The Durham Planning Commission will hold hearings on four projects and two amendments to the UDO tonight, Tuesday, December 13th at 5:30pm. See the link for details and how to attend the meeting virtually, through Zoom. There will be a hearing on the proposed 45.945 acre Courtyards at George King residential project on George King Road, just east of Little Creek, part of the New Hope Creek basin, like Northeast Creek, and bordering the Chapel Hill town limits, between Highway 54 and Ephesus Church Road, near Creekside Elementary School. The McAdams Company is proposing up to 99 single-family homes and townhouses. Below are some comments. After the advisory Planning Commission hearing the next step would be a City Council hearing.
Also, remember to “Leave the Leaves” for wildlife and fallen leaves are also good for composting and mulch. Consider the interesting colors and shapes of the leaves (the shape varying by the amount of sunlight a leaf received, up in the sunlit and windy treetops or lower down in more shady, sheltered, and humid conditions, etc.), and some leaves hold moth cocoons or galls. I think I once read that the each leaf on a tree varies genetically, but I still need to verify that. This year might have been good for fall color, or was for some trees here, with unusually red foliage on a some branches or throughout the tree.
Courtyards at George King comments
Again the Planning Department’s staff labelled an area that is obviously part of the Cape Fear River basin as part of the Neuse River basin. Water in one basin goes to the coast at Wilmington and the other goes to New Bern, a great distance away. That error might have been fixed by now. Silt and other pollution would quickly reach nearby Little Creek and Jordan Lake. Well-known Bolin and Booker creeks join just east of University Mall in eastern Chapel Hill to form Little Creek, which flows through Durham County a relatively short distance to the Lake, which now probably covers its confluence with New Hope Creek, in the area that was part of the 751 South controversy over where the Lake is.
This area seems to be adjacent to gameland and further construction could impinge on hunting, contributing to deer overpopulation and overgrazing in the larger area. In places at Fews Ford at Eno River State Park there is very little undergrowth within a few feet of the ground, probably due to excessive browsing by deer, so it is possible to see far into the woods. There are probably large herds of deer along the Durham-Orange county line because private hunting is not allowed in the State Park and at nearby Duke Forest, though there is a hunting program at Duke Forest to cull deer. In my neighborhood it seems like the abundance of otherwise common downy arrowwood bushes has really fallen, possibly because of the deer population. I like being able to see the neighborhood deer herd, but there can be too many for the good of other species. South of Pittsboro deer are harming the reproduction of the rare white pines, a relict of the ice ages, at the Triangle Land Conservancy’s White Pines Nature Preserve. Construction on George King Road would also impact species living in the protected area that need large areas of forest, lack of human disturbance, lack of domestic cats, etc., potentially driving some away permanently. This project would increase lighting and noise in the area, again impacting and possibly driving off wildlife, perhaps species that might sometimes prey on deer. I don’t know if there are any bobcats there, but how much disturbance will they tolerate before leaving? There are supposed to be bobcats and coyotes in the Hopson-55 area, and maybe it will be possible to see how they tolerate the huge disturbance next to the gameland. Would any streetlights around George King use the new blue LEDs that have been appearing in Durham and Chapel Hill, possibly a worse source of light pollution than other colors? More than just 46 acres would be disturbed by this project, including public land. Some of these concerns were also brought up in comments on the Durham Social PinPoint. I think I’ve seen ospreys and hooded mergansers at the gameland, probably nesting, as well as beavers, and various aquatic turtles, with white buttonbush, beds of knotweed like a beaver pond, scenic red maples, mistletoe, pawpaws, various oaks and ash, baldcypress that must have been planted, maybe common and other milkweeds, definitely dogbane, a vining pea, something like a carrion flower, etc. There are at least nest boxes for wood ducks. During the first year of the pandemic, in November 2020, a large white atamasco or Easter lily bloomed after woody brush was cleared on the waterfowl impoundment dam, though they usually bloom in late spring.
Farrington Road often backs up a lot at rush hour and when there are major events at UNC and people might be tempted to cut through if George King is paved with increasing construction. The traffic sometimes backs up for miles on the main roads. It seemed like floral diversity declined and might not have returned after Grandale Road was paved in about the 90’s, and now there is a plan to increase traffic and extend the road southeast, further into Chatham County. I’m not sure that the orange butterflyweed, a milkweed eaten by monarch butterfly caterpillars, or the edible wild strawberries ever returned. I occasionally take the increasingly less scenic way along George King Road instead of Farrington. Do bicyclists use this road to avoid the high-speed traffic on Farrington? Cyclists have been killed on 54 in nearby.
