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9/14/2011

County approves Ultimate Frisbee complex!

The Herald-Sun

 http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/15507265/article-County-approves-Ultimate-Frisbee-complex

By Ray Gronberg

rgronberg@heraldsun.com; 419-6500

DURHAM – County Commissioners voted 4-0 this week to allow the Triangle Flying Disc Association to build a six-field private park for Ultimate Frisbee players off Hamlin Road in north Durham.

The association’s victory was narrower than the margin might suggest because it needed support from every commissioner to overcome a formal protest against the rezoning by neighbors of the 22.6-acre site.

The neighbors’ protest petition invoked a three-fourth supermajority requirement that translated into the need for three votes, due to the vacancy on the board opened by the midsummer resignation of former Commissioner Becky Heron.

And it was far from clear, well into Monday night’s hearing, that the remaining commissioners would be unanimous.

Commissioners Chairman Michael Page at the hearing’s end said he was backing the project only “with a lot of reluctance” because of the neighborhood opposition.

“I support sport, recreational sports, I really do,” Page said. “But what bothers me the most is that I feel like the community is saying to us it’s an invasion of their community. It’s no more privacy, basically, for them.”

The neighbors for months had argued that the Frisbee complex would bring noise, nighttime lighting and traffic that would be unwelcome in their rural area.

The association’s lawyer, former Commissioner Lewis Cheek, said it didn’t appear any concessions by the group would mollify the neighbors. There was no disagreement on that point from the neighbors, led by Riley Drive software engineer Jeff Danford.

The plan at six fields is nonetheless smaller than the eight-field plan the Flying Disc Association initially asked commissioners to approve this spring. The group cut it back at the urging of the county board.

Association leaders and their lawyers also served up several other concessions, including a promise to stop play at 9:30 p.m. and to have a member on hand at all times while the facility is in use to watch for problems.

The group also agreed to a stipulation that there be no park-related parking on Riley Drive, a promise that could in theory open it to a zoning-violation finding by city/county regulators if it’s ever broken.

Cheek voiced confidence that the project’s 185-space parking lot is large enough to handle players’ needs. He also noted that the complex will develop incrementally, in line with the nonprofit association’s fundraising ability.

Danford said neighbors believe the project will draw large crowds. The Flying Disc Association is “selling itself short” in thinking otherwise, he said.

But Commissioner Ellen Reckhow argued for approval.

“This is such a good, wholesome sport,” she said. “We talk about the need for constructive outlets for our youth. I think we need to go beyond talk and start delivering.”
 

 Neighbors fight Frisbee fields

RESIDENTS SAY PROPOSED 'ULTIPLEX' WILL DISRUPT RURAL LIFESTYLE

JULY 6, 2011

DURHAM NEWS

http://www.thedurhamnews.com/2011/07/06/207534/neighbors-fight-frisbee-fields.html

BY VIRGINIA BRIDGES, CORRESPONDENT FOR DURHAM NEWS

Greg Jones wants a place he can play Ultimate Frisbee, where practices and pick-up games don't take second billing to soccer teams and family get-togethers, said the rising senior at Hillside New Tech High School.

Mary and Clyde Pope want their Riley Drive community, north of the city in central Durham County, to maintain its quiet, rural feel. The couple, who essentially established Riley Drive when they built their home east of Old Oxford Highway off Hamlin Road in 1955, said they don't want life to change on the lush street bordered by four homes, a horse pasture, gardens surrounded by deer fences, and a wooded lot.

Triangle Flying Disc Association wants to develop that wooded lot into a nearly 23-acre home base for Ultimate Frisbee players, with six fields and a 2,000 square-foot pavilion. The facility would host practices, games, camps, tournaments, and other events. The "Ultiplex" would be one of the first in the region, if not the nation, said Christian Schwoerke, president of the association.

"The dream of a dedicated Ultiplex has long inspired the TFDA community, representing our independence from whimsical (parks and recreation) departments and our arrival as a mature sport," the association's website states.

Residents near the property said they prefer single-family homes to the recreational field. The Popes and others worry that traffic, noise, lights and parking problems will follow as the sport's popularity increases.

"It's in our neighborhood, but it's not for our neighborhood," Mary Pope said.

