Clifton and Leah Garrett Farm
Overview
The former Clifton and Leah Garrett Farm, one of the last remaining examples (if not the last remaining example) of a traditional family farm near the city, has been sold to a developer – Trammel Crow Residential (TCR) – which plans to convert the site into "Alexan Garrett Farms".
the plan
The planned Alexan Garrett Farms is a development including 308 apartments. It would preserve 26 acres west of Mud Creek (wooded area adjacent to New Hope Creek) and an existing farm pond, but TCR is looking for offers to have the farmhouse carted off. The plan also includes expanding the intersection of Garrett Rd. and 15-501 (and the adjacent section of Garrett Rd.) to add more capacity for the extra traffic generated.
This plan was approved by the Durham Planning Commission, 13-0.
Preservation Durham has officially objected to the plan.
editorializing
For those of us who have quietly said "aagh, nooo, not another one!" each time a pretentious new cul-de-sac subdivision (Loch'n'Ora, Carillon Place, Everwood...) sprang up along formerly pristine byways, this one is kind of the steel anvil that broke the camel's back. If any of these land transfers should not have gone through, it would be this one (although there are certainly plenty of others which seem equally senseless but just not as significant, e.g. the destruction of the nice old one-story house on the corner of Durham-Chapel Hill Road and Watkins, bulldozed 2007-11-12).
The following questions come to mind, with regard to this specific issue:
- Why were there no dissenting votes at all?
- Why didn't they at least require that TCR preserve the farmhouse?
- ...and of course the usual litany of questions which come up (and are never answered) with regard to the ongoing paving and lawnifying of Durham area land.
Related Pages
Links
- 2007-10-29 Clifton and Leah Garrett Farm: overview of the situation