The applicant or Planning staff claim that this area is not part of a wildlife corridor, despite the protected forested corridor along Little Creek and the currently somewhat rural surroundings. How many animals cross George King Road and would likely be killed if traffic increases? Grandale cuts across a known wildlife corridor, and already seems hazardous for pedestrians/cyclists/children going to the new elementary school nearby, but planners want to increase through traffic, possibly benefitting Cary more than residents of Durham.
There are long trails around the nearby waterfowl impoundment area and extending to Barbee Chapel West and north (the “Little Creek Trail System”) – could this project or sidewalks connect to those? The trails have official-looking metal signs with maps and so seem authorized.
I notice that The McAdams Company basically ignored the Community Goals questionnaire, which could be seen as ignoring the Durham community’s stated concerns. There are trails in the area, geographically relevant or historic names could be used for new roads, this is obviously part of an important natural area and waterway between Durham and Chapel Hill, with known historic buildings and Civil War sites close by, etc. The Durham government didn’t show much concern for the Highway 55-Grandale area, but maybe the community will see more of a need for resistance next time and the current construction is being monitored.
What about flooding, increasing due to impervious surfaces being added upstream and climate change-driven long or heavy rains? Climate change could also be an issue with any old farmponds on the site, though I hope, probably in vain, that they would be preserved or drained with a minimum of wildlife being killed. There would probably be mass grading at this currently wooded site, at whatever time of year is good financially or logistically for The McAdams Company, with little preservation of existing vegetation, presumably killing a lot of wildlife.
As was mentioned on Social PinPoint, rural residents could be driven out, and they could be considered a marginalized multi-ethnic group vanishing from much of the Triangle, depending on income. What do voluntary agricultural districts do to protect farming in Durham?
Are there any historic sites around the site, given the historic buildings and Civil War Trail sites on Farrington and Leigh Farm roads nearby, apparently related to the skirmish near New Hope Creek around April 1865?
Does the no longer applicable commuter rail corridor have any effect on this proposal?
Given that this site borders Chapel Hill, does the Town government have any comments on this proposal?
Tag Archives: mistletoe
Protect the gamelands along the Durham-Chatham-Wake county line
I’m not sure that it was printed anywhere, but below is a letter I sent to newspapers about what is planned in the Highway 55 to Grandale Road area. The agenda for the City Council Zoom meeting this Monday starting at 7pm has been posted at durhamnc.gov/AgendaCenter/City-Council-4/ Clicking on the NC55 and Hopson agenda item brings up the associated documents. I just started looking at the updated materials for this second hearing, but the main change seems to be a written commitment not to use some parts of the site for certain types of facilities apparently allowed under Industrial Light (IL) zoning. The site is made up of several parcels, and certain uses would be prohibited on four parcels the applicant wants rezoned from residential and commercial to IL, while the large area near 55 already zoned IL would have no special prohibitions. There have been indications that the applicant might not intend to build at the very northwest corner of the site, overlooking Northeast Creek and close to Audubon Park, but there are no commitments and there is still no indication of where the 1 million square feet of “industrial buildings” would be placed, and presumably the most likely impervious “parking and loading areas” are not included in the above figure and will sprawl over a large area and extend Durham’s heat island south.
Very little has been done to prevent encroachments on the environmentally vital land ‘owned’ and both passively and actively used by the public. I have doubts that the NC Natural History Program recommendations have mattered much in what has happened at this end of Durham County and instead of protecting what remains it seems likely that there will be new roads, Grandale will become busier if not wider, new utility easements and infrastructure seem likely, and construction of some density will extend up to the edges of the gameland on all sides. If housing is soon built along Grandale, where are the utilities going to be located? Species that live in the gameland today might be driven out by impacts from NC55-Hopson and the roads, along with human users of the gameland. The government bodies managing the gameland can’t or won’t give Durham a strong warning that what it plans to do could have serious consequences for public property and water quality. There are obviously limits to their authority, but they don’t seem interested in defending the public interest as long as road construction, etc. is not on the Federal land, even if it is right next to it, and it seems obvious that there will be work on Grandale impacting the adjacent gameland if new roads are built. The environment has become a common talking point in political campaigns, such as in the elections this year, but these piece meal land use changes add up create the environmental problems that then seem possibly too big to fix, such as climate change, mass extinction, and local flooding. For what it is worth I will at least comment in writing on all of these proposals, and I commented on the DCHCMPO’s 2050 transportation plan (the comment period ended February 1st).
