Meeting on October 30^th, 2002

The DixCP meeting was held at Cup-A-Joes, Mission Valley at noon on Wednesday, October 30, 2002

Attending:  Janet Cowell, Benson Kirkman, Neal Hunt, David Carter and Eric Reeves (from City, County and State Government), Jeff Matson (from Triangle Land Conservancy), David Proper (from Trust for Public Land), Jamie Ramsey (from People for Parks), and Joseph Huberman, Will Hooker, Tracey Oliveto, and ?? (from the Dix Community Partnership, known as the DixCP).

Joseph Huberman  started the meeting by giving a brief overview of the process on the public advocacy group, DixCP.  He talked about the organizational meetings, the groups intent (essentially to save as much land as possible currently held by the Dorothea Dix Hospital), its inclusion in NC State's task force, the Spring Hill Precinct, that is working on planning for the 130 acres on the western edge of the Dix campus given to the university,  and the work that has been done to date by that committee.

The discussion then evolved to the strategies that could be employed to preserve this highly valuable tract of land immediately adjacent to downtown Raleigh. JH explained how DixCP was discussing with DENHR about methods to get portions of the land set aside under the State's Million Acre Initiative.  It was explained that by "picking the low hanging fruit" (Bill Flournoy's expression, which means to designate lands for this initiative that are already owned by the State), Governor Easley would be able to fulfill his promise of preserving land at very little cost as well as setting a good example for open space preservation.

Another suggestion was to somehow put the land into Conservation Easement, designating the stewardship to some institution, possibly the City of Raleigh.  Eric Reeves made the statement that the City might not be the group that the State would prefer to cede oversight to.  Benson Kirkman made the point that we could involve other parties outside the City of Raleigh if that was preferable to the State.  The suggestion was made that we work to get the State to cede the development rights to the land to the Triangle Land Conservancy (TLC), and the TLC could negotiate a memorandum of agreement with the City of Raleigh to maintain the land along with the greenway, or for DENHR to continue to maintain the land as it has if it continues to occupy the offices on the property.

Joseph passed out color-coded maps of the property to show the strategies being considered by DixCP.  He proposed the idea of planning greenways along the railroad right-of-ways, and also to link the existing greenway along Western Blvd. more strongly with the greenway to Lake Johnson, this connection needs to be made through Centennial Campus.  JH also gave a brief description of the proposed amphitheater on the Spring Hill Precinct, one that has the best view in the city of the skyline of downtown Raleigh.  Will Hooker pointed out the need to set aside a park-like setting on the old Kendall Circle rather than allow the University to put up low-density student housing there.

Jamie Ramsey then went back to the beginning of this effort, saying that the original idea for a citizen advocacy group came from Bill Holman and Stephanie Bass. 

The discussion led into the value of this land and several suggested that it would be extremely difficult in these tough economic times to convince the State not to cave in to the pressure of gaining tens of millions of dollars in land sales from the property.  Will made the point that it is serendipitous that Paul Hawken, noted author and sustainability advocate, recently spoke in town and made the push for all institutions and people to put a value on "natural capital," i.e., the value of our natural ecosystems, and that we should be more outspoken in pushing for this viewpoint on all levels.  The talk was that Carmen Hooker Buell wanted to sell the and that it might be difficult to change her mind.  Then someone mentioned that the Council of State might want the property to remain with the State.

In the same vein, Eric reported that the bill that he sheparded through the State Senate would have required a master plan prior to any sale of the land, and a public hearing prior to approval of the master plan.  He stated that the public hearing was cut from the bill and that the bill was in negotiation with the State House, because their bill did not require a master plan prior the sale of the land.  Eric's ability to work on this is up in the air, because he is in a close race to retain his Senate seat.

In attempting to formulate a positive strategy for proceeding, Benson suggested that we take incremental steps to acquire this land .  He suggested that we start by talking with the Council of State.  Janet asked for a description of precisely how the system of land transfer at the State level worked.  Eric explained that, 1^st, a proposal had to be put to the State Property Office (SPO), which is run by Joe Henderson.  (All who knew Joe Henderson agreed that he would be a knowledgeable and effective ally.  2^nd, Eric continued, the proposal would go to the Government Operations Committee (GovOps), which is composed of members from the House and Senate.  If approved there, the proposal would go, 3^rd, to the Council of State, which would have final approval of the dispersal of the property.

Jamie suggested involving DEHNR; Benson wants to involve the Triangle J and a Wake County delegation.  Someone suggested working with the Livable Streets commission.  Janet made the point that money would become an issue and that if we wanted to head off that as a leverage for selling the land for development, that we needed to come up with solid examples of how significant open space in large cities had in fact increased the tax value of the surrounding land.  Along this line, Janet suggested involving the Chamber of Commerce.  Eric suggested that the adjacent neighborhood of Fuller Heights would reap the benefits of significant open space right across the street, and that we should contact them so they can get organized to take advantage of this opportunity.   Benson pointed out that the State spends 13 million dollars a year renting office space in Raleigh and that having its own office space on a property nearby, as opposed to selling it, is in everyone's best interest.

Jamie summarized the action items by saying that we need to set up a meeting with Joe Henderson, of SPO, to present a proposal for the preservation of the open space on the Dix Campus property.  It was suggested that Benson Kirkman be the lead in setting up this meeting, with Joseph Huberman and Will Hooker, from DixCP attending, along with perhaps Janet Cowell, Neal Hunt, and Jamie Ramsey.  Eric Reeves said that he would brief Joe Henderson on this meeting once the tentative phases of the proposal and timing are worked out. 

The meeting was adjourned at around 1:30.  It was felt by all that it was a very positive and productive meeting.