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: New Hope Creek
Some rezoning hearings coming up this August
Below are some comments for the Durham City Council meeting tonight, August 1st, and there will be several other rezoning/annexation hearings this month, including for 4150 Old Chapel Hill Road [, at the corner with Garrett Road, among other sites,] August 9th [this is actually a Planning Commission hearing], and the Courtyards at Farrington Civil War Trails site, by the old [Patterson’s Mill] country store, August 15; see: www.durhamnc.gov/AgendaCenter/City-Council-4 [www.durhamnc.gov/AgendaCenter/Planning-Commission-15 ] There is also a Durham Rail Trail comment period and information about ShotSpotter implementation in the news.
Durham County Utility Building at the corner of Highway 55 and TW Alexander Drive
I mentioned this project in a previous post: www.northeastcreek.org/wordpress/where-the-red-fire-pink-blows-and-other-campions-in-the-triangle/ Neither community consultation meeting provided much information, though I felt somewhat better about participating in the second meeting. I thought the County was buying the site to expand the Triangle Wastewater Treatment Plant, and that is what Planning Commission members seemed to think, yet now it is supposed to be a County administrative building. I think WWTP expansion was denied at the meetings, but I could be mistaken. Given that the site was a large hill, there is probably very hard, possibly igneous, bedrock just under the surface and it would be difficult to build on. The treatment plant was rattled back then, according to the staff, and there might be the possibility of damage from renewed blasting. The area is “culturally significant” for me, and presumably for the people who once lived there, and it wasn’t merely clearcut – a large, wooded hill was blasted away night and day more than 10 years ago to build something like 540, with the remainder reportedly being dumped in the abandoned claypit across 55, now acres of mass grading at “55-Hopson” and most likely the reason Northeast Creek is quite opaque yellow at the Grandale Road bridge.
It would be good to preserve the old farmpond on the County site, where I have seen people fishing, which relates to the Community Goals and Objectives about food, accessibility, etc., though those people were probably displaced by the Council’s friends at the nearby Social Security Administration printing facility, as they have tried to do to me. These are apparently still publically-owned roads and the SSA doesn’t own any land south of the railroad tracks, on “Experiment Drive.”
I don’t know that there are any rare species on the County land now, but rare plants grow very close by and red fire pinks, seemingly very rare in Durham, grew just beyond the property lines and probably still grow somewhere in the vicinity. They might like the new openness of the site. Buttercups have been common in the still mostly treeless field where the wooded hill once was. Given that the field doesn’t seem to be mowed, is it treeless after about a decade because there is very little soil? It seems like potential open habitat for meadowlarks, a bird in decline in North Carolina.
The landscaping of an administrative building and the naming could relate to the ‘flavor’ of the local area and/or areas not built on could be managed in a way beneficial for plants such as fire pinks, but that is not addressed at community consultation meetings and probably not at Council hearings. If the site is rocky and denuded of topsoil, it might also be difficult to landscape conventionally and might require more water than usual to sustain lawn grasses and ornamentals. The Main Library had an example of probably xeric herb gardening at the entrance. A large area of mown lawn, with the lake across 55 at the WWTP, would probably attract Canada geese, possibly onto the roads.
This is also a gateway to Durham, formerly with trees and April-blooming blackberries. Other woods were cut on the north side of TW Alexander for a residential area recently and there was a residential rezoning of the old house east of the County site, another area with some wildflowers, mainly early spring woodland species, as well as some ornamental roses, though there is also invasive Vinca minor. Water from the County site drains both north and south, possiby mainly north, so where would the stormwater pond be located? The State Employees’ Credit Union branch a short distance north at the corner of 54 and Alston seems like a good example of stormwater retention pond landscaping, also attracting flocks of geese.
The farmpond drains into a clear, rocky small stream. Despite the small size of the waterway it apparently doesn’t dry up completely during the summer and so supports sunfish of some kind, possibly somewhat rare salamanders, and an abundance of crayfish, as well as having waterfalls over the igneous rock and many wildflowers.
