Durham Planning Commission Opposes Mt. Moriah Project

The Durham Planning Commission on Tuesday lodged its disapproval of a new residential project by M/I Homes of Raleigh that would straddle Mt. Moriah Road along the Durham and Orange county lines.

The board voted 6-2 against a plan to annex and rezone more than 150 acres - much of it in Orange County - for a planned development that would include apartments, townhomes, and single-family detached houses.

Annexation is necessary for the property's development because the land on the Orange County side can't get utility service due to Interstate 40 cutting off Orange Water and Sewer Authority infrastructure. Service instead must come from the City of Durham.

Wanda Rhoden lives on Mt. Moriah Road on land she's called home for 50 years "and I have no plan to leave it until my death or incapacitation," she told planning commissioners. "With this project, I have no positive options, only negative."

Her house would be surrounded on three sides by the project, which would add more traffic - both vehicles and pedestrians.

Other residents raised concerns about endangered tree species on the property, the protection of several streams, and - as Annette Rice put it "the very thirsty elephant in the room" regarding the need to provide water to this large development. That'd be a drain on city resources that Durham can't afford, Rice said.

The proposal goes next to the Durham City Council, which could approve it despite the Planning Commission's unfavorable recommendation.