A young forest of mostly loblolly pines around 20′ tall, along with some tuliptrees, wax myrtles or bayberries, etc. has regenerated on the clearcut Triangle Brick Co. land in question and a grid of small roads was recently bulldozed for detailed surveying up to the powerline and close to Audubon Park. Scannell must have plans, but nothing has been revealed to the public, except that they have been planning to start the first stage of construction this spring. Each facility would take about 9 months to build and construction would extend over 3-4 years, with an announced total of around 5-6 buildings. It is a somewhat remote area, but people will no doubt watch for silt management violations if this goes ahead. I have observed for Firefly Watch ( www.massaudubon.org/get-involved/community-science/firefly-watch ) in the area for over 10 years, so I might be able to see how new light pollution effects the firefly population. I’m not sure what zoning large greenhouses fall under, but there isn’t a commitment not to build them here and there are a few at similar research or manufacturing facilities in and around Research Triangle Park. Grandale is a good dark location for stargazing, but I’m not sure that it is far enough from light pollution to be that much better than easier to get to locations in southern Durham County, and light pollution to some degree obscures the stars over much of the world and is hard to escape.
At the Planning Commission hearing a neighbor, I think in nearby Audubon Park, mentioned seeing a bald eagle, and a week ago [actually the snow was two weeks ago] I went to the vicinity and there an eagle was, conspicuously flying around and loudly calling from the top of a tall snag. I saw two or more wood ducks in the Creek closer to Grandale, and as usual I didn’t know they were there until they shrieked and swiftly flew downstream. On a brushy hillside a woodcock suddenly flushed, seemingly from a sunny patch free of snow at the base of an oak. Maybe the males can be seen displaying around twilight here and there might even already be eggs. I have seen turkey tracks here before and I think chuck-will’s-widows or whip-poor-wills have nested recently in this part of Durham. Grasses such as broomsedge and Indian grass, along with the seedheads of last year’s mullein, teasel, vervain, asters, goldenrods, cattails, and other wildflowers (some introduced in this case) are evident under the powerline, while the stalks of grasses such as river oats nod in the woods. A Polypodium fern grows on an ash leaning over a sharp bend of the Creek. In a younger part of the bottomland forest a few very large loblollies linger while the area closest to Grandale is mostly deciduous. It seemed like there weren’t a lot of tracks in the snow, but the signs of small birds, small rodents and maybe shrews, beavers, deer, squirrels, possibly foxes, etc. were visible. Snow covered the tire tracks, but it seems like there is still some prohibited ATV activity on the gameland, though the Wildlife Resources Commission or the Army Corps of Engineers have taken steps to discourage them. There were spiky white ice crystals on moss and lichen-covered boulders and where the snow had begun to melt the day before. Red-headed woodpeckers were very conspicuous in an area of sloughs against a hillside with many beech and there were various sparrows, cardinals, towhees, wrens, and other songbirds out in the bottomlands.
I heard a few gulls flying overhead, possibly going to nearby Parkwood Lake. The Lake was mostly frozen over, and mallards, Canada geese, cormorants, gulls, and a small flock of what seemed to be ruddy ducks, the first time I have seen this species here, had gathered in the unfrozen area by the dam. An Eastern phoebe and myrtle or yellow-rumped warblers were foraging amid the willows in a swampy part of the frozen Lotus Pond near the trail. Later I saw a small hawk and heard a flock of cedar waxwings along Clermont there. Near the pool birds I couldn’t identify were searching the branchtips at the tops of shortleaf pines. I heard a few yellow-bellied sapsuckers, I think all in built-up areas. Near Parkwood’s giant white ash a garrulous red-winged blackbirds have been frequenting bamboo groves and I think I saw the conspicuous resident hawk pair mating a few days ago. It seems like there have been few owl calls and the deer have been scarce this winter, possibly because of the new trail through the woods from Seaton to McCormick, though I did see a buck with pretty large antlers in January. The trail’s bare yellow clay turned to mud as the snow melted. I realized that there is second colony of what must be dwarf pawpaws near the Fire Station.
