Farrington Road Multifamily Neighborhood Could Bring Traffic Spike

About 19.5 acres of land on Farrington Road could be rezoned from residential suburban to planned development residential, allowing construction of as many as 415 multifamily apartments and townhouses.

The rezoning proposal from Dan Jewell of Thomas and Hutton is scheduled to go before the Durham Planning Commission on May 14.

The agenda packet shows that the four parcels of land involved in the project are in the 5200 and 5300 blocks of Farrington Road and are currently used for four single-family residences.

Of the 415 units, at least eight will be designated as income restricted for at least 30 years to households that earn 80% of the area median income or less.

The neighborhood would be served by Durham Public Schools, including Creekside Elementary, Githens Middle, and Jordan High. It’s expected that it would add 67 elementary school students, 39 middle school students, and 23 high school students. The zoning documents note that Creekside is currently at 127.58% capacity, Githens is pushing 100%, and Jordan is at nearly 107%.

The current zoning designation yields an average 454 vehicle trips within a 24-hour period. The estimated impact climbs to 3,164 with the proposed change.