Durham’s New Comprehensive Plan
Durham is working on a new Comprehensive Plan, a long range vision for our community! The Comprehensive Plan decides what can be built where in Durham. It decides what size and kind of homes can be built in what part of the City and County, where schools and businesses can be built, and where streets can run through. Our current plan is nearly 13 years old and Durham has seen a lot of change in that time, that change has benefited some residents while others have been negatively impacted.
Durham looks the way it does because the old plan guided how it could grow and develop. In the past, government officials (who were often white) have written this plan without hearing from or engaging folks from all parts of our community. This means the rules have been unfair to residents of color. What we’re doing right now is writing a new plan. And this time, we want our residents, especially our residents of color, to help write this plan.
What We’ve Heard
Between November 2019 and February 2020, over ONE THOUSAND residents told us what they wanted in their ideal Durham. There were a lot of common themes:
Affordable housing, good public transportation, access to quality food, safety, health and wellness, a sense of belonging, racial justice, good schools, opportunities for good jobs, places to learn and play, and a clean environment were among the top themes that residents told us they wanted for Durham.
Get Involved
Community Goals and Objectives
Planning staff are now bringing the revised Community Goals and Objectives through the process to be formally adopted.
Help shape the Southeast Durham Focus Area
A major part of creating a Comprehensive Plan is to work with the community to develop a new future land use plan and policies (learn more about this at the link below!). To start this work, the Planning Department has been asked by City Council to focus first on the southeastern area of Durham to provide early guidance before the entire Comprehensive Plan is adopted. This area is bounded by Sherron Road, Highway 98, Carpenter Pond Rd, and U.S. Highway 70, and is primarily the area to be served by the city’s new Southeast Regional Lift Station. View a map of the study area.
We need your help understanding community needs and priorities for this area so we can develop new future land use designations that are consistent with what the community wants to see from the draft goals and objectives for the Comprehensive Plan.
You can find more background information, take a survey, and add comments to an interactive map of the study area on our online engagement site, Social Pinpoint:
Please make sure to sign up for updates to learn about upcoming opportunities!
News
Revised Community Goals and Objectives for the Comprehensive Plan During the Fall of 2020 and Winter of 2021, hundreds of residents shared their input on draft Community Goals and Objectives for the Comprehensive Plan. We heard a lot of support for the draft Goals and Objectives through our Engagement Ambassadors,…
Previous News
Comprehensive Plan March 2021 Project Updates (3/10/2021)
Comprehensive Plan February 2021 Project Updates (2/12/2021)
Comprehensive Plan January 2021 Project Updates (1/20/2021)
Commitment to Anti-Racist Action (6/24/2020)
Listening and Learning Engagement Summary (5/7/2020)
Newsletters
EngageDurham | Winter Newsletter (3/4/2020)
