Creek Revitalization Project Update
About a year ago, our friend and community leader Ajax Woolley was working as a staff member at Durham Community Land Trustees (DCLT) in a role that strategically helped facilitate communication, advocacy, and relationship-building between DCLT and Grant Street Community during the season when DCLT was serving as a fiscal sponsor partner connected to neighborhood work happening on Grant Street. Ajax has since transitioned out of that role, but during his time there he played an important part in helping move conversations and ideas forward around community-based projects in our neighborhood.
One of Ajax’s original ideas was to help revitalize the branch and creek area that sits behind the homes of the Grant Street Ladies — a space many of them remember playing in as children. What began as a conversation around restoring and caring for this neglected natural area eventually grew into a larger environmental and community revitalization effort.
As the project continued to develop, Meixin Wang helped carry the work forward during her time serving with Durham Community Land Trustees as an AmeriCorps VISTA Urban Conservation & Community Fellow from May 2024 through April 2025. During her time in the role, Meixin helped lead and coordinate efforts between residents, landowners, municipal partners, consultants, and community organizations connected to creek restoration and green space expansion efforts in Hayti.
Her work included facilitating community meetings centered around building a community-driven vision for restoring the creek and surrounding green spaces, contributing urban forestry expertise to neighborhood and affordable housing projects, conducting research and GIS mapping related to conservation and housing, helping apply for grants through impact measurement and narrative writing, developing outreach and educational materials, and helping revive and manage community garden efforts alongside volunteer workdays.
Her role helped bridge technical environmental work, community engagement, and neighborhood visioning efforts connected to the broader revitalization conversations happening on Grant Street.
Over the past year, DCLT partnered with Axiom Environmental to conduct environmental assessments and research connected to the creek and surrounding landscape. On April 28th, neighbors and community members were invited to attend a community gathering and open house scheduled for May 7th where Axiom Environmental presented their findings and shared early proposals for possible improvements to the stream and surrounding community space.
The purpose of this work has included studying:
what is currently in the creek,
what invasive species are present,
what plant life exists or could potentially thrive there,
what environmental concerns need attention,
and what possibilities may exist for a future creek and community space revitalization project.
A digital copy of the presentation will be provided as soon as we have it!
One of the important findings Ajax helped bring attention to through these community conversations is the way the creek currently funnels into a pipe near where the new Villages of Hayti development is taking place today. Community members and environmental researchers shared that this rerouting of the natural creek system traces back to the Urban Renewal era and the construction of Highway 147 in the 1970s, when much of the neighborhood’s natural and built environment was dramatically altered.
During conversations with Axiom Environmental, it was named that building over a natural creek system in this way would not be legally permitted today and represents a significant environmental justice issue connected to the history of disinvestment and urban renewal in historically Black neighborhoods like Hayti. Both Ajax and environmental researchers emphasized the importance of restoring the creek to flow more naturally, rather than forcing it through underground piping systems created during that era of development.
As a community, neighbors expressed a desire not only for environmental restoration, but for the creek itself to once again become a living and visible part of the neighborhood landscape. Axiom representatives also shared that, ideally, they would love to see the creek restored to a more natural flow pattern similar to how it functioned before urban renewal reshaped the area.
Importantly, this creek restoration project also connects directly to two other major neighborhood initiatives currently being organized by residents and community partners. The creek flows through the property of our partner and meeting space, Monument of Faith Church, where neighbors are currently working toward creating a community garden and gathering space. The creek also flows directly toward Grant Street Park North, another area neighbors are actively organizing to revitalize and improve.
Because these projects are physically and environmentally connected, many neighbors believe future investments and resources connected to creek restoration should also support the broader neighborhood vision surrounding the community garden and park revitalization efforts as well. At the center of all of this is a shared desire for these projects to remain community-rooted and community-led — shaped by the voices, memories, hopes, and participation of both the longtime residents who have cared for this neighborhood for generations and the newer neighbors who are now becoming part of the community’s ongoing story.
From our understanding, the City of Durham has already committed approximately $400,000 toward the stream-enhancement portion of the broader $11 million waterline restoration project awarded to Moffat Pipe. This investment is in large part the result of years of leadership, advocacy, and persistence from neighborhood residents and community leaders who have continued to push for long-overdue attention and resources in this part of the neighborhood. At the same time, many questions still remain regarding the overall scope, timeline, and total cost of the broader revitalization efforts connected to the project. More to come as we learn additional information.
— The Grant Street Community
