DURHAM - Chairwoman Ellen Reckhow said that in 19 years on the Durham County Board of Commissioners, she has never approved a plan the state Department of Transportation didn't endorse.

She wasn't about to start Monday.

The board put the brakes on a plan for 1,300 homes, 500,000 square feet of offices and 150,000 square feet of shops in southeastern Durham County near Raleigh's Briar Creek area.

Crosland Investments was looking for zoning approval Monday night, but the board decided to give the developer more time to reach an agreement with DOT about which roads need to be improved.

"We need to do this right," Reckhow said. "I mean, this is a really big project. We've got to make sure we're protecting the public interest."

On Dec. 10, the board plans to vote on rezoning 407 acres on Page Road between U.S. 70 and Interstate 40, just north of Interstate 540. The rezoning would be a big step in approving the project.

Crosland has already promised to widen Page and Chin Page roads, adding bike lanes and new turn and travel lanes. Street improvements would also include new traffic signals on Page Road at Globe Road, Longistics Way, Airport Road and Chin Page Road. Crosland representatives said the improvements would cost about $8 million.

At issue Monday night was whether the county would also require Crosland to add turn lanes at the intersection of Page Road and T.W. Alexander Drive, as transportation officials had demanded in a recent letter to Crosland's engineer, Earl Lewellyn. Crosland's attorney, Patrick Byker, said that would be more than his client's fair share.

"Crosland does not want to spend the $485,000 required by the city of Durham when the problem was caused by Briar Creek," Byker said. "The city of Raleigh did not require the developers of Briar Creek to spend one dime on traffic impacts in Durham County."

But city Transportation Engineer Wesley Parham said traffic from Crosland's project would add more than 30 seconds of traffic delay at Page and Alexander. Crosland agreed to improve that intersection as long as the company didn't have to buy land for it from nearby property owners.

"That would be a lower standard than to which we hold other developers," Parham said.

"I'm not quite sure what to believe," said board Vice Chairwoman Becky Heron. "I would really like to see the developer, the staff and DOT get together and work this out. If they can't work it out, then that's just too bad."

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