gronberg@heraldsun.com; 419-6648
DURHAM -- County Commissioners started clearing the way for a new middle school next to Treyburn by voting unanimously to rezone 150 acres along Snow Hill Road for the project.
The decision was the first to emerge from a lengthy set of four hearings scheduled Monday that were also to see commissioners approve permits for the planned 850-student facility.
Commissioners followed up by approving two special use permits, one for the site and one for required road improvements, and a site plan. Those votes were also unanimous.
City officials -- who control a smaller piece of land involved in the project -- also have to vote on zoning and permits and are scheduled to do so on March 1.
The county's zoning decision clearly pleased residents of the Treyburn development and business leaders who said a new school would entice more people and businesses to move to northern Durham.
Recruiting at Merck and other companies in the Treyburn Corporate Park is being hurt by "educational issues" in northern Durham County, said Michael Porter, a Merck executive.
But a new school will help, he said.
"People want to live near where they work," Porter said. "They want to have good education for their children near where they live. They look at Middle School B as the solution to many issues."
The rezoning drew opposition from a few Snow Hill Road residents, and from Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People Chairwoman Lavonia Allison.
The residents were unhappy about the school's likely traffic impact, while Allison felt its suburban location would contribute to school segregation.
"We're looking at how we're going to build buildings to educate children where the diversity is totally ignored," Allison said.
She added that while Treyburn does have black residents, the people who live there "who look like me don't have children."
That drew rebukes from two advocates for the project, former Durham Planning Commission member Joe Parker and Treyburn resident Bernice Bond. Both are black.
Parker said he has three grandchildren living in the neighborhood. Bond followed by saying she has two children.
"I have a lot of people in Treyburn who look like me," she said. "It's not a race issue; it's about children."
