Mega 81-acre annexation request returns to Durham City Council on Monday night
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Feb. 16 Council meeting will continue the public hearing; council may vote.
- Proposal would develop 81.75 acres into mixed-use with 2,000+ apartments/townhomes
- Opponents cite traffic, school strain, environmental harm; no traffic analysis yet
A two-decades-old plan to build a nearly 82-acre mixed-used development in Durham returns to the City Council on Monday.
The council will resume a public hearing and possibly vote during the 7 p.m. meeting on the Leigh Village Center project, located northwest of Exit 273 off Interstate 40 near the Durham-Chapel Hill border.
The project would transform suburban land, owned by Jed Harris, into a bustling “15-minute community” with over 2,000 apartments and townhomes, life science, office and retail space, sidewalks and greenways.
Plans began in 2005 for a compact, walkable neighborhood when the location was going to be a stop on the Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit Project.
While the rail project is no longer coming, Harris and land planner Dan Jewell of engineering firm Thomas & Hutton still want to build out the mixed-use development by annexing the land into the city limits and running utility lines through the property. The majority of the Leigh Village Center property has been owned by the Harris family since 1979.
If approved, Leigh Village Center would be one of the largest developments in the city, once it is completed in a decade.
But not without pushback from neighbors and other residents.
On Dec. 15, dozens of opponents told the council the project could bring increased deforestation and traffic congestion, contribute to already overcrowded schools, and harm sensitive environmental areas. A petition has gotten over 200 signatures from residents urging the council to reject the plan.
Linda Harden, a resident of Chapel Run, told the council that without a traffic analysis and proper infrastructure needed for the area, approving the project could “easily put us in danger of going against the tenets of Vision Zero,” the city’s plan to reduce traffic deaths over the next five years. The city estimates 23 people die in crashes in Durham each year.
“I cannot [reinforce] how our neighborhood would lose the character and safety that we currently know,” she said.
Current plan commitments
The current Leigh Village Center proposal makes commitments to
- Preserve 50% of native plant species and dedicate 1.5 acres for a city park
- Include affordable housing: 9% of apartments and 3% of townhomes would be income-restricted for 30 years
- Prohibit drive-through stores, payday lenders, stores with gas stations, cemeteries or memorial gardens
- Guarantee 9% tree coverage
- Provide pedestrian connectivity with sidewalks and greenways
- If a transit stop is required, provide a bus shelter or concrete pad built to GoDurham specifications
Next steps
The Leigh Village Center project has gotten support from the city’s Planning Commission, which voted 10-1 in September to recommend approval.
Commissioner Juan Montes wrote the proposal “brings forth the potential for high density, affordable housing with transit opportunity, and investment in needed road infrastructure of this area.”
Commissioner Kari Wouk cast the only opposing vote saying the project was next to federal lands and is home to the Little Creek Bottomlands, a 1,110-acre Significant Natural Heritage Area in Chapel Hill.
“There are multiple other Comprehensive Plan Policies that are unmet as well,” Wouk wrote in her written comments. “For a development planned in a very environmentally sensitive area, there are no green building techniques.”
City Councilwoman Chelsea Cook told the audience at the December meeting that she was opposed to the proposal, before motioning to continue the public hearing to Monday.
“We’ve got multiple issues going on here with the project that’s in front of us,” Cook said. “It’s a huge application for a zoning change, and we need to be really cautious.”