Riverkeeper: Durham UDO plan has ‘major shortcomings’

A draft plan that determines how development happens in Durham brought plenty of residents out to a public meeting in November 2025. But many left disappointed the city is not doing much to protect the environment, according to Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop.

Durham’s Unified Development Ordinance is currently being rewritten, a process the encourages public input. Phase 3, which focuses on environmental protections required by the city for new developments, was presented.

“UDO rewrites provide a rare opportunity to pass policies that can protect Durham’s waterways and environmental resources and communities. But Durham is not making a lot of changes in its environmental protection section. That was the focus of this meeting, and there isn’t a lot there in terms of policy changes or rule changes,” Samantha said. “Given the abundance of evidence we have that Durham waterways are experiencing a sediment crisis caused by development, you would think that the city would take this opportunity to require that developers do more to protect its waterways.”

Rather than updating the UDO to raise the bar and require developers to do more to protect water quality, Phase 3 provides developers a choice: do less and have more stringent housing density requirement; do more and be allowed to build more houses, according to Samantha.

“They get more density — that’s the bonus. But no one is required to do it,” she said. “We see that as a major shortcoming. This is a rare opportunity, and the city is allowing developers to simply choose whether they want to do more for environmental protection.”

The public comment period is currently open. Those wishing to comment can do so by emailing NewUDO@DurhamNC.gov.

The draft text of Durham’s Module 3 of the UDO can be found here.

“I think it’s important that people comment,” Samantha said. “We should ask Durham to do more to protect its waterways, not leave it up to developers to choose to do more.”

For three years, Samantha has been working to stop Durham’s sediment crisis. Read about a recent win to stop a developer from polluting Lick Creek, a tributary of Raleigh drinking-water source Falls Lake.

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This article was first published by Sound Rivers.