Week-end wrap-up: Creekside, Greenfire

Thursday was a big day in the local newsin' business. Life around Chez BCR is a bit crazy right now getting ready for a big excursion tomorrow -- more on that shortly -- and I wasn't able to make either the school board meeting or Greenfire open house last night due to the Durham Neighborhood College program.

Still, way too much to let pass without a few thoughts on these two topics:

Creekside: The school board voted unanimously last night to defer any immediate decision on redistricting until a full study by NC State demographers can be completed. Instead, it's trailers for Creekside next year, with permanent new-classroom relief coming the following year at the soonest. Expect redistricting talk to come up again, though, after the NC State group completes their analysis.

I sympathize with the parents who are frustrated at Creekside's rapid devolution from brand-new school (opened, ironically, to provide relief for crowding at Parkwood, Southwest and Forest View) to being crowded itself. On the flip side, there are always growing pains that come with moving to a newly-established part of town like South Durham. If you live in a brand-new subdivision south of I-40 surrounded by forest -- especially a subdivision with lots of impervious surface, few tree stands, etc. -- one should not be shocked to see other such neighborhoods sprout up nearby.

Could Durham officials have planned the growth of South Durham better? Absolutely. But find me another municipality in North Carolina, or the Sunbelt for that matter, that does any better at this.

My hometown of Orlando isn't bad at building new schools. They also charge impact fees that can run over $10,000 per new-construction home, providing the cash up front for school construction.

I know the Realtors and builders lobby would fight to the death (or at least the 18th hole) to keep this from happening. I'd be curious, though, as to whether folks who've recently moved to new subdivisions in South Durham would have been willing to pay such a large, upfront fee for their homes in exchange for a leg up on new schools?

Greenfire: From what I can tell, no surprises at last night's Greenfire open house -- other than the fact that the N&O covered it, but the Herald-Sun didn't seem to? (Looks like they ran out of metro reporters for the evening, with the most-able Ray Gronberg over at the school board meeting.)

In any case, based on Matt Dees' account at the N&O, Durhamites (including downtown residents) spoke up with concerns about the short time period between the Greenfire plan's announcement and the forthcoming vote by City Council -- 17 calendar days, 11 of which are working/business days, by my count.

I still expect the plan to pass at Monday's City Council meeting.  And I tend to think -- much as, I suspect, many of the concerned citizens did last night -- that the plan is, on net, a good thing for Durham overall.

But I gotta take issue with one interpretation of the response to the seeming hurry-up-and-deliberate nature of this public discussion:

 

Michael Lemanski, Greenfire's managing partner, said he doesn't hear as much from the general public about lack of input.

 

"The question we get asked more is, 'When are you going to do something?' " said Lemanski, whose company owns 19 downtown properties, six of which are in various stages of redevelopment. "We want to do something. "We want to do it faster."

Not hear much from the public about a lack of input?

Let's see: On Friday, Feb. 15, the Greenfire plan was announced to the Downtown Durham Inc. board of directors and released to media outlets (thus published on the 16th).

What public input could come before this date? There was no plan on the table -- not even an announcement, save for an off-the-record note here at BCR two days prior, that the plan was about to be released.

On Thursday, Feb. 14, downtown residents met privately to discuss the plan. And, just as the N&O reports, lots of people like the direction being put forward. But almost everyone was concerned that there wasn't a chance for input.

Including, it must be noted, folks who live and own property right next to what could become five to twenty story buildings. They learned about the proposal from the paper, just like the rest of Durham.

It's not reasonable to think that the lack of public input on the plan means the public doesn't have questions. It means they have had barely a moment to start contemplating the plan.

In fact, one outcome of this whole process is likely to be that downtown residents will at long last formally organize as a neighborhood association. Long (if not late) in coming; needed more than ever.

Comments

[David Rollins]

I seem to recall there was lots of bitching and moaning on this website by the commenters while Greenfire was acquiring properties, but one was always welcome to go to the Hill building reception and meet Lemanski in person. Not to mention your councilman.

As someone with prior experience in real estate development, I think Greenfire have played this one very well. Build up a critical mass, then "git r done". They did a nice job along the way by employing locals with expertise in new urbanism (whether to pre-emptively blunt opposition or for their expertise I cannot say).

Go Greenfire!

[Relocated Family]

In regards to recent Creekside families and if we would be willing to pay impact fees to pay for schools... YES! While we purchased exsisting construction in South Durham this past summer we were willing to pay a reasonable impact fee. I would define reasonable as up to 3%. I would prefer to see the impact money go to build schools in the area that the fee comes from. Logic is you have a alot of people buying in one area then they will need a school... keep the money there. And if someone buys a home in Central Durham where schools are still underenrolled used that money for repair on those schools.

[Johnny]

I'm sure they will get the approval. This thing was greased well before it was released into the public domain. The most disturbing thing is the lack of real reporting on the mater. The N&O and other papers have done a terrible job looking at the deal points, the potential impacts etc. It is one big rah rah.

There will be a lot of back slapping on Monday Night. I certainly hope the Neighborhood Orgs kick into high gear. Once this deal gets approved, it is like permission to ignore everyone. It would be good if there were specific public review check points so we don't get blindsided in June. You can pretty much expect that tactic to be deployed again. And please stop saying it was necessary... With so much property under your belt, it wasn't necessary. Greenfire simply didn't want any scrutiny and I suspect neither did the OEWD.

[KeepDurhamDifferent!]

I'm not going to stop saying it was necessary, because it was necessary. City government is simply too corrupt, and the more time it takes the more people will put their hands in Lemanski's pocket.

Even the newly formed downtown residents association is giving this the green light.

[Johnny]

A green light is a huge stretch. The Downtown Residents are not 100% behind this project. I would give it a cautious 50% based on the discussions I've had with many of them.

Lemanski is out for one thing, Lemanski. He will do whatever it takes to get what he wants and his strategy all along was to hold the city hostage. It is working. What the Downtown Residents want is the power to guide this process assuming it will go ahead. I'm sure all the palms have been greased to make that happen.

Sadly, the powers that be will tell the residents (mostly in good faith) that they care too and will ensure this happens. In reality, once this gets approval, all that will be ignored. Furthermore, Lemanski is off acquiring even more properties which will stifle progress in other areas of the city.

Lemanski isn't doing this out of charity, he wants complete control and the city is about to hand it to him.

Just look at the deal point for the Brame Building. It makes zero sense it is in this deal. Each side saying the other wanted it there. If the MiLB deal is so important and everyone agrees with that deal point, then break it out and give it the green light on its own merits.

I loved the answers to the questions the DPAPA (?) submitted.. What a bunch of crap. If the answers are so obvious, why did it take until Friday to respond and even then simply say go read the deal points. They've had 18months or so to pull this together and everyone else gets little more than a week. Railroad! Push it through at all costs....

The city and citizens will get screwed one way or another. We are financing their profit.

Also, don't get lost in the BS about 20mil in public money. This deal will be closer to $60mil in public money when all is said and done. The $20mil is just Durham City. County, Fed ,etc yet to come.

[PWT]

Guess "Johnny" was wrong.

Herald-Sun: City delays action on Greenfire incentives
N&O: Durham slows up a bit on big deal