Durham Reporter

City of Durham issued the following announcement on Nov. 10. 

Staff to Introduce New Online and Community Engagement Tools

The next phase of engagement for Durham’s new Comprehensive Plan is beginning soon and residents are invited to attend virtual community meetings to help shape Durham’s future growth and development.

The project was introduced to the community nearly two years ago and is a long-range vision that guides what can be built where in Durham. Residents interested in where the new plan development is now as well as the future of the plan are invited to participate in one of six community meetings scheduled to begin next week. Residents are welcome to attend any of the meetings as the same basic information will be shared at all meetings with a portion of the meeting broadly focused on a general area of Durham. 

The following meeting dates and targeted areas are being offered virtually over the next three months:

• Wednesday, November 3 – Meeting 1: Central Durham
• Tuesday, November 30 – Meeting 3: East Durham
• Monday, December 6 – Meeting 4: North Durham
• Thursday, December 16 – Meeting 5: South Durham
• Wednesday, January 12 – Meeting 6: West Durham

“The Comprehensive Plan is a long-range vision for Durham designed to embody diverse voices of the community and incorporate the opinions of all people of Durham, especially the perspectives of underrepresented groups,” said Durham City-County Planning Director Sara Young. “Engagement is the crux of the ENGAGEDurham process and insights from residents involved in this process will shape and influence the plan for Durham’s future.”

Residents and community stakeholders who attend any of these community meetings will learn about the draft Place Type Map and the new Resident Engagement Toolkit. Place types are a way of describing and mapping the future kinds, or types, of places residents want to see in Durham. The place types will be displayed on a Place Type Map accompanied by a Place Type Guide that describes each place type in detail. Staff is currently finalizing a draft Place Type Map and Place Type Guide to use as a starting point for engagement, which will be available online soon for residents to review and provide suggestions or changes.

The Resident Engagement Toolkit is also in the final step of development, which will allow resident volunteers to engage their neighbors in this current phase of the plan development process. The geographic nature of the place type work provides opportunities for residents across Durham to have smaller discussions in their neighborhoods or communities about what they want to see in the future.

If neighborhood or community groups want to request a meeting or presentation, residents may contact City-County Planner Brooke Ganser by email.

Original source can be found here.