11.7.07
Treyburn Middle School Moving Forward

When Durham voters approved bonds totaling $194.2 million for schools on November 6, that was the start of a process that will result in a new 850-student middle school adjacent to Treyburn. The bond funds included $31.3 million for the new school. Design is set to begin as quickly as possible. The school is expected to open for the 2011-12 school year.

3.1.07
Voyager Academy Charter Middle School Begins

A teacher job fair will be held March 17^th and the lottery for student body will be held March 31, 2007. For information about these events and Voyager Academy, please visit www. voyageracademy.org .

2.10.07
Bryan Properties Named North Carolina’s Business Conservationist of the Year

On Feb. 10, 2007, the N.C. Wildlife Federation named Bryan Properties the Governor’s Award Business Conservationist of the Year. This awards program highlights individuals and organizations that have exemplified conservation activism across the state.

The award recognized Bryan Properties’ donation of more than 1,000 acres of land in the Treyburn area to the Triangle Land Conservancy. The land donated lies in the Upper Neuse River Basin. By placing these lands under permanent protection, Bryan Properties and TLC are helping to keep water safe and clean for the 500,000 people who drink out of this basin every day.

10.31.06
Bryan Properties and Triangle Land Conservancy complete land deals for school, park and open space near Treyburn

On Halloween Day 2006, Bryan Properties announced the completion of a series of land donations that will provide 32 acres for a new middle school and 114 acres for a new active recreation park just off Snow Hill Road, south of the Little River Reservoir, as well as conserve 240 more nearby acres with donations to the region’s land trust, Triangle Land Conservancy.

Speaking at the ceremony, in addition to D.R. Bryan, president of Bryan Properties, were Ellen Reckhow, chair of the Durham County Commissioners, Cora-Cole McFadden, Durham’s mayor pro tem, and Dr. Carl Harris, superintendent of Durham Public Schools.

“We believe that schools and parks are very important to neighborhoods,” Bryan said. “They make a neighborhood more cohesive and more walkable. We are pleased to play a role in bringing a much needed middle school to northern Durham, and we applaud the concept of a school-park master plan as a way to service the community in a cost-effective way.”

The new middle school will help ease overcrowding experienced over the last several years in Durham’s northern middle schools. The Durham County Commissioners will be discussing capital funding for new schools in their capital budget work session March 5.

Public parks are also needed in northern Durham. “The city currently has no park north of the area adjacent to the Eno River,” said Beth Timson, Assistant Director for Durham Parks and Recreation. “This site that Bryan Properties donated is a beautiful location for a northern facility. We plan to be working with Durham Public schools in the future to develop the site jointly with our park and a new school.”

7.21.05
Bryan Properties makes major conservation donation in Treyburn

Horton Grove donation the largest ever to Triangle Land Conservancy

In the shadow of what was in its day the largest plantation in the state, Bryan Properties, Inc., on June 17 donated 355 acres of northern Durham County woodlands to Triangle Land Conservancy.

This is the second phase of a three-part donation. Combined with a 239-acre donation in December 2004, the Horton Grove Preserve now totals 594 acres. An additional donation of 76 acres in January 2006 will complete the 670-acre conservation project that protects water quality in Falls Lake, enhances a protected natural area and preserves an important wildlife corridor.

The Horton Grove Preserve represents the largest land donation made to Triangle Land Conservancy (TLC) in the organization’s 22 year history. It is the second largest property owned by the land trust that serves Durham, Orange, Wake, Chatham, Lee and Johnston counties.

“By conserving the Horton Grove land, TLC takes a small step toward protecting the water quality of Falls Lake,” said TLC executive director Kevin Brice. “Thousands of people in our region rely on Falls Lake for clean drinking water, and protecting the quality of that water through land conservation is a high priority for Triangle Land Conservancy.”

“We are delighted to be a part of this significant preservation of streams and woodlands,” said D.R. Bryan, president of Bryan Properties. “We believe it will bring important environmental benefits to Treyburn and northern Durham, and to water quality for our region.”

Bryan, his partners John Coley and Jim Earnhardt, and six other investor partners participated in the donation. Bryan Properties began working in north Durham in April of 2003 when it purchased 2,000 acres in the Treyburn area. Horton Grove was part of this purchase.

The donated land lies adjacent to the Falls Lake buffer on the lower Flat River. More than five miles of small streams feed into the lower Flat and from there into Falls Lake. The land also includes a large portion of the Lake Michie Slopes natural heritage site, a large hardwood forest tract that provides homes for many species, including wild turkey, pileated woodpecker and falcate orangetip butterfly, that require the deep forest that is disappearing so rapidly in our region.

In addition to protecting water quality in Falls Lake, the project enhances the protection of the Lake Michie Slopes natural heritage site and builds on a wildlife corridor connecting protected lands along the Flat River, Lake Michie, Falls Lake and the Little River Reservoir.

TLC will develop a management plan for Horton Grove Preserve over the next year. Because there is no developed trail system on the property, public access will be limited to TLC-guided outings until the management plan is in place. An outing will be scheduled for Fall 2005 (tba).

12.31.04
New school, park key to swap By Ginny Skalski, The Herald-Sun

12.23.04
Durham plans unique land swap By Margie Fishman, The News and Observer

New Middle School, City Park and Nature Preserve Being Planned for Treyburn.

A new middle school, a city park and a nature preserve will be part of Treyburn’s future, thanks to a cooperative effort among Durham Public Schools, the City of Durham, Triangle Land Conservancy and Bryan Properties. A December 23, 2004 story in The News and Observer, “Durham Plans Unique Land Swap,” described the arrangement that involves donation, a land swap and a partnership among public agencies.

Bryan Properties is donating 244 acres near the intersection of Snow Hill Road and Snow Hill Drive to the Triangle Land Conservancy. Around 138 of these acres will be maintained by TLC as a nature preserve, open to the public. The remaining 105 acres will be given to the City of Durham sometime this spring, to be developed as a city park with as many as eight athletic fields.

In exchange, the city will give TLC 58 acres of city-owned land that hugs the Little River and is bisected by the historic Indian Trading Path.

City parks planner Beth Timson explained the situation this way to The News and Observer: “The land TLC has is far more valuable for us, and the land we have is much more valuable to them.”

Environmentalists agree. Artifacts that date back 5,000 years, such as pottery and spear points, have been found in the immediate area of the land near the Little River, said Jeff Masten, TLC’s director of conservation strategies. Durham County lists this land as a natural heritage site for its ecological distinctiveness. It will create a protected corridor between Falls Lake buffer lands and Little River Reservoir buffer lands.

A December 31, 2004 story in The Durham Herald elaborated on the advantages of creating a school-park shared use project.

The 31-acre middle school site is just off Snow Hill Road and will be flanked on both the east and west by city property. School and city officials will work together to plan a school-park complex. The two facilities will be able to share parking, trails, playing fields and infrastructure costs.

“We need the school’s parking and they need our green space,” Timson told The Herald. “It’s an efficient use of public space. You get more bang for the buck.”

Durham schools superintendent Ann Denlinger has stated the school system’s intention to accept this donation as soon as city parks and school officials clarify how facilities will be shared on the school-park site.

D.R. Bryan, president of Bryan Properties, said that the company wanted to do its part to enhance the Treyburn area. “We are bringing high quality new homes and neighborhoods to Treyburn, and we wanted to be responsible corporate citizens and make a contribution toward the area’s public needs,” he said.

Both the securing of land and the cooperative planning are extremely encouraging. However, neither the city nor the school system has construction funds in hand. Future bond referendums will allow voters to authorize these expenditures. The Herald story reported that city is planning a bond referendum for this November.