The Durham County Board of Commissioners will hold public hearings Aug. 8 on the zoning change and site plan. The current zoning allows up to two houses per acre. A rezoning would allow the construction of the fields, pavilion, and 185 parking spaces.

Neighbors have submitted a protest petition, which means four out of five elected officials would have to vote in favor of the development for it to pass.

Representatives of the Triangle Flying Disc Association said their practices and games are relativity low profile. The facility won't have seating for spectators, who generally don't come to the games, or a public address system, Schwoerke said.

The venue's largest tournament would host up to 16 teams. Assuming each team has 10 players, that would mean a total of 160 players would use the field over the weekend. Ultimate players often carpool to out-of-town tournaments, Schwoerke said, and would come and go for games that start at 10 a.m. noon, 2 p.m. or 4 p.m.

The planning commission voted 6-6 on the project last month, which translates into a negative recommendation to county commissioners.

Residents and planning commissioners who opposed the project, say the association is selling itself short. Ultimate is a growing sport, and with the ultiplex, its foothold in the Triangle will increase, they said.

"We wholeheartedly agree this is a wonderful concept, but not at this location. Not in the heart of an existing neighborhood," said Jeff Danford, who lives near the property. "Not at the expense of irreparably damaging the way of life the rest of us have come to cherish."

Supporters said the project would benefit the local economy and provide local youth with a healthy after-school activity.

The Triangle Flying Disc Association includes about 500 dues-paying member, and close to 1,000 individuals who play. About 500 are in Durham, but many live across the Triangle, Schwoerke said.

The self-refereed games, which allows seven players per team on the field, resembles multiple sports, including basketball and football. Teams score by delivering the Frisbee in their end zone. They pass the Frisbee, but can't travel with it once they catch it.

Jones, the Hillside Tech senior, has been playing ultimate for nearly two years.

"It reminds me of football except without the contact, and it is really easy to learn," he said. One of the larger challenges, he said, is finding a place to play. Sometimes they play on the Durham School of the Arts' soccer field, but if the soccer team kicks them off, they hop across town until they find a place or just reschedule.

"There are a lot of people that play Frisbee," he said. "It is crazy with all we have to go through."

Sidebar

AN ULTIPLEX TIMELINE

2001

Triangle Flying Disc Association begins seeking for property to build an ultiplex.

2005

Association buys 196 acres on Cheek Road. They needed to resell all but 40 acres, and use that money to build the ultiplex. But the property didn't sell, and it started looking for property elsewhere.

2008

Association identified the property just off of Hamlin Road.

Feb. 8, 2011

Planning commission votes 6-5 against rezoning. The case went to the Board of County Commissioners on April 11. Commissioners voted to continue the case until May 9 to give the association time to address neighbors' concerns, look into a partnership with Durham Public Schools and an alternative location next to Durham County Memorial Stadium. Lewis Cheek, an attorney representing the association, said the commissioners' suggestions were not viable options. Commissioners sent the revised to proposal to planning commissioners. The new plan downgraded the eight fields to six, expanded the buffer between the neighborhoods, and lowered the planned 60-foot light poles by 10 feet. Residents' concerns about lighting, parking and traffic remain, they said.

June 14, 2011

Planning Commission deadlocks 6-6, a negative recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners.

Aug. 8, 2011

Board of County Commissioners will hold public hearings on rezoning and site plan.

 7/4/2011

Frisbee Plan not a Catch
Ray Gronberg
The Herald Sun

DURHAM -- A group that wants to build a private park for Ultimate Frisbee players has downsized its plan at the request of County Commissioners, but that still might not be enough to get it approved.

The Triangle Flying Disc Association has dropped two of the eight fields it once hoped to build on a 22.6-acre site off Hamlin Road in north Durham.

But the resulting six-field plan still failed last month to win an endorsement from the Durham Planning Commission, which advises elected officials on how to handle zoning applications.

"The neighbors don't want it," Planning Commission county delegate Antonio Jones said before the panel deadlocked 6-6 on whether to support the revised plan. "They've been there generations and would rather see something else."