Back on the gameland, for decades I have known a beaver pond, for many years mostly a marshy abandoned beaver pond that still holds some water, and I was surprised to find that it has been restored to almost its former state. I don’t remember there being a lodge before, or not conspicuously, the beavers instead seeming to live in a burrow, but now there is prominent lodge towards the back. The pond has been a breeding site for amphibians and fish such as American toads, cricket frogs, bowfin, and sunfish, and though it isn’t particularly large, migrating waterfowl and shorebirds sometimes visit. Mistletoe is conspicuous on the bare limbs of some of the surrounding red maples. Herons, red-headed woodpeckers, and no doubt birds that use their abandoned nests have nested nearby, but I’m not sure if there are still adequate large snags. I heard that some other ponds have also been restored recently, so there is some positive news that what was lost has returned, at least for a time.
February 7th there will also be hearings on the proposed Bull City Townhomes, at the corner of Ellis Road and Southern Drive, near Rada Drive and Ed Cook Road, north of RTP, in the upper Northeast Creek basin, and a hearing on 3602 Westminster Avenue, in the Neuse River basin.
Protect the gamelands along the Durham-Chatham-Wake county lin
February 7th the City Council will hold a second hearing on the rezoning of an area extending from east of 55 to within sight of Grandale Road for a research/manufacturing-type “business park,” with Hopson Road extended west. Hopson and Grandale extensions are included in Amendment #4 to the DCHCMPO’s Comprehensive Transportation Plan, accepting comments through February 22nd (links at northeastcreek.org).
This rural section includes a large area of protected public land. The Northeast Creek bottomlands’ significance was recognized by the NC Natural Heritage Program, which recommended the “Preservation of upland buffers” and a moratorium on new utility corridors there.
Despite the parkland, species could still be lost. The rezoning application considers the State gameland only a “buffer.” There is no public site plan and industrial light zoning allows many uses. If large greenhouses are built, reflected light would be obvious for miles, likewise with blasting and traffic noise. What of spills? Hundreds of fireflies of several species glimmer, gathered amphibians roar, and herons, nightjars, and likely turkeys have nested nearby. If hunting ends, will deer overpopulate? I would like consideration for the welfare of this valuable, public land. Additionally, the claypit has paleontological significance. I suspect that rezoning would trigger more land sales, like the boom (of moonscaping) along Ellis.
Durham claims to care about emissions, but plans to level ridges for a redundant road. Nearby roads already seem unsafe and Grandale threatens wildlife, which the government knows. Does the Council need to see the roadkill from a short stretch?
The life and death of an ash tree
Our next meeting will be Sunday, January 26th at 4pm, to plan for Creek Week 2014 (March 15-22) and discuss some development issues, etc. Contact us for the address of the residence where we are meeting.
Below is an expanded version of an article I wrote for the January issue of the Parkwood Inside/Out. This giant ash tree grows beside the stream that flows from the corner of Barbee and 54, through Parkwood to NE Creek at the bridge on Grandale Road.
The life and death of an ash tree
An ash tree in Parkwood is one the largest I have come across. There are taller trees, but this ash is nearly four feet across, beating large ash in the wild bottomlands around NE Creek and the big ash in downtown Chapel Hill. Parkwood’s ash is a little south of McCormick Road, near the intersection with Auburndale, beside the stream in the common green area, and can be seen from the road. Ash trees usually have very straight trunks, but this giant leans southwest and has lost huge limbs to the force of wind or ice over its long life. It is hard to say why it leans. That section of woods is relatively young and this ash is the biggest tree there. It has pale bark, and as a reaction to tilting, it grows more on the leaning side, producing unusually deep 4” furrows, resembling a baleen whale’s throat or treads. In one place the bark is brown, probably from deer rubbing the velvet off their antlers. There are rows of holes created by yellow-bellied sapsuckers, woodpeckers that winter here and tap trees for sap.
During the growing season, the ash’s massive trunk is obscured by understory oaks, dogwoods, and black cherries. American beech, increasingly common in Parkwood, and Northern red oak saplings wait for the ash to fall. This is the only spot I know of where pawpaws grow inside Parkwood, though they are quite common as small riparian trees along NE Creek. The pawpaws probably would benefit from more light, though the site might still be a bit dry for them to produce their sweet bananalike fruit. There is a seemingly innocent sprig of English ivy, a plant which is taking over in nearby sections of the woods, and a Nandina bush with purple foliage, another non-native, but much less invasive. Partridgeberry, ‘wild onions,’ and grape ferns form the herb layer under the ash.
Each ash produces only male or female flowers, and this must be a male tree. Perhaps it is a parent of large ash on nearby Timmons Drive, or even throughout the area.
