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f <br />2 <br />City of Durham, North Carolina ~ ~ ~ ~ R <br />October 12, 1999 <br />Memo To: P. Lamont Eweli, City Manager <br />Through: Gregory A. Bethea, Assistant City Manager <br />From: Norman Standerfer, Planning Director <br />Subject: ~~Urban Growth Area Boundary Amendments <br />Executive Summary <br />The City Council's. Public Works Committee requested additional information about the <br />proposed Urban Growth Area (LIGA) boundary amendments in southeast Durham. The proposed <br />amendment could reduce the UGA by as much as 3,860 acres (representing~about 380~pazcels)~ <br />depending on which option is selected. This change fully implements the recommendations in <br />the Durham 2020 Comprehensive Plan. It encourages development closer to the existing utility <br />service area and discourages "leapfrog" development: Committee members wanted to ensure <br />that property owners in the UGA contraction area be adequately notified of the proposed change. <br />The Planning Department intends to notify property owners in the azea by newspaper <br />advertisement and an individual letter sent to property owners via regulaz US Mail. <br />` Background <br />At its regular meeting on September 13`", the City Council's Public Works Committee asked for <br />some additional.information about the proposed amendments to the Urban Growth Area (UGA) <br />boundary. Committee members wanted to clearly understand the nature of the southeast Durham <br />area UGA contraction. They also wanted to ensure that property owners in the UGA contraction <br />azea be adequately notified of the proposed change and their opportunity to comment at any <br />scheduled public hearings. The,foIlowing information about the proposed UGA changes is <br />supplemental to the information included in a memo from Dick Hails, Interim Planning Director <br />to the City Manager, dated August 25,~ 1999 (attached). . <br />A. Southeast DnrLam UGA Contraction <br />The present UGA was adopted with the Durham 2005 Comprehensive Plan and slightly <br />amended in the early 1990s. The present UGA encompasses about 179 square miles, . <br />representing about 60 percent of Durham County. By comparison, the City of Durham <br />encompasses about 93 squaze miles, or 31 percent of Durham County. The following table <br />summarizes the proposed UGA boundary amendments. . <br />The~purpose of the Southeast Durham area UGA contraction is to implement the policies of <br />the Durham 2020 Comprehensive Plan. A central theme of the 2020 Plan is to encourage <br />~~ <br />