Public Comment Action: 505 W Chapel Hill Street

Over the next two weeks, the Durham City Council with consider two agenda items related to CAN's affordable housing campaign around the former Police Headquarters (505 W Chapel Hill Street).  To ensure the City's commitment to maintaining at least 80 units of affordable housing remains tied to the land, City staff have recommended a restrictive covenant and a request for rezoning.

Here’s how you can support our City's commitment to ensuring that at least 80 units of 60% AMI affordability in perpetuity (forever-ever) is honored.

  1. Read the sample letter below;
  2. Go to https://durhamnc.gov/FormCenter/City-Council-11/Public-Comment-Form-226 and find the online public comment form.  (The form opened yesterday after 2 pm on Monday, June 1st and closes TOMORROW Wednesday June 3rd at 5 pm.);
  3. Copy and paste the sample letter into the public comment form, filling in your own personal information;
  4. Recruit at least 10 members from your congregation and/or community to join you in taking this action. They can access these same resources on the Durham CAN website here.

Public Comment Letter 

My name is ___[Your Name]___, and I attend  ___[Your Institution]___, which a participating member of Durham CAN. 

With regard to the two items on the City Council agendas for the 6/4 work session and 6/15 City Council meeting related to the disposition and redevelopment of 505 W Chapel Hill Street, I am writing in support of the following initiatives: 

·       First, the Restrictive Covenants with the requisite perpetual affordable housing requirement.
·       Second, the Development Plan Rezoning which requires a public hearing on 6/15.

Durham CAN (Congregations Associations and Neighborhoods) is a broad-based, non-profit organization that works to coalesce, train, and organize communities in
Durham across religious, racial, ethnic, class, and geographic lines for the public good. Our primary goal is to develop local leadership and organized power to change the conditions in low- and moderate-income communities.

Almost a year ago, over 100 Durham CAN leaders and affordable housing advocates gathered outside of this very property to demand that the City uphold its commitment to selecting a buyer and developer that would commit to including at least 80 units of affordable housing for those making 60% or less of the Area Median Income.  And because of our organizing work on a range of affordable housing issues including the yet-to-be-completed repairs at the Hoover Road Durham Housing Authority Community; the yet-to-be-credited court fees connected to predatory evictions; and the yet-to-be-initiated redevelopment of the former Fayetteville Street Projects (also referred to as Fayette Place), we remain steadfast in seeing the creation and preservation of low-income and affordable housing -- particularly on City and County-owned land-- as a top priority. 

As we continue to see the ravages of Covid-19 throughout our community, and see its impact on those facing short and long-term unemployment, we also look forward to continuing our conversations with you, City staff, the Fallon Company and WinnCompanies about the employment opportunities that this development will generate.  We hope to see those facing the highest barriers to employment and the highest unemployment rates -- like DHA residents and individuals we are welcoming back into the community from prison -- as equal participants in Durham's prosperity.

Thank you for your consideration.