Our ash is probably a white ash. Green, pumpkin, and Carolina ash also grow in Durham. They look similar, all living up to their scientific name, Fraxinus, the Latin name for ash, which also means spear, and describes their typical soaring shape. Ash have leaves and twigs growing in pairs along a stem, and their pinnately compound leaves are made up of oval leaflets, resembling the leaves of walnuts, hickories, and locusts. In fall ash turn gold, orange, and purple. Ash saplings have smooth gray bark and mature trees have somewhat furrowed or rough bark, depending on the species.
White ash is the most economically valuable ash. High-quality baseball bats are made from white ash, as well as other objects requiring lightweight, strong wood with a spring, like oars, lacrosse sticks, musical instruments, furniture, and bowling lanes. It is also an easy to split, hot burning firewood. White ash has been used to relieve fevers, sores, and snake bites, as a laxative, and as an aphrodisiac, among other medicinal uses. Ash have a long history in mythology, for example the Norse axis mundi/world tree Yggdrasil is supposed to have been an ash, and according to folklore snakes don’t like ash trees. White ash likes well-drained, but not very dry soil and is one of the first trees to sprout in abandoned fields. White and green ash can tolerate shade as seedlings, waiting for their chance to shoot into the canopy when an old tree dies. The big snowstorm that left two feet of snow and ice and other bouts of freezing rain have knocked down most of the young pines behind the Parkwood Volunteer Fire Station, leaving a woods of only ash and winged elm in places. Pumpkin and Carolina ash like wet habitats, and ash are one of the main trees in swamps and bottomlands. Ash trees can be seen next to the Parkwood Association office, where there used to be a trailer, and at the Parkwood Convenience Store, at the corner of Seaton and Revere. Ash of some kind can be found on most streets in Parkwood and are common throughout the Triangle.
Late last summer I watched big pale green, red, and yellow hornworms on an ash sapling at Falls Lake. These were waved sphinx moth caterpillars, but the red markings were unusual. Usually their larvae don’t have any red coloration, but these were mostly red with yellow markings when small and then mostly green, but with red heads, horns, and markings. A few other sphinxes feed on ash, as do caterpillars of black and yellow Eastern tiger swallowtails. These green caterpillars have fake eyes complete with angry eyebrows, to mimic snakes, and if that fails, they can send out bright orange ‘horns’ that emit a smelly fluid. The big, shiny black rhinoceros or unicorn beetles sometimes found under streetlights at the Parkwood Shopping Center also eat ash. Ash have wind-pollinated flowers in early spring, but honeybees and other insects sometimes harvest pollen from male flowers. The winged seeds, or keys, of ash trees are eaten by weevils, mice, and birds such as wood ducks, turkeys, and purple finches. Large ash often have hollows where birds and squirrels can nest. Our ash seems to house a colony of big black ants, judging from the seemingly arboreal ants walking along its trunk last summer. Deer and rabbits eat the leaves while beavers like ash bark. Ash growing around the beaver impoundments on Grandale or elsewhere could host mistletoe.
Native beetles and two species of dayflying moth that mimic wasps bore into living or dead ash trees, but a new ash-boring beetle from East Asia is on its way to killing virtually all ash. Emerald ash borer or EAB reached Michigan in the 90’s, probably in shipping materials. It wasn’t noticed until 2002 and has since spread throughout the Eastern US and Canada, in part because people violated quarantines on firewood and other products. Their grubs tunnel under the bark of trees as small as 1” across, and since these are non-native animals, they come in out of control numbers that girdle our naïve ash, killing them within a few years of colonization. A good online resource to check out is www.emeraldashborer.info .
Earlier this summer emerald ash borers crossed into Granville County from a pocket across the border in Virginia and a quarantine was imposed (see http://www.ncforestservice.gov/forest_health/fh_eabfaq.htm ). This is likely to be the end for Parkwood’s great ash in the near future, when the emerald ash borer gets to Durham, on its own power or by hitching a ride, and a great many beetles could come from it. There is cause for hope – some ash seem to have survived the borer up north, introduced Asian and native parasitoid wasps could help control the beetle, and individual trees can be protected with insecticides that are relatively safe for the environment. Emerald ash borer has a big ecological and economic impact, and even harms human health, so communities in the Triangle should prepare.
You can read more about emerald ash borer in my article in the February issue of Carolina Gardener magazine (www.carolinagardener.com).