WRAL Investigates first reported Thursday that new development was on pause in a portion of East Durham because the city's sewage system in that area was "at full capacity," and upgrades to correct the issue were not expected to be complete until 2029 or 2030.
After WRAL Investigates started asking questions, the city now plans to publicly address the issue in the Durham City Council work session scheduled for March 5.
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WRAL Investigates continues to hear from people impacted, including Dan Jewell and John Warasila, who are working together on two projects in East Durham.
One of those projects is Garland, a mixed-use revitalization of properties on Driver Street. Another, which is further along in the process, is the Hoover Dam Assemblage, which would have brought about 400 apartments and townhomes to the intersection of Hoover Road and Miami Boulevard.
"There was a pretty strong affordable housing commitment as part of that," Jewell said. "We had gotten a strong approval of the rezoning from the city council and most importantly the staff report … said that there were no problems with water or sewer out there."
Now, the project is on hold because the city says it cannot grant new sewer hook-ups in the area.
"We spent two years at Hoover going through the process with the City Planning Commission, Planning Department, only to have that unravel after the fact," Warasila added. "That, I think, is the really crippling component of that."
The two men say they met with the city about the issue, and that the city suggested they could build their own temporary sewage pump system for the site, which they estimated would cost $2 million. They determined that it was not a financially feasible option for them.
WRAL Investigates reported Thursday that the city did not alert all landowners of the issue, and many found out through friends or other contacts in the industry. Jewell says the City did contact him to let him know his Garland project would be affected, and, once Jewell saw the map of the affected zone, he realized Hoover Dam Assemblage would be impacted, too.
"One of the goals of the city as a whole is to deliver housing," Warasila said. "Only to find out if you build that housing, it can’t connect to anything. That’s a lack of planning, honestly."
Durham City Manager Bo Ferguson told WRAL Investigates the city plans to expedite the upgrades. Jewell and Warasila believe that is essential.
"Being in the engineering field," Jewell said, I've reached out to my colleagues who feel there's really no reason ... that this thing couldn't be worked out in about two years."
"I don’t think it’s an us and them situation," Warasila said. "I think everyone collectively wants to make this get fixed and addressed. It’ll help everybody. It’ll deliver more housing, give the city a bigger tax base … it’s a win-win."
In an interview on Thursday, WRAL Investigates asked Ferguson if a two-year timeline was feasible.
"It can vary from project to project," Ferguson said. "I wouldn’t want to give broad perspectives about what is achievable or what’s not until we get more information about what needs to be done."
Ferguson noted that developers can still start work on other aspects of their projects, like rezoning and planning, while they await the sewer system upgrades.
"They just can't connect to the system until we’ve finally got that capacity," Ferguson said.
Jewell says "several dozen" local builders have reached out to him, saying their projects are affected by the issue. Jewell estimates about 700 housing units are now stalled, as well as some commercial development.
"This is very indicative of, if you're not looking ahead, the past and the current will come up and catch you," Warasila said. "And I think that's exactly where you're at."