The appointed Planning Commission's vote isn't binding on elected County Commissioners, who have considerable discretion under local and state law to approve a rezoning application for any reasons they see fit.

But county leaders in April told members of the Triangle Flying Disc Association that they're skeptical the plan will work on the site.

Neighbors of the project by all accounts are firmly against it and have filed a formal protest against the rezoning. That normally means the association would need support from four of five County Commissioners for its rezoning application to pass.

However, County Commissioner Becky Heron, in April one of the more vocal critics of the association's original eight-field plan, has announced plans to resign.

She will leave office Aug. 1, and the commissioners have until the end of September to appoint a replacement.

Until the new commissioner is on board, county leaders can approve protested rezonings with only three votes.

A valid protest petition triggers a three-fourths supermajority requirement, but Durham's land-use law specifies that "vacant positions and members who have been excused from voting because of a conflict of interest shall not be considered in computing governing-body membership."

But opponents can request a one-month delay of a zoning hearing, and elected officials have the authority to grant additional continuances.

County Commissioners in April urged the disc association to look into a public-private partnership with governmental agencies that could allow it to build fields on another site.

They mentioned collaborations with the Durham Public Schools or the county stadium authority as possibilities.

But the consultants the group is working with reported to the Planning Commission that County Manager Mike Ruffin had ruled out devoting any land near County Stadium to the project. DPS and the city Parks and Recreation Department also weren't interested, largely for lack for funds.

Planning Commission members who supported the project weren't pleased by the governments' reluctance to help a group that's trying to expand recreational opportunities in Durham.

"Unfortunately, it's clear that if this doesn't happen here, it's probably not going to happen in Durham," county delegate Wendy Jacobs said.

"At the current time, it's almost like 'no room at the inn,' wherever you go," Teiji Kimball, another county delegate, told Triangle Flying Disc Association leader Christian Schwoerke. "Every place you go, you get roadblocks."

Neighbors oppose the project because it includes two lighted fields and for the possibility that crowds will overflow its 185-space parking lot.

Association leaders and their consultants, however, contend the parking worry is overblown given plans for only six fields. Ultimate -- basically, soccer played with a Frisbee -- uses seven-person teams and doesn't have much of a spectator following.

 6/14/2011

Last night’s meeting with the Planning Commission resulted in a 6-6 tie, which failed to earn us the recommendation of that body.  However, because it’s a non-binding recommendation that goes to the County Commissioners in August, this “defeat” is less onerous than it might seem.  Additionally, because the one absent PC member was on our side, it is our hope that the County Commissioners will actually view it as a 7-6 vote in our favor.

 --from Durham Community Sports News, May 2011

  Plans for Triangle Flying Disc Association’s proposed Ultiplex in Northern Durham were substantially revised forcing the project to get another review by the planning commission in June before going back to the county commissioners for a zoning map change hearing. TFDA is trying to get approval for the area’s first ultimate frisbee complex after years of struggling to find a site (CSN, April 2011). The 22.58 acre property is on the west side of Riley Drive south of Hamlin Road.
  The number of fields was reduced from eight to six, light pole height lowered from 60 feet to 50 on two lighted fields and tree buffers along Fellowship Road and Riley Drive increased. The changes were made to reduce neighborhood opposition and commissioners’ concerns about the project’s impact and improve the likelihood of approval. The commissioners were scheduled to hold the rezoning hearing May 9 but it was put off until August.
  The changes were explained at a neighborhood meeting and met with “nays” from those there, according to a disappointed TFDA board member, who noted not only were changes made in the master plan but also concessions were made on other matters like lights out at 10 p.m., no PA system. “It’s incredible to me that after all of the work, time and money to reduce our impact to become a non-presence in the area, the neighbors are still putting up a fuss.” 

 5/20/2011

TFDA supporters,

It has been six months since our last fundraiser, and a lot has happened in that time.  In our last drive in December, we raised over $10,000 from over 122 donors.  Thank you for your support!

Since then, as many of you know, the Ultiplex project has been front and center, with several legal, bureaucratic, and political hurdles undertaken.

In February, we appeared in front of the Durham Planning Commission, which by a 6-5 vote against, sent a non-binding recommendation to the Durham County Commissioners NOT to permit it.