Light pollution from the County site and 55-Hopson would impact the large area of gameland along Northeast Creek on the other side of 55. Would there be large parking lots for County vehicles, lit all night? Again I can’t remember what was said at the meetings about the storage of County equipment; maybe there won’t be storage there. Lit-up parking lots could be a hazard for migrating birds. There seem to be a lot of moths in the area, which would be adversely impacted by adding more lights. Annual National Moth Week was just a last week.
What about chemical spills near Northeast Creek, including road salt and oil or gasoline from County equipment? There might be few beaver ponds in the area to intercept a spill before it reaches the main Creek.
What does 55-Hopson plan to build across 55 near the County site? They voluntarily renounced some uses at 55-Hopson – except along 55, so what are they planning? The government allowed a text-only development plan, so there is no way of knowing now without a whistleblower, and there was just a whistleblower appreciation week. I am observing and will report any possible violations. After recent rains Northeast Creek is very opaque and yellow at Grandale Road from some source, and the hundreds or thousands of people using the Tobacco Trail every week must see it as well. Unlike in other nearby towns the land in southern Durham County seems to bleed readily when mass graded, and everyone can see.
In addition, local government wants to increase traffic on Grandale, and the DOT sprayed herbicide all over, but there is still a danger that someone will be hit by a vehicle at the narrow bridge. Given the the area is already dangerous and a known corridor for wildlife, why do the DCHCMPO’s planners think increasing traffic is a good idea?
It might be good to have an access to the County site on Experiment Drive, unless the County brings in security contractors/domestic mercenaries who behave like the SSA’s, I’m not going to be “displaced.” I think that is where the driveway to the farmhouse on the hill once was. Maybe 55-Hopson will bring over-zealous faceless corporate entity security contractors even closer, in addition to the vigilantes and the policing establishment.
East Cornwallis
Regarding East Cornwallis, from the aerial photo it does seem to be a residential area, or residential adjacent to industrial, though I didn’t know there were Cannabis growing operations in Durham. A car dealership would probably be very bright at night and there would be few trees buffering it, judging by the larger dealerships near Southpoint. On the other hand the site might already be very lit up if there are greenhouses nearby. What about the risk of oil and other toxic spills in the headwaters of Northeast Creek? A car dealership would probably heat up the surrounding area. Climate change is contributing to unusual heat waves, fires, floods, and crop losses filling the news around the world this year, but cutting trees and paving the land will increase local heating quickly and increase electricity demand. Someone commented at the community meeting about the need for sidewalks there, which is probably a good idea.
As with Hopson-55 the Morningstar Law Group is saying that they renounce some uses, leaving unclear what the intention is, though in this case it is a much smaller area and not on the edge of Durham, next to parkland. Too late to comment on Hopson-55 I heard that bobcats and coyotes have been seen adjacent, but it isn’t clear if they will still be there in a few years. I also began to worry about how much earthmoving is envisioned along 55, where there no commitments were made. Has the small area north of the powerline been cleared? They even offered not to build there at the Planning Commission meetiing if not at the City Council hearing, but it was not made a committed element, so did they clear it anyway, and for what purpose? Was all that land clearcut to create biomass fuel for European powerplants? This fuel source has been condemned by some groups. There is what looks like a very large chipper installed across from the construction entrance.
Garrett Road/751
On Garrett Road the application is for only a few townhomes, but paying a fee-in-lieu of open space requirements doesn’t sound good. While there is a vast area of what I assume is protected New Hope Creek floodplain “encumbrance” around the site, if animals need upland areas as well, those have probably largely been built on, as shown in the aerial photo. My impression is that most City or County parks are for things like athletic use, rather than to protect land that would otherwise be built on. There are parks in the Triangle that are supposed to have Catesby’s trilliums in the spring, but I have long wondered why there aren’t any in my area. If they prefer the dry uplands maybe they were plowed under by agriculture and building long ago, though for some reason not in northern Durham and Orange counties.
