rgronberg@heraldsun.com; 419-6500
DURHAM – County Commissioners voted 4-0 this week to allow the Triangle Flying Disc Association to build a six-field private park for Ultimate Frisbee players off Hamlin Road in north Durham.
The association’s victory was narrower than the margin might suggest because it needed support from every commissioner to overcome a formal protest against the rezoning by neighbors of the 22.6-acre site.
The neighbors’ protest petition invoked a three-fourth supermajority requirement that translated into the need for three votes, due to the vacancy on the board opened by the midsummer resignation of former Commissioner Becky Heron.
And it was far from clear, well into Monday night’s hearing, that the remaining commissioners would be unanimous.
Commissioners Chairman Michael Page at the hearing’s end said he was backing the project only “with a lot of reluctance” because of the neighborhood opposition.
“I support sport, recreational sports, I really do,” Page said. “But what bothers me the most is that I feel like the community is saying to us it’s an invasion of their community. It’s no more privacy, basically, for them.”
The neighbors for months had argued that the Frisbee complex would bring noise, nighttime lighting and traffic that would be unwelcome in their rural area.
The association’s lawyer, former Commissioner Lewis Cheek, said it didn’t appear any concessions by the group would mollify the neighbors. There was no disagreement on that point from the neighbors, led by Riley Drive software engineer Jeff Danford.
The plan at six fields is nonetheless smaller than the eight-field plan the Flying Disc Association initially asked commissioners to approve this spring. The group cut it back at the urging of the county board.
Association leaders and their lawyers also served up several other concessions, including a promise to stop play at 9:30 p.m. and to have a member on hand at all times while the facility is in use to watch for problems.
The group also agreed to a stipulation that there be no park-related parking on Riley Drive, a promise that could in theory open it to a zoning-violation finding by city/county regulators if it’s ever broken.
Cheek voiced confidence that the project’s 185-space parking lot is large enough to handle players’ needs. He also noted that the complex will develop incrementally, in line with the nonprofit association’s fundraising ability.
Danford said neighbors believe the project will draw large crowds. The Flying Disc Association is “selling itself short” in thinking otherwise, he said.
But Commissioner Ellen Reckhow argued for approval.
“This is such a good, wholesome sport,” she said. “We talk about the need for constructive outlets for our youth. I think we need to go beyond talk and start delivering.”
