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Lee Romano Sequeira
Nov 2024

DURHAM’S PAPER STREETS

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Narrow strips of land that were planned for use as streets but never developed for any use are often called Paper Streets.

Although these may be dedicated for future use as streets on official municipal maps, paper streets typically have not been officially adopted as streets, and therefore are not usually maintained by local government. The ambiguous legal definition of paper streets can lead to a great deal of confusion and debate over who may have responsibility for these spaces and the properties that adjoin them.

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It has been estimated that there are over 600 paper streets spread throughout the City of Durham, amounting to over 150 acres of unused land.

This leads paper streets to become spots for frequent littering, dumping, and loitering.

The City of Durham is working on a multifaceted project addressing its City’s paper streets which it defines as those streets and roads that are designated on city maps but are undeveloped and unmaintained.

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Paper streets have ambiguous designations, and though officially publicly owned, can often become a nuisance to neighborhoods and property owners, and can be sites for frequent littering and dumping.  Durham is working to identify and inventory the paper streets that exist across the City and is collaborating with its communities in order to determine how these spaces might be reimagined.  

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One of the many benefits of this project is to reduce the maintenance burden on the Code Enforcement and Impact Teams. Another perceived benefit would be the increase of neighborhood access to green spaces, grocery stores, schools, and more.

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Some of the conclusions reached in the early stages of this project were that some paper streets are overgrown with vegetation, while others may be fully paved but suffer from illegal dumping activities. 

Also discovered was that some paper streets are residential and function as important pedestrian connections to neighborhood parks.  Others are more rural but also suffer from illegal dumping activities like this example from North Durham.

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​Part of this project involved seeing what other cities were doing about their paper streets.  Most city actions related to paper streets around the country are simply "vacations" (when the city decides to give up the land), resulting in a single or several adjoining property owners absorbing the land into their parcels. Another city action can be to abandon a paper street's intended use as a street and add the square footage to an adjacent nature preserve or parks. A more complicated city action could be to upgrade a paper street to a pedestrian trail or bike path. Though only a few examples exist, some cities have even converted paper streets into micro parks or community gardens. 

In 2023 the City of Durham partnered with North Carolina State University's College of Design to provide first-year Landscape Architecture graduate students with a conceptual design exercise for paper streets.

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​Students were challenged to create a design concept for one of 3 pre-selected urban paper streets in Durham. The sites were clustered together in the city’s downtown, allowing students to conduct field visits and imagine the scope and possibilities of their projects while standing in the space.

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South Great Jones Street was one of the three paper streets selected.

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The design for this site tied together plans for the incoming Durham Rail Trail, incorporating inspiration from the old Southern and Norfolk rail lines that ran directly across from the museum. Learning to tie together Durham’s history, the incoming Rail Trail project, and the need for an outdoor social space for the museum made this a unique and rewarding project for one of the university’s students.

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The design includes a winding pathway that incorporates a sense of rhythm, pattern, and movement, tucked among lush shade perennials. Plantings highlight biodiversity to attract local birds and insects to make their music in the space.

The conclusion of this project and its research is that paper Streets offer a unique way to better the landscape of the City of Durham and that spaces that are co-designed thoughtfully with community input can foster a sense of place and connection within neighborhoods, as well as provide an opportunity for enhanced government process transparency.

Another selected paper street was Holand Street.

The concept for the Holland Street site included a vibrant pedestrian walkway inspired by legacies of music, art, and dance and embellished with a mural wall.  The student who worked on this site was inspired by the Durham Armory, where many talented musicians performed in its heyday.

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"Close To Home" is a series of articles featuring content specific to the communities that we serve.

 

This article is brought to you by Lee Romano Sequeira, our Northeast Durham Community Volunteer.

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