Dozens of Kentington Heights residents are caught in the middle of a controversial idea for their subdivision. A number of landowners want to sell the whole neighborhood.
"If we come together as a block, that will take a lot of the headache out of it for a developer," says rezoning supporter Anita Keith-Foust.
Kentington Heights sits right next to the future site of Southpoint Mall. Selling and rezoning the subdivision, and re-developing it commercially could help homeowners recapture thousands of dollars in lost land values.
Many residents say the neighborhood never took off, leaving it with sagging homes, abandoned vehicles and ripped-up roads.
"Everyone here has well or septic problems," Keith-Foust says. "If you don't have one, you have the other."
A number of people, though, oppose the wholesale change in the neighborhood.
"The thing is I want to stay, and I don't plan on selling my property," says rezoning opponent Joe Lomick.
James Scott was the first person to move into the subdivision 30 years ago. He says he is just going to go with the flow.
"It is going be good either way it goes," he says. "Kentington Heights is going to be good for Southpoint, and Southpoint is going to be good for Kentington Heights."
The Durham City Council voted Tuesday to not rezone the property because that would change the mall plans already in place.
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