Asphalt fumes will not be wafting over Central Campus anytime soon if the Durham City Council has a say about it.
At its Monday meeting, the City Council unanimously voted down an amendment to the city's zoning ordinance that would have allowed asphalt plants to be built closer to homes.
If passed, the amendment would have opened up 10 sites, mostly in eastern Durham, including one near Duke.
If a plant were built at the proposed site near Duke, located between Hillsborough Road and the Durham Freeway, emissions from the plant would have affected parts of Central Campus, the Medical Center and the neighborhood around East Campus, said John Schelp, community committee chair of the Durham chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
The Durham NAACP initially publicized the issue in September and launched a campaign against the asphalt industry's proposal in January. The organization opposed the changes because the 10 plants would be primarily located in poor minority communities.
The campaign included a letter-writing initiative, which Schelp said allowed the City Council to hear the voices of a large cross-section of the community, including those of some Duke professors.
Many community members also attended Monday's meeting to protest the amendment.
"Another asphalt plant would contaminate Falls Lake and the Eno River," said Durham resident Julius Bartel. "We've had enough of dumping on Durham."
Although he did vote to reject the amendment, council member John Best expressed some reservation in doing so. "All it does is put off judgment day," he said, adding that in the future he would like to see the city request information from a "neutral entity."
IN OTHER BUSINESS: The City Council also voted unanimously to approve a site plan for the University, which consists of a 45,500-square-foot addition to the Divinity School and a 320,000-square-foot new engineering building, to be located at the intersection of Science and Research Drives.
After lengthy debate, the council unanimously approved interim Urban Growth Area amendments to allow the city to expand infrastructure in certain approved areas. Debate focused on how development can proceed in a balanced way across the county. Mayor Bill Bell stressed the importance of developing a land-use plan, but cautioned against "paralysis by analysis." In order to prevent further delays in development, the motion called for a land-use plan within 90 days.
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