Skate park, development review, County human service building on the City Council docket tonight

Having taken off Monday night for the City's recognition of the Labor Day holiday, the City Council convenes on a Tuesday this week instead for what's really a rather short agenda, the general business agenda of which is largely consumed with administrative matters -- though a skate park and a curious Traffic Impact Analysis matter look to add some interest at least to the hearing.

One of those administrative matters, however, is a rather big deal from the County's perspective: a number of street closures required to assemble space for the County's Human Services building.

The City Council will hold public hearings on the closure of a number of alleys along and between Dillard, Elizabeth, Peabody, and Ramseur Sts. in preparation for the recombination of properties to be demolished for parking in support of the new County human services building. (Gary's got more on this at Endangered Durham, noting that the surface parking lot will be only temporary until a parking deck is built by the County a few years down the line.)

Expect this public hearing to be fairly pro-forma. Although there's been some concern expressed from downtown stakeholders about the human services building's design, it doesn't appear to have gelled into anything substantive at this point.

Supporters of a long-awaited skateboard park for the Bull City will be pleased to learn that tonight's consent agenda provides for the formal approval of a design-build contract for the facility, to be built in-ground at Durham Central Park.

Other sites were considered, including the parking area under the Durham Freeway at Blackwell St., and the lot next to the American Tobacco Trail on Morehead; the NCDOT nixed the former idea and Capitol Broadcasting built their satellite facility on the latter property.

Durham Central Park went along with the idea, though, and the Council is expected to approve an agreement with Lumina Builders of Wrightsville Beach and Pillar Design Studios of Tempe, Az. for the project.

The half-million dollar project is being operated as a design-build job given the unique challenges involved in planning and building a skate park.

The skate park is planned for the southeastern corner of the park, and the design integrates the Rigsbee Pavilion long-planned for that corner of Central Park, while fitting around the edge of the Great Lawn section of the park-in-progress.

In other business, the Council will hear an update from Ted Voorhees on the development review process he's been tasked with. On tonight's general business agenda, the Council will discuss whether traffic impact analyses should no longer have NCDOT input as "a controlling factor in allowing a case to proceed through the rezoning process."

Wish we could share more about what's up with this, but the memo explaining what will be on Voorhees' mind for tonight's discussion hasn't been posted to the Council web site yet. More as we know it.

TIAs have become controversial in the wake of a surprising number of projects that are projected to generate 149 vehicle trips per peak hour -- just one below the magic number that triggers the creation of an analysis. We'll see tonight how this proposal plays into this growing debate.

Comments

[ACW]

This is a rather awesome idea. Skaters used to congregate at the empty lot on Pettigrew, but I see the property has been bought and converted into a flea market (shoot; I meant to go check that out this weekend)... Anyway, nice to see the city is thinking about creating a centralized location for this activity. Hey, anything to get our kids outside, off their keisters, and not involved in illegal activities. Kudos.

[Rosie Haller]

My 13-year-old son will be thrilled to hear about this!

[GreenLanter]

It is awesome, but looks small. Since I'm not a skateboarder, I don't know what constitutes big enough though. All of Central Park and the Farmer's Market have become rather popular, so much that at some point they're both going to need more room for expansion. Does anyone know if the park intends to buy up more property, or convert some of the parking lots to greenscape?

[Hmmm]

Although I'm supportive of a Skate Park, I question this as the correct location. Have you ever sat near a Skate Park? It is pretty dang noisy and this will greatly over shadow the "great lawn". Of course being across from the future (ugly) Police station, it will at least help keep the area safe.

[Mike]

I think the location is perfect as it offers other activities for other family members of the skaters. As for the noise we live in a city so this will blend in well. Well at least better than gun shots.

GreenLantern I think we should get rid of all the parking lots myself ;)

[Hmm]

I guess the sirens across the street will provide good cover for the skater noise.

[Unknown]

Finally, it looks like this may happen ... fingers crossed.
The design looks OK for such a small space. I think there could be much more "flow" in the design, considering other parks this size incorporate a lot more into them. The noise will be a lot less than expected.

[GreenLantern]

I wasn't aware anyone lived right around the skater park for noise to be a concern. I would caution against expecting the city to be as quiet as a suburban cul-de-sac. There aren't many places left for kids to play and adults to celebrate. Sadly, as downtown becomes more residential, and HOA's invade the turf, I'm afraid people are going to want to change things to meet the lowest common noise demoninator. That means fewer concerts, festivals, nightclubs, and commotion one would expect from a vibrant "city".

If you think I'm being cynical, then research what has happened and what has been attempted by neighbors in downtown Austin....the music capital of Texas.

[Nik Spaulding]

It's been a long time coming!! I am so excited that Durham is going to get a skatepark before I turn 40. I got a couple of more years to shred the gnar! I think its an awesome design. It reminds me of the parks in Europe. I like the different use of building materials such as granite ledges and brick banks. It looks like a skaters paradise. I also like the green spaces out there with the trees and planters and all. Thats what I'm talkin about!!! Bull City stand up!!!

[cayn wilson]

It looks great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cant wait for it to open.finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!