Dear Supporters of Save Black Meadow Ridge —
GREETINGS, we are reaching out to ask for YOUR HELP on SEPTEMBER 10th! It is EASY and DOESN’T COST A THING-- just an hour or so of your time from the comfort of your own home or office. This is your chance to PROTECT Durham’s flagship WEST POINT ON THE ENO CITY PARK, and the water quality and habitats of the Eno River.
Concerned citizens are organizing to appear on the “CITIZEN’S MATTERS” portion of the Durham City Council work session starting at 1pm on Thursday September 10th to outline to Council members our citizen alarm over the proposed high density 379-unit "Westpoint" townhome development that would take over Black Meadow Ridge and damage West Point Park and surrounding habitats. WE NEED YOU THERE WITH US VIRTUALLY!!
We need as MANY DURHAM RESIDENTS AS POSSIBLE to sign up by the deadline on Monday August 31st for a 3-minute speaking slot at that September 10th City Council meeting. Even if you prefer not to speak, PLEASE sign up now for a 3 minute slot and we will gladly find a speaker to whom you can delegate your allotted time before the meeting—or when you are called on in zoom, you can just quickly state your support of what has already been said by the other BMR speakers.
We want to send a clear and strong message to Council by signing up AS MANY SPEAKERS as possible, and we can always tell them we will pare down the list if needed-- but the Council members need to hear loud and clear how much we as Durhamites LOVE our blessed Eno River and the West Point Eno Park. They need to understand that a proposed 379-unit townhome development would completely clear-cut over 64 acres of forest making up Black Meadow Ridge along the entire Southern boundary of the park and replace that entire forest with impervious surfaces-- causing huge adverse environmental impacts on West Point Park and the surrounding Eno ecosystem, while degrading drinking water quality for the entire region.
As a supporter of SAVE BLACK MEADOW RIDGE, we urge you to PLEASE take the following 2 easy steps right now!
STEP 1: SIGN UP TO RESERVE A 3-MINUTE SPEAKING SLOT
Do this no later than August 31st (by next Monday night!) as follows:
o Simply fill out the “request to appear” sign up form at this link:
https://durhamnc.gov/FormCenter/City-Council-11/Request-to-Appear-Before-the-Durham-City-56
o In the box on the form that says “TOPIC”, please cut and paste the full bolded paragraph below, or at least make it clear you want to speak in support of preserving Black Meadow Ridge and preventing environmental harm of a proposed development to West Point on the Eno Park and adjacent Eno River ecosystems.
o NOTE: as of 10AM on Monday, the above link is broken. If you feel strongly that you would like to speak on this Citizen Matter, you can download a PDF version of the request form and fax it to (919) 560-4949.
Proposed “TOPIC” language to cut and paste in the above form:
“We are requesting that Council protect the West Point on the Eno City Park, the adjacent Black Meadow Ridge, and Eno River habitats by exploring with the Planning Department options for reactivating a zoning map change previously requested by the City under matter number “Z07-47” (for “Eno Drive at West Point on the Eno”); and for conducting a full and comprehensive review of a proposed 379-unit “Westpoint” development, including public notice, public hearings and a vote of City Council."
REMEMBER: We hope you will speak—but be sure to sign up for a slot even if you prefer NOT to speak! Once your 3-minute slot is confirmed, just email us at saveblackmeadowridge@gmail.com and we will arrange for another speaker to take your time if you prefer. It will send a powerful message to Council if they are inundated with many dozens of speaking requests!
STEP 2: TUNE INTO THE SEPTEMBER 10th virtual City Council meeting VIA ZOOM from 1-2 pm to show your support!
The actual zoom link for the 9/10/20 meeting not yet available—will be posted on City Council site the week of the meeting.
We are SPECIFICALLY asking that everyone sign into the zoom access form and/or on your zoom profile please LIST THE WORDS “BMR” (standing for Black Meadow Ridge) BEFORE YOUR NAME!! (eg, “BMR Jane Smith”) to maximize visibility to Council as to how many people are tuning in via ZOOM because of this issue!
Note that during Council zoom meetings, citizen video is turned OFF, chat function is disabled, and mics are MUTED until a person is called on to speak -- so the ONLY way they will see at a glance how many people are tuning into the Zoom meeting to support this cause is by using “BMR” in your Zoom name!
Even if you are NOT planning to speak, please tune into the meeting USING ZOOM, NOT MERELY passively watching the meeting on YouTube, as our key goal is to be highly VISIBLE TO COUNCIL MEMBERS!! They will see your ZOOM NAME as “BMR John Doe” and know you are there supporting the cause even if you don’t actually speak during meeting, or if you simply express that you support the previous BMR speakers when you are called on.
Meeting agenda and zoom link should be posted here the week of September 7th:
https://durhamnc.gov/AgendaCenter/City-Council-4
General instructions:
https://durhamnc.gov/1345/Watch-or-Comment-at-Meetings-Work-Sessio
THANK YOU for supporting Save Black Meadow Ridge, West Point on the Eno Park, Eno Habitats, and water quality in Durham!! We hope you will take the above two steps and that we will see you via Zoom on September 10th at 1 pm EDT!!
Sincerely,
The Save Black Meadow Ridge Community Group