By Steve Unruhe
With the Durham school board’s final vote on August 22 to move the Durham School of the Arts to a new location on Duke Homestead Road, neighbors and the community are asking “What is next for the current DSA campus?”
Construction of the new DSA campus is scheduled for completion for the fall of 2026, giving the school board and community several years to explore opportunities to make use of the site. Since the driving force for building a new DSA was the potential cost of renovation of the existing buildings, it is clear that any future use of the site will require a major investment.
Millicent Rogers, chair of the DPS school board, said that a 10-year comprehensive capital assessment for the system is due for completion in January. That plan will set an overall context for DPS planning. “We anticipate a robust community engagement process” as DPS moves from the assessment to setting a plan in place for the district.
In an effort to encourage the school board to involve the neighborhood and community in the process of developing alternative uses of the site, TPNA President Mollie Flowe and Urban Planning Co-chair Steve Unruhe wrote the following letter in early November:
Board chair Rogers
Superintendent Lewis
Board members,
We write on behalf of the Trinity Park Neighborhood Association. With our proximity to the current Durham School of the Arts campus, we are deeply interested in how Durham Public Schools plans to make use of the current site.
Could you please inform us of any plans already in place for the future of the DSA site?
And could you please inform us of the process that DPS will use to make decisions about the future use of the site?
We would suggest that DPS consider the creation of a citizen advisory body to help develop options for the use of the site. The downtown location offers a unique opportunity to serve DPS, the broader community, and the neighborhood. We would very much like to be engaged in this process in support of the efforts of DPS.
Thanks for your consideration. We look forward to sharing your plans with our neighbors in Trinity Park and other surrounding neighborhoods.
Yours,
Mollie Flowe
President, Trinity Park Neighborhood Association
Steve Unruhe
Co-Chair, TPNA Urban Planning Committee
