Durham City Council voted 4-3 to approve a roughly 200-unit apartment and townhome development across from Oak Grove Elementary School, overriding its own planning commission and months of resident objections over traffic, flooding and strained water pressure along Wake Forest Highway, also known as N.C. 98.
The council's approval covers the annexation and rezoning of 12.2 acres at 3815 Wake Forest Highway, clearing the way for developer Accord Holdings to build a mix of apartments and townhomes on the site, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. The vote reverses course from June, when the Durham Planning Commission rejected the project's original plans on a 7-2 vote after a public hearing, according to a heydurham.com meeting summary. That same account notes the commission's staff report had found the proposal consistent with 20 of 27 applicable comprehensive plan policies before the panel voted it down.
What Changed Between Rejection and Approval
Between the commission's June rejection and the council's final vote, the numbers shifted: the News & Observer's account of the council proceedings describes a 5-5 vote by the advisory board on the project's original plans, a different vote count than the earlier 7-2 rejection described in the June hearing summary. Accord Holdings also sweetened its commitments along the way. The developer pledged to make 12% of the units townhomes, amounting to 24 units, and donated $43,000 to Durham Public Schools, per the paper's reporting.
On affordable housing, the dossier's sourcing diverges. The June hearing record describes the applicant setting aside 5% of units as affordable under Durham's Unified Development Ordinance, while the News & Observer's later account describes Accord Holdings guaranteeing 8% of total units, or 16 units, as affordable housing. Both figures appear in the public record without a clear resolution of which applies to the approved plan.
Traffic and Infrastructure Commitments
Accord Holdings restricted car access to two right-in, right-out entrances on N.C. 98 and provided an exit on Valleydale Drive, according to the News & Observer. The developer also capped impervious surfaces at 65%, down from the 70% figure discussed at the June hearing, and committed to planting 100% native tree species. A 10-foot path along the property frontage and a 5-foot sidewalk leading to an existing bus stop were also part of the package, the paper reported.
Those commitments sit atop a corridor residents and even council members describe as already strained. Residents and council members reported there is no safe crosswalk across N.C. 98, and the Mineral Springs Road intersection is heavily congested, according to the News & Observer. A 2018 highway study commissioned jointly by regional transportation planning organizations and the state Department of Transportation, cited by the paper, said traffic engineers considered NC 98 in Durham and Wake counties to be approaching or to have exceeded capacity, with a high number of crashes in Durham, many involving pedestrians or cyclists, according to the News & Observer.
Residents Describe Daily Strain
More than a dozen residents spoke in opposition to the project, compared with two who spoke in favor, the paper reported. Jacqueline Nelson Harris said her home's water pressure drops in the evening and asked how the water system would handle more growth, while also saying a half-mile grocery-store trip can take half an hour. At the June hearing, a separate resident had described a rush-hour trip to a Food Lion one mile away taking as long as an hour because of how heavily trafficked the highway already was, per heydurham.com.
Sarah Fine, who said she has two young children at Oak Grove Elementary, reported regular traffic accidents and near accidents at Wake Forest Highway and Mineral Springs Road, according to the News & Observer. Kari Wouk said the project does not provide safety for children walking and said emergency services are not always available. Eastern Durham residents more broadly raised concerns about traffic, emergency services, the sewer system and the environment, the paper reported.
A Divided Council
Council members Leo Williams, Carl Rist, Javiera Caballero and Matt Kopac voted for the project, while Chelsea Cook, Nate Baker and Shanetta Burris voted against it, according to the News & Observer. Nil Ghosh said the project was a necessary, logical and safe step for Durham's growth, describing it as dense residential infill using existing infrastructure. Andy Lowe acknowledged concerns about traffic but said growth has associated costs. Leo Williams said the city needs a tax base to pay for infrastructure and resources.
Nate Baker, who voted against the project, criticized approving high-density housing without matching transit and pedestrian infrastructure, saying the city is adding more cars to roads through car-centric densification, per the paper's account. The Wake Forest Highway project is one of several nearby: the News & Observer notes it sits near three other projects on the same road within 10 minutes of each other, including an Oak Grove Landing development for 50 townhomes the council approved in September, a 2.3-acre retail development approved in January, and a 2.6-acre annexation for 210 apartments approved in 2025. Durham has rapid growth and infrastructure-capacity concerns that extend well beyond this single site, the paper reported.
What the New Homes Might Cost
The News & Observer reported that comparable Durham one-bedroom apartments rent for $1,158 to $1,389 per month, while Durham townhomes have sold for $340,000 to $379,000. Those figures offer a rough benchmark for what the new Wake Forest Highway units could eventually command, though the paper's reporting does not specify final pricing for the approved project. Residential construction is also converging on the same stretch of road.
