own stated policies on growth in the area. And never mind that Durham is facing a financial burden to clean up the pollution of area lakes that will drive property tax rates out of sight.

And what about the DOT? How did they allow themselves to get mixed up in this mess without any notice to the public? Whose side are they on anyway? Who watches over them?

Please turn out for the Board of County Commissioner’s meeting and join the opponents to this rezoning. As ordinary citizens, we are the people the zoning code is supposed to protect, not he people who twist and turn it to their financial advantage. Let the Commissioners know we are watching and that we care!

This may not be in your neighborhood, but the next big planning issue may be. When your neighborhood is facing a planning issue, don’t you want a fair and open process, true to the express policies of the zoning code, and free of tricks? So turn out. We have to stick together when the credibility and value of the planning process is under assault.

Continue reading I'll be there

Good news, bad news

The 751 Assemblage protest petition has been ruled valid, which means that in order for the land to rezoned to accommodate the development, 4 of our 5 county commissioners must vote in favor of it.

That ain't gonna happen.

The bad news?

According to the N&O:

"There is one caveat," Medlin said: No signatures may be added to the petition, but people who signed it can change their minds and have their signatures withdrawn. If enough do so, it would invalidate the petition.

I'm too stupid to understand why the petioning process should work that way. If there's a deadline for submission, and further signatures can't be added, why is there not a deadline for removing names?

I know of at least one instance where K&L Gates, the developers' attorney, has successfully lobbied signers of a protest petition to remove their names, clearing the way for a simple majority vote on a rezoning hearing. I'm betting there's a few people in South Durham who will be getting up close and personal with Patrick Byker real soon now.

Continue reading Good news, bad news