Two members of the Board of Directors of GoTransit Partners resigned their posts over the past month in the ongoing debate about the route for light rail through downtown Durham.
Michael Goodmon, who was chairman of that board, resigned on Tuesday. Goodmon is vice president of real estate for Capitol Broadcasting Company, which owns the Durham Bulls, the team's ballpark and the adjacent American Tobacco Campus.
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"What's being done in downtown Durham is simply unacceptable. We cannot step back from the 25 years of work that so many groups have done to try to make this the downtown that it's become today," Goodmon said.
Brad Brinegar, chairman of McKinney, with offices in American Tobacco Campus, submitted his resignation Nov. 5.
Both cited the GoTriangle plan to close a portion of Blackwell Street between Pettigrew and Ramseur streets to accommodate light rail as their reason.
GoTriangle is the regional public transportation provider – of buses, rideshare and paratransit – in Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill.
GoTransit is the nonprofit arm, incorporated to seek grant and donor funding for public transportation initiatives, especially the planned light rail system in Durham and Orange counties which would extend from UNC Hospitals in the west to the campus of North Carolina Central University in the east with 12 proposed stops along the way.
In dispute is the plan to close Blackwell Street, the main artery connecting Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham Bulls Athletic Park and American Tobacco Campus with the rest of Durham's rapidly revitalizing downtown.
Representatives of those properties wrote to city leaders last month to share their concerns that closing Blackwell Street would cut them off from restaurants and shops on the other side, reinforcing what downtown Durham master plans have long recognized as "a physical and psychological barrier between the downtown core and the American Tobacco Historic District campus," Goodmon said in a statement.
"We're not at a place where we can expect people to park a mile down the road and walk around downtown to walk to get a burger or get a sandwich or something like that. It really concerns me," Complex Creative owner Tobias Rose said.
GoTriangle's Mike Charbonneau told WRAL News on Monday that the closure is necessary because of safety concerns related to Blackwell Street's elevation.
"Severing this artery would split downtown Durham, disrupting an urban district which has
become the envy of other cities. And it would most certainly change the course of future
development in Durham," Brinegar wrote.
"The proposed closure puts at risk the difficult and remarkable work many people and organizations undertook over the last 25+ years as part of downtown Durham’s nationally acclaimed renaissance," Goodmon wrote. "I simply cannot be in favor of any project that closes this critical artery to vehicular or pedestrian traffic, now or in the future."
Charbonneau says the plan to build the light-rail line within Pettigrew Street would require the roadway to be raised several feet to make it easier for traffic to cross both the railroad tracks and the light-rail tracks.
Goodmon and Brinegar are unsatisfied with GoTriangle's proposal for a pedestrian crossing and worry that there is not enough time to incorporate it into existing plans.
"It is a fact that GoTriangle has not built enough time or certain funding into its plan to remotely guarantee that such designs could actually be executed," Goodmon said.
The tension comes as deadlines loom for the city and county to present a plan for federal funding. GoTriangle, Durham and the County of Durham want to have their plan in place by Dec. 31.
The project is also dependent on a promised donation of land from Duke University.
On Tuesday, Durham Mayor Steve Schewel and two members of the Durham County Board of Commissioners issued a statement saying they expected that deadline to be met.
“We are pleased to say that GoTriangle, Duke University and local elected officials remain committed to working together to build the important community light-rail project, and we’ve had several productive conversations about next steps and the path forward. Together, we are working to address each specific concern that Duke identified. We are optimistic as all the partners collaborate to meet deadlines this calendar year needed to secure a $1.25 billion federal investment for the project,” they said.
Durham County Commission Chairwoman Wendy Jacobs is on the GoTriangle board and said GoTriangle staff is going back to the original drawing board and looking at all options concerning Blackwell Street. But, she says the light rail project must move forward.