BCR's Daily Fishwrap Report for June 17, 2009

• Michael Jordan Lincoln-Mercury is closing on 15-501, the latest car dealership skewered by a bad economy, faltering demand for new cars, and the travails of the Big Three. (H-S)
• Opponents of a large development project at a property assembly on NC 751 in south Durham are $3,300 short of the cost of an independent survey as a counter to a developer's privately-funded survey; the private citizens fronting the survey cost claim preliminary results are unfavorable to the development. (N&O)
• Two-thirds of the stimulus dollars available to NC for water/sewer projects have been awarded by the state, and all have bypassed Durham's wishlist through a process skewed towards smaller cities and towns and projects targeting severely impaired water systems. Durham still has some projects in the, er, pipeline. (H-S)
• Two graduate student interns from Duke and NCCU are working at Central this summer, evaluating ways to make the campus "greener" and more energy-efficient through an Environmental Defense Fund program. (H-S)
• Durham has been ranked #9 nationally among mid-sized cities by a Wisconsin consultancy looking for the "Next Cities," best places for young professionals to live; Raleigh also ranked highly (#12) in the poll, as did Cary and Charlotte in their size categories. (H-S)
• A $400k grant from the EPA will provide funds for evaluating more brownfields and old commercial/industrial sites in Northeast Central Durham along with dollars to train more individuals in brownfield abatement at Durham Tech. (N&O)
• The H-S has a nice look at the Emerging Artists Program, an effort the late Ella Fountain Keesler Pratt (who passed away in '08) spearheaded through the Durham Arts Council; this year's awards, the 25th, again provide grants to up-and-coming creatives that can help them "take the next step in their development." (H-S)

Comments

[Todd T.]

I've pasted below some instructions which I received by email for donating to the Haw River Assembly for the "Citizens' Jordan Lake Survey Fund".

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Help us find the truth about the Jordan Lake boundary on New Hope Creek in Durham!

We have a survey - and the point is far upstream of the developer's point!

The 216' Jordan Lake normal pool elevation on New Hope Creek is about 1/2 mile further upstream than the current Durham (USGS) point. It very closely matches the point on the Lidar map produced by Southern Environmental Law Center.

We have a deferral of the public hearing until August!
We asked for a deferral of the public hearing by the Durham Planning Commission Tuesday evening, based on this new information -and were granted two months.

We need your help to get to the finish line!
The survey cost almost three times as much as originally estimated because of the long distance they had to go upstream. We need to raise money to pay for the added expense.

What's happened so far:
A survey of the bottom contour of New Hope Creek to establish the 216 normal pool elevation for Jordan Lake was completed by a surveyor and hydrologist hired by the Haw River Assembly last week. We have preliminary information from the survey that indicates this point is approximately one-half mile further upstream than the original USGS determination used by Durham and much further up than the developer's point (which used a different survey method ) Using this new location, if New Hope Creek was dry and Jordan Lake’s water surface elevation was at 216', the water from the lake would reach this location in the stream.

The Haw River Assembly and members from Durham asked the Durham Planning Commission this past Tuesday to defer the public hearing. The Commission voted to postponed it for two months in order to give us time to submit the results of this new survey of the lake's boundary up New Hope Creek. We hope that the results will convince the County to not approve changes in the boundary and zoning that could lead to massive development along N.C. 751 next to the lake.

Why we need help:
The special fund the Haw River Assembly set up for this survey has received $7700 in donations from over 50 people! But because of the long distance upstream the surveyors had to go to find this point (good for us of course!) it took them much more time to complete it. The final cost for the surveyor, hydrologist, maps and reports will be up to $11,000. This includes the cost of testimony by the surveyor and hydrologist at public hearings.

We are reaching out to the larger community that cares about Jordan Lake, fairness and the truth, to ask for help raising the rest of the funds needed.
If you can make a donation, please send it to:

Haw River Assembly
P.O. Box 187
Bynum NC 27228

Please write "Jordan Lake Survey" on the message line

Thanks to everyone for their generous contributions - and helping us to continue the fight!

Elaine Chiosso

Haw RIVERKEEPER
Haw River Assembly
P.O.Box 187
Bynum NC 27228
(919) 542-5790
chiosso@hawriver.org
www.hawriver.org