Durham City Council Work Session - March 5, 2026: Developers Face Surprise Sewer Limits and Hayti Promise Raises Questions
The Durham City Council hears how Goose Creek’s maxed-out sewer system, new modeling tools, and long construction timelines are stalling development and straining local builders. Council also debates the $10 million Hayti Promise allocation, weighing safeguards, equity concerns, and community trust in how ARPA and revenue-replacement dollars are managed along the Fayetteville Street corridor. 41mins
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Original Meeting
Thursday, March 5th, 2026
18405.0
Durham City Council Work Session March 5, 2026
Video Notes
Welcome to the City Council Work Session for March 5, 2026.
Agenda: https://www.durhamnc.gov/AgendaCenter/City-Council-4
How to participate: https://www.durhamnc.gov/1345
Contact the City Council: https://www.durhamnc.gov/1323
NOTE: Comments left on this livestream will not be read or entered into the meeting record
In This Video
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A Water Management representative described how wastewater from three city basins flowed to different treatment facilities and outlined past efforts to rehabilitate aging vitrified clay sewer lines using point repairs, full line replacements, cured-in-place liners, and manhole rehabilitation to prevent blockages and pipe failures.
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A Water Management representative described a major policy shift in which the city, rather than individual developers, took responsibility for funding large capacity-increasing sewer projects, citing new pressure zones, the Southeast Regional Lift Station, and upcoming pump station replacements as examples of this change.
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A Water Management representative reported that the city had brought on a project manager, advanced design work for three sewer outfall projects, programmed the 20-year capital plan, and begun planning for complex construction challenges in developed urban corridors, including interstate crossings and early easement negotiations with property owners.
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Frederick Davis described being a long-time local developer and property owner whose projects in the Goose Creek basin were effectively frozen until at least 2029, arguing that the short notice, lack of direct mailings, and burden placed on property owners for the city’s sewer overcapacity created a significant hardship.
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A speaker described how a 23-acre development was halted by the Goose Creek sewer capacity letter, emphasized that many local Durham investors and neighborhood revitalization projects were similarly jeopardized by a five-year pause, and argued that the city had failed to maintain a system that could support local development.
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Blake Anderson described how eight Goose Creek sites totaling 86 units, including affordable housing, were unexpectedly frozen for five years by a late-December notice posted on a little-known website, leaving a small company with stranded properties, sunk design costs, and frustration over the city’s lack of direct, proactive communication.
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A Water Management representative explained that a new advanced sewer modeling tool had accurately predicted sanitary sewer overflows and was expected to help prevent future incidents, noting that such models were increasingly common in larger utilities despite their cost and that similar capacity warning letters had been seen in other North Carolina cities.
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Council Member Matt Kopac asked what it meant for the sewer system to be at 100% capacity, and staff clarified that this threshold was based on detailed modeling that factored in storm-related flows and an acceptable level of sanitary sewer overflow risk before reaching significant regulatory concern.
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Director Gunn clarified that Hayti Promise was a separate nonprofit from the City and described its ARPA-funded early implementation work along the Fayetteville Street corridor to stabilize homes and businesses, preserve historic and cultural identity, and promote equitable, anti-displacement growth through partnerships, preservation efforts, and youth workforce programs.
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Director Gunn explained that Hayti Promise CDC was a new, volunteer-led nonprofit without a full-time executive director, outlined its contracted support staff and the City’s limited oversight role, and detailed the phased use and safeguards on its $10 million ARPA allocation, including contracted amounts, spending to date, and reasons for the perceived slow pace of funds moving into complex corridor projects.
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Director Gunn reported that Hayti Promise CDC had begun multi-year fundraising to supplement its ARPA award, explained a planned funding adjustment to preserve flexible federal dollars under the revenue replacement category, and emphasized that city oversight had found no compliance violations while seeking to maintain project continuity.
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A Hayti area resident and former project leader on the corridor work expressed disappointment with the selection and role of Hayti Promise CDC, questioned changes in funding and fiscal sponsorship involving Saint Joseph’s Historic Foundation and a board member, and argued that the restructured plan was not serving residents and businesses displaced from the community as originally intended.
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Council Member Shanetta Burris criticized the decision to award $10 million in ARPA funds to a newly formed nonprofit and to extend its spending timeline, arguing that these exceptions to typical funding practices and deadlines raised serious equity concerns compared with how other entities were treated.
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Council Member Chelsea Cook expressed growing concern and confusion about changes to the Hayti Promise funding structure and asked staff to clarify whether the $10 million allocation was entirely categorized as revenue replacement or partly as ARPA funds, including how that breakdown compared with other ARPA-funded projects.
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City Finance Director Tim Flora explained how the federal ARPA ‘standard deduction’ allowed up to $10 million as revenue replacement, noted that about $6.5 million of that was used for Hayti Promise with the rest committed to other contracts, and described ongoing efforts and contingency planning to ensure all ARPA funds are fully spent before the December 31 deadline without returning any money to the federal government.
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Council Member Matt Kopac and staff discussed using Hayti Promise’s revenue replacement funds to pay nonprofit staff, with staff noting that many ARPA recipients commonly used grant dollars for salaries and the council member stressing the importance of investing in organizational capacity and overhead.
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A Hayti Promise CDC representative described joining the volunteer board to better understand the process and listen to neighborhood needs, recounting community meetings where residents emphasized safety and explaining the challenges of adapting to government timelines and federal funding requirements.
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Council Member Javiera Caballero reflected that Durham had allocated an unusually large share of its ARPA funds to community organizations, acknowledged the hard choices made in funding decisions, and expressed hope that the Hayti Promise work would help transform the Fayetteville Street corridor into a safer, more pride-inspiring area with flexibility to adjust project scopes as needed.
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Council Member Burris criticized the strategy of creating a new nonprofit and spending heavily on consultants without a clear plan, disputed claims that there was no real community along Fayetteville Street, and lamented feeling less safe there now than in the mid-2000s while questioning what legacy the city was building for the area.
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Marcellus Smith reflected on being a longtime local resident, argued that community members were “fighting for crumbs” in a complex system where $10 million was not enough for the needs at hand, and said the biggest obstacle was overcoming community apprehension and building a shared mindset to invest despite risks of recurring damage and loss.
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Council Member Burris pushed back on the characterization by Mayor Williams of Hayti Promise as “black folks fighting for crumbs.” The mayor emphasized that the $10 million ARPA grant was intended as a catalytic investment to attract additional funding. But Burris expressed discomfort with what was seen as a racially charged metaphor that did not reflect the community’s agency or goals.
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Mayor Leonardo Williams reiterated that $10 million for a historic Black community was insufficient and framed past disinvestment as the real offense, while staff summarized that the returning Hayti Promise item would amend the contract to remove the fiscal agent and convert the revenue-replacement dollars into city funds to give the nonprofit more flexible use of the money.
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