Some of the planned new development in a portion of east Durham remains stalled because sewage is "at full capacity" in the area. City staff will update residents and property owners about the issue at a meeting Thursday evening.
WRAL Investigates first reported on this issue in March when developers reached out to regarding a “Letter to Industry” posted on the City’s website, which stated no new water or sewer hook-ups would be approved by the City in the affected area without first getting special permission.
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City Manager Bo Ferguson told WRAL in March the City plans to expedite the upgrades as quickly as possible, and during Monday’s City Council work session, City leaders emphasized the need for speed.
Developers and property owners have aired their concerns with what they say was a lack of communication about the issue and the financial strain of the delay.
During Monday’s work session, Water Management Director Don Greeley said 57 developers representing 104 total projects had reached out to the city.
He said 32 of the projects are able to move forward fully, 64 are moving forward partially, and seven projects are on hold.
Greeley said construction is set to be complete in 2029, and staff continues to consider how to expedite the process. He told Council members much of the land in Phase 1 of the project is already owned by the City, but Phase 2 runs through a busy urban corridor, and the City will have to work with property owners.
City Council members pushed staff to keep moving quickly.
“I just want to reiterate that, because there's more than just, you know, people not being able to build here,” Mayor Leonardo Williams said. “It's impacting so many things."
Council Member Carl Rist asked city staff about the possibility of an emergency declaration, allowing the city to move faster, but the City Attorney explained that’s not possible under North Carolina law.
“Anything that is even a remote possibility for acceleration is something that we want to be notified of,” City Manager Bo Ferguson said. “If there are things we can do to support it, we will absolutely support it."
Ferguson told Council members staff has used existing on-call contracts to start work, which they say has been underway for months; he emphasized further approval of contracts is allowing the work to continue.
The total construction cost for phases one and two is estimated to be $30 million.
John Warasila, manager of Garland Ventures, is one of the impacted property owners. One of his developments on Hoover Road is completely stalled, while the other on Drive Street is moving forward piecemeal.
He told WRAL the delay is costing millions.
"The reality is, we are all local developers, we are smaller time investors in Durham. We're, you know, using savings to make something like this happen," Warasila said. "We're not some big out of town conglomerate that's suddenly trying to do projects in Durham, and we're very grassroots, locally based, and so I find it extremely disappointing that the city hasn't managed its sewer capacity in a way that I think any municipality should.
Staff will provide an update to residents Thursday night during a meeting at the Mist Lake Facility, located at 1600 Mist Lake Drive. That meeting runs from 6 to 8 p.m.
You can find more updates on the Goose Creek project here.