Because of this vote, our design firm recommended we seek legal counsel for help getting the project approved by the Durham County Commissioners in April.  Despite our lawyers’ assistance, the great turnout of ultimate players, and the outright merit of our project, it was clear that the commissioners were not going to approve the project as described, and so a decision on the project was deferred till a later meeting.

Since then, our design firm has made changes to the plan, which requires that the Ultiplex go again before the Planning Commission, which will take place in June.  Meanwhile, our lawyers have set up several one-on-one meetings with the County Commissioners to ensure that they like what we’ve done.  All of these delays, resubmissions, and meetings continue to cost TFDA thousands of dollars.

Right now, TFDA needs your support more than ever.  We have set an ambitious goal to raise $20,000 by July 4th.

Donations may be made via:

• check sent to 719 W. Cornwallis Rd., Durham, NC 27707
• PayPal @ http://tinyurl.com/ultiplex-donation

• payroll deduction at IBM (see instructions near the bottom of http://www.tfda.org/fundraising)

Ultimately, no consensus on Frisbee park 

The Herald-Sun

http://www.heraldsun.com/view/full_story/12750158/article-Ultimately--no-consensus-on-Frisbee-park

By Ray Gronberg

gronberg@heraldsun.com; 419-6648

DURHAM -- County Commissioners on Monday pressed a local nonprofit to downsize or walk away from plans to build an eight-field private park for Ultimate Frisbee players in north Durham off Hamlin Road.

The board urged the Triangle Flying Disc Association to consider dropping at least one of the fields and adding more parking to the planned facility, to head off any potential traffic hassles.

But members also signaled that they agree with neighbors of the 22.6-acre site that it simply may be too small to accommodate the need of a sport that's growing in popularity.

Commissioners Joe Bowser and Becky Heron urged association leaders to think about finding another site, perhaps in conjunction with the Durham Public Schools or the county stadium authority.

"If you have another piece of land in mind, and there's a possibility of a public-private partnership, I would certainly implore you to explore that," Bowser said,

Bowser and Heron were hardly alone in voicing doubt about the project, as all three of their colleagues said in varying ways that they're not sure the plan will work on the site.

And at least four of the commissioners have to support the plan for a necessary rezoning to pass the board, as neighbors of the site have banded together in numbers sufficient to lodge a formal protest against the zoning change.

When a group files a valid protest petition, Durham law requires a supermajority.

A spokesman for the neighbors, Riley Drive software engineer Jeff Danford, said he and his fellow homeowners are willing to talk to the association about a compromise.

But he said they'd want to see the group lower the height of the lights proposed for two of the fields, and in all make the facility "significantly smaller."

Danford added, though, that he's "not sure that's amenable to what they're trying to accomplish."

What the group is trying is to put together what would be the first facility of its type in the country for Ultimate Frisbee -- which, for the uninitiated, is basically soccer with a flying disc instead of a ball.

Supporters of the project, who packed more than 100 seats in the commission chamber, said players and teams have to make do with whatever fields at area parks and schools are left unused by other sports.

Association leaders said they've been trying to find a site for five years, and had to walk away from one possibility off Cheek Road because of its costs.

"This is the only place we have found that we can even remotely pretend to raise funds for," said Troy Revell, the group's vice president.

The group's most recently published tax filing, for fiscal 2008-09, listed only $79,896 in assets. It reported revenue for the year of $72,309 and expenses of $62,400.

But commissioners and Danford said the main problem with the site is that the road in and out, Riley Drive, is a narrow, country road that can accommodate little in the way of traffic and nothing in the way of roadside parking.

The group also proposes to build only 185 parking spaces, far less than the 409 Durham regulations would normally require.

Project designers and supporters said the 185 should be plenty, given that Ultimate Frisbee generally isn't a spectator sport. But commissioners, as much as they may have liked the idea of the complex in theory, weren't buying that.

"We'd be setting it up for failure it we looked at this another way," Commissioners Chairman Michael Page said, voicing doubts that 185 spaces would prove sufficient in the long run.
 

4/12/2011

3/30/2011

Durham ultimate players, contact about how you can help us lobby the Durham County Commission to approve the rezoning of the Ultiplex property for park use!