I expect there is a long history of people living along Garret Road, similar to how people long lived along Fayetteville Road, but they left in recent decades and the old houses have since been razed or covered up. There are also obviously thousands of years of human habitation buried in the ground, and maybe it is a matter of who knows what is buried where and a bulldozer operator probably won’t notice what gets scooped up.
The Courtyards at Farrington
Regarding the Courtyards at Farrington, coming up at the August 15th Council meeting, how can Durham allow the destruction of what is apparently the only Civil War battleground in Durham, with historic buildings, part of the national Civil War Trail and probably with designated historic buildings? What is the exact nature of the Civil War Trail designations on Farrington and at Leigh Farm, cut through by I-40? It reminds me of the NC NHP reports in relation to 55-Hopson. I saw a meadowlark near Farrington Road once, so they could be present on this grassy old farm. Unlike 100′ of woods on Farrington Road, the large hill on the County site probably did block a lot of traffic noise.
Explore upper New Hope Creek around Johnston Mill Nature Preserve
The Triangle Land Conservancy’s Johnston Mill Nature Preserve, established in June 1999, protects 296 acres along upper New Hope Creek. Much of the Triangle is in the New Hope basin, including major tributary Northeast Creek, and most of the Jordan Lake reservoir, a source of water for several municipalities, sits in the valley of the New Hope River. The lower end of New Hope Creek meanders across wide bottomlands in the Triassic Basin, while at Johnston Mill the Creek, still surprisingly wide, is clear and rocky like the Eno and there are stony remains of gristmills. I didn’t see any fish when I visited in mid-February, though I also didn’t make a special effort to find them, but this should be a good place to watch fish building their nests and spawning in the spring and early summer. In February a spring bloom of algae grew on cobbles in shallow sections with the increasing warmth and daylength. Much of the surrounding forest is not especially old, though there are some large and old trees, but it still shelters many rare to threatened species and is very biodiverse; for example more than 125 bird species have been seen and there many species of early-blooming and often very uncommon woodland wildflowers. The mix of fields and old to young forest, ranging from dry hilltops down to riparian edges, heightens biodiversity and the Preserve roughly links segements of Duke Forest for species that need large areas of contiguous forest. Being just north of Chapel Hill and near Durham, this seems to be one of the TLC’s busier preserves, especially near the Mount Sinai Road entrance. I found someone’s painted #Rockhunt cobble hidden between two trees far out on the Old Field Bluff Trail.
The reddish soil has numerous rocks, metamorphic or maybe igneous, unlike the generally sedimentary and relatively soft bedrock laid down in the Triassic Basin. Jagged outcroppings, a few supporting Polypodium ferns, and exposures in creek beds reveal vertically upturned bedrock.
The TLC says Johnston Mill has beech up to 150 years old, and there are large oaks. White and Northern red oaks, along with red maples, are common on the hilltops while lower down there are large, uncarved beech and May-blooming tuliptrees, above summer-blooming sourwoods. Elsewhere sycamores, hackberries, sweetgums, shagbark and other hickories, sugar maples, ash, and three species of pine grow above ironwood, hophornbeam, red cedars, black cherries, and occasional hollies. Black walnuts are most frequent in the younger woods in the northwest of the Preserve, along a high-tension powerline, where the forest intergrades with rural farmland and a few houses. Large lianas dangle from the canopy, including grapes and trumpetcreepers, attracting hummingbirds. These massive vines probably grew together with the original woody old field pioneers, such as the tuliptrees and sweetgums. Early-blooming spicebush and painted buckeyes grow near the streams, especially in the northwest section of the Preserve. There might be fringetrees, which bloom later in April. Elms, almost ready to bloom when I last visited, and a few boxelders and birch border the creeks. Throughout the Preserve what must be crownbeard, a tall yellow composite flower that blooms in late summer, is abundant and there are the stems of last summer’s mullein, mint, millkvine, dogfennel, nightshade, and broomsedge. The NC Natural Heritage Program’s inventory of significant natural areas in Orange County says “this is one of the most pleasing forest areas of its size in the county” and “The diversity of spring-blooming herbs is also extremely high and of great aesthetic value,” and includes early-blooming Hepatica, trout lilies, rue anemones, spring beauties, toothworts, jack-in-the-pulpit, and very rare Catesby’s trilliums (I don’t think I have ever seen any trillium species growing wild). Evergreen Christmas ferns, mosses, clubmoss, wild ginger, and May-blooming pipsissewa stood out in the leafless winter forest.
Shortly after walking in from the Turkey Farm Road entrance I saw a golden-crowned kinglet fluttering, gleaning the bare twigtips, a rare sight for me, though maybe not the first time after all, and it was just where Liz Pullman’s write-up for the Carolina Bird Club says to look for them ( www.carolinabirdclub.org/birdingnc/johnston_mill.html ). A belted kingfisher loudly patrolled along New Hope Creek. I saw, heard, or found evidence of 4 to 5 woodpecker species, white-breasted nuthatches, thrushes, hawks, barred owls, turkey vultures, brown thrashers, white-throated sparrows, what I think were savannah sparrows, possibly a phoebe, and several other species. Many warblers, both summer and scarlet tanagers, flycatchers, vireos, and other birds not often seen in yards can be seen in the bottomlands, especially during migration. Turkeys, bobwhites, hawks, yellow-breasted chats, indigo buntings, and similar blue grosbeaks can be seen in the open areas. According to the NC Natural Heritage Program Inventory 21-23 species nested near Old Field Creek annually during the 80’s, including the more montane broad-winged hawks and worm-eating warblers.
Catawba rhododendrons, galax, trailing arbutus, saprophyte sweet pinesap, and foamflowers (another wildflower I have only seen cultivated) grow a short distance downstream in Duke Forest, at least partially accessible from Mount Sinai Road. There more typically western and montane plants, nesting cedar waxwings, red salamanders, and large red sumo mites meet more eastern dwarf waterdogs, yellow-bellied sliders, and snail bullheads.
Eastern chipmunks live in Duke Forest if not here, and the leafy nests of gray squirrels were very visible in late winter. A dog off-leash flushed out three or more hidden deer, and a small herd stood by Turkey Farm Road in the twilight as I left; the deer warning signs in the area are very appropriate. There were signs of beavers; river otters live in parts of New Hope Creek, possibly including Johnston Mill.
It was sunny and cold, but what were probably upland chorus frogs sang briefly near the Turkey Farm Road bluff in early afternoon. It didn’t feel that cold, but the temperature might have been in the 30’s and the wind picked up later. Marbled and spotted salamanders, Northern cricket frogs, and others breed in the bottomland while four-toed salamanders and gray petaltails, rare and primitive dragonflies, breed in hillside seeps. I saw a pickerel frog, similar to a leopard frog but earth-colored, with rectangular spots, and poisonous to other frogs, in rural Orange County when I was very young and never again anywhere else, though they can supposedly be found statewide, and they have been seen hereabouts. I am also impressed that queen snakes, a species more common in western NC and specializing in crayfish, especially recently molted, ‘soft-shelled’ ones, can be found downstream in Duke Forest.
Despite the lingering cold I found some arthropods, a small brown ant and small gray spider, as well as a large mantis eggmass, possibly from a Chinese or praying mantis, and many hackberry leaf galls. Getting to Johnston Mill small yellow daffodils, brilliant blue bluebirds, and a thrush were out as spring approached.
This is a re-edited excerpt from my article in the March – April issue of Triangle Gardener magazine, available at local libraries, gardens, and stores and also posted online at www.trianglegardener.com.
For a trail map, etc. see: www.triangleland.org/explore/nature-preserves/johnston-mill-nature-preserve