Name of longtime developer who accused Durham council member of extortion revealed
The developer who accused a Durham City Council member of an extortion attempt was revealed Monday night to be Jarrod Edens, a longtime developer in the Triangle.
City officials have declined for weeks to identify the person who accused council member Monique Holsey-Hyman of asking for a campaign donation in exchange for a vote supporting a development.
Mayor Elaine O’Neal revealed Edens’ name around 9:30 p.m., after City Hall had largely emptied out, calling it an “open secret among certain community members.”
After a second vote on annexing an Edens-owned development site Monday, Holsey-Hyman left the building and didn’t return.
Federal and state law enforcement agencies are investigating Holsey-Hyman, who has denied wrongdoing and declined to speak with reporters.
Edens is president of Durham-based Edens Investments and has been involved in residential development in the Triangle for years.
“I want to focus on the project this evening. I’m going to talk about the project,” he said. “I’ve been coming here for how many years? Twenty, 25 years. Never requested that any members not vote or anything, never had that issue come up.”
Alleged extortion attempt followed initial hearing on project
Edens had returned to City Hall to request another annexation hearing for a proposed neighborhood tentatively named Carpenter Falls or Carpenter Preserve.
An annexation allows a neighborhood to connect to city water and sewer lines, allowing for denser development than if homes had to be served by wells and septic tanks.
The 132-acre property is on rural land between downtown and Falls Lake at 2621 Burton Road.
His annexation request was denied March 6 in a 3-3 vote. Holsey-Hyman voted against the proposal.
“We wouldn’t start a project that we didn’t think that ultimately we could find something to do with that property,” Edens said. “It didn’t work out that night, but our options are to run away, never come back, or try to come back with something better than we had last time.”
He said they immediately got back to work, adding 25 townhomes to the 235 single-family houses initially proposed. They increased the number of plots to be given to Habitat for Humanity from three to five.
The weekend after the March 6 meeting, Planning Director Sara Young called City Attorney Kim Rehberg and told her that a property developer who had met with council members about a proposed project had reported an extortion attempt, according to emails that did not include Edens’ name.
The allegations, and others that Holsey-Hyman had improperly involved city staff members in her campaign, exploded into public view at a heated March 23 council work session.
Edens said Holsey-Hyman told him “in order to obtain support for their project (i.e. a ‘yes’ vote on the application), they would need to make a contribution to that councilmember’s campaign,” Rehberg wrote in an email.
FBI investigation ongoing
Before anyone else spoke on the agenda item Monday night, O’Neal said she wanted to put some things on the record.
She said Rehberg informed her “sometime in the last few weeks” that it was Edens at the center of the probe into Holsey-Hyman.
“About two weeks ago, Councilwoman Holsey-Hyman told me that Mr. Edens would be on the agenda for tonight,” O’Neal continued.
O’Neal said she reached out to the FBI and to advisers at the UNC School of Government.
“The FBI told me that their investigation was continuing and they would not have a say — and could not have a say — in the ongoing business of the city,” she said.
Rehberg advised that Holsey-Hyman could ask for an excused absence or decide to recuse herself, though there are statutory requirements governing recusals, according to a May 9 email O’Neal read aloud Monday night.
Rehberg said Edens could raise an objection if he desired, though he did not.
Edens, who was initially seated, began pacing at the back of the council chambers as the mayor spoke. He told The N&O he didn’t know his identity would be revealed that night.
“I don’t know what to say,” he said after the meeting. “Honestly, I learned some stuff tonight.”
He declined to discuss the extortion allegation and whether he had been contacted by law enforcement.
Holsey-Hyman left meeting after vote
Several people spoke against the annexation proposal Monday night, sharing concerns about water quality and overdevelopment, as well as the misconduct alleged by Edens.
“This is troubling to the community,” former City Council member Jacqueline Wagstaff said. “I don’t think the project got better. I think the count got better.”
The item passed 4-3 along familiar lines, with O’Neal, Holsey-Hyman and council member DeDreana Freeman voting against it.
Edens said they will likely start construction at the beginning of 2024.
Mayor Pro Tem Mark-Anthony Middleton and council members Javiera Caballero, Jillian Johnson and Leonardo Williams voted for it. Johnson was absent the night the vote failed.
“There is no neighborhood in Durham that is not experiencing the impacts of growth. Not my neighborhood, not our inner-city,” Middleton said. “No area is being left untouched.”
Holsey-Hyman left the room after the vote, walking past Edens — who nodded in her direction — and sitting down on a bench outside City Hall.
About 10 minutes later, a city staffer approached O’Neal, who left the building to check on Holsey-Hyman. Middleton took over the meeting until she returned.
Holsey-Hyman and O’Neal spoke outside for several minutes before Holsey-Hyman left in a vehicle. She was granted an excused absence for the remainder of the meeting.
This story was originally published May 16, 2023 at 7:35 AM with the headline "Name of longtime developer who accused Durham council member of extortion revealed."
