Opposing Duke tower could come at a steep price for Scott King Road neighbors

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Southpoint AccessWes Platt

Cynthia Blum knows what she wants to tell Durham’s Board of Adjustment about Duke Energy’s proposed communications tower.

She doesn’t want a 270-foot industrial structure rising above the trees near her Kingsley Estates neighborhood. She worries that it would change the rural character of the area and make some homes less appealing to buyers.

But there’s only so much of that argument Blum can make on her own.

Because the board holds quasi-judicial hearings, testimony about property values generally must come from a qualified expert. Blum said an attorney estimated that hiring legal and real estate experts to challenge Duke could cost residents between $3,000 and $5,000, with no guarantee they would win.

“It would be a very big uphill battle,” Blum said.

Duke, with its deeper pockets, must provide its own expert testimony showing that the tower wouldn’t substantially harm property values nearby. The company may rely on a study that lists the wrong address, repeatedly names the wrong county, and evaluates an earlier, taller version of the tower.

Durham planning staff members say the Board of Adjustment will decide how much weight to give that evidence when the proposal returns for a hearing Sept. 22.