Updates as information becomes available – and you are always welcome to send comments or questions to president@northgateparknc.org
If you haven’t already, please do join the Northgate Park Neighborhood Association, your support is essential in all we do.
Durham Parks & Rec information here
NC Department of Environmental Quality information here
NC Pre-Regulatory Landfills Map here
LATEST UPDATES
February 6 2026 –
- Memo DPR provided to the City Manager’s Office summarizing their work with NCDEQ as well as providing context and rationale for budget requests to date
- City Manager Ferguson’s message to City Council regarding this memo
February 4 2026–
- Meetings with members of the city council are ongoing to encourage inclusion of additional funds for the remediation in the parks to be included in the budget
- The Pre-Regulatory Landfill Community Working Group (City/Community/DEQ) met on January 27th, the agenda included:
- NCDEQ overview on Landfill Gas Assessment, Groundwater Assessment, Surface Water and Sediment Sampling for each park over 2025
- Review of Soil Shops
- Review and feedback of City’s engagement plan
Recording of the meeting, meeting notes, and the latest Department of Environmental Quality updates are included below
January 2026 – Response from Durham Parks & Rec to NPNA Letter
December 2025 – Letter from NPNA to Durham Parks & Rec Directors
The Northgate Park Neighborhood Association, a part of Durham’s Contaminated Parks Advocacy Network, respectfully submits several requests for you to consider as you prepare your 2026-27 City of Durham budget requests.
1> Alternative Recreation
Neighbors living near the contaminated parks need alternative recreation while the parks are closed. As you know best, parks provide a space for positive recreation, giving young people a place to go. Leadership from the Department of Parks and Recreation offered the creation of alternative, nearby recreation sites as a viable option while parks remain contaminated. If it is necessary to do this in stages, it is important that the City begins with the parks that are most contaminated. The money is in hand, the need is there, and we are years away from parks fully reopening. We need to see action on this front, and it dovetails with the 15-minute city that City Council advocates for.
2> Community Engagement Meeting Series
Following the final testing results expected from the Department of Environmental Quality in the winter of 2025, we understand that DPR has plans to share DEQ’s final results with the public in Spring 2026. In addition, we urge you to host a series of in-person community meetings to review a full range of remediation alternatives and to make concrete plans with the guidance of community members for alternative recreation.
We also believe a meaningful discussion is necessary with the City Council members regarding Duke’s actions/attitudes toward our parks and communities to develop a more equitable approach going forward—our parks are a treasured part of our communities and not simply a convenient resource to be colonized and exploited for personal and/or institutional advantage. Parks are a ‘commons’, they are a shared resource, and going forward we’d like to see a shared governance agreement, or the like, for our city parks/resources that would guide community engagement/agreement when research is proposed by a research institution anywhere within the City’s jurisdiction.
3> Bond in Next Budget Cycle
We need a much, much greater investment towards remediation, as the full extent of contamination is greater than originally estimated. We urge you to make an ambitious budget request for the CIP for the 2025-26 budget and begin planning for a bond for the 2026-7 budget cycle, based on the updated DEQ costing and community input about acceptability of remediation options.
While the 2022 DEQ remediation costing came in at $11 million, DEQ acknowledged in May 2025 that this falls far short of what will be needed based on contamination test results that have emerged since 2022. We believe that at least some of the parks will require more intensive, long-term solutions beyond what cap and cover can provide and urge a range of available options to be fully costed by DEQ and publicly deliberated.
4> Addition of 1 Full-Time Position to Steward Parks Remediation
Please consider the creation of a new, full-time position to coordinate the remediation process. The role could:
- > Serve as a liaison between DEQ, public health, impacted communities, and the Durham public
- > Provide expertise—public health, environmental science, or related technical background—to complement the existing expertise of DPR.
- > Build a case for a bond proposal request and seek out additional funding sources to bolster existing funds.
5> Additional Concerns
Our group would like to meet to discuss additional topics as well, including:
- > How contaminated soil is managed: how can we ensure it is managed transparently and to the highest ethical standard? The case of Warren County looms large in our minds.
- > Plans for DEQ’s updated remediation cost analysis: include pricing for at least three different remediation options. For option(s) that leave contamination in place, include costs for the maintenance of that land for 100 years. Also include the cost of soil incineration so stakeholders can deliberate the best course of action with knowledge of the full cost of all options.
- > Re-engagement of the stakeholder working group to have a standing monthly meeting, with alternating meetings in person beginning in early 2026.
We welcome the opportunity to discuss this further.
Respectfully submitted,
Northgate Park Neighborhood Association
October 30 2025 –
Northgate Park Neighborhood Soil & Blood Testing Event, Wednesday, November 19th, 5-7 PM at Club Blvd Elementary
There will be a number of resources at the event. Here’s what you can expect:
- XRF Soil Testing for lead, arsenic, and other contaminants
- Blood lead testing will be available
- Information about health risks and ways to reduce exposure during play and gardening
- Legal considerations for tenants and homeowners who participate in soil testing
- Interpretation of soil screening results
- History of park contamination and testing results to date
- The city’s next steps and possibilities for remediation
- Dinner! And activities