🛑 Say NO to Rezoning Heritage Square — Durham Must Respect Hayti’s Voice and Vision 🛑 

To: Durham City Council
From: St. Mark AME Zion Church, Hayti Reborn, and Allies Across Durham

We, the undersigned, call on the Durham City Council to VOTE NO on the proposed rezoning of the Heritage Square Shopping Center. 

Our position is clear: Under no circumstances do we support the rezoning of Heritage Square.

Durham has made public commitments to invest in the future of Hayti, specifically through the Hayti Promise Fayetteville Street Corridor Project launched in May 2024.  And though we want to make it clear that the Hayti Promise CDC, which is tasked with executing on the City Council’s promise - nor any of its members - are affiliated in any way with this petition or overall effort against rezoning, we as the independent signatories of this petition desire to see the Durham city leaders who made that promise to our city residents, honor that promise to our city residents.  We are hopeful that the City Council will keep the Hayti Promise, whose very first declaration is “using community feedback to create a shared vision for the future,” when most promises in the past have been broken.  This petition represents that community feedback. 

Here's why this rezoning must be rejected:
1. Hayti deserves development that honors, not erases, its legacy.
Sterling Bay has proposed renaming the site “Carolina Research Park,” an effort that seeks to distance it from its historical and cultural roots in the Hayti community. A few historic markers won’t make up for an erasure of Black legacy.

2. Community voices have been consistently misrepresented.
Sterling Bay falsely claimed the community didn’t want affordable housing. What we actually said is: we want development that creates wealth and ownership opportunities for the people of Hayti. When asked directly about offering the community equity in the project, Sterling Bay said “no.”

3. Their so-called “community benefits” are smoke and mirrors.
A pedestrian mall and reservable meeting rooms don't build equity.
Overflow parking doesn’t address serious traffic concerns.
2,500 sq ft of discounted retail is a drop in the bucket of a million-square-foot project. Life sciences jobs are not likely to benefit current residents, and their promises of “generational wealth” ring hollow without real investment in Black ownership.

4. Rezoning allows for taller, denser buildings, which will primarily serve high-income residents and businesses rather than the Hayti community. Without safeguards, this would drive up property values and taxes, pricing out long-time residents and Black-owned businesses.

5. The community is not opposed to development — we’re opposed to displacement.
We want to see the site developed in ways that benefit Hayti — but within the current zoning parameters. We do not want buildings taller than what’s currently allowed. We want commercial space that supports local entrepreneurs. We want mixed-income housing that’s actually affordable. Most importantly, we want a shared equity stake in the development. That’s how we create a future that is just and sustainable.

Our Position:
We request Durham City Council to NOT APPROVE the rezoning of Heritage Square.

Durham cannot continue to say it values equity while ignoring the voices of Black communities fighting to preserve their homes, history, and hopes. We ask you to stand with us.

Protect Hayti. Respect the community. Vote NO to rezoning.

Sign and share to request that the Durham city council honor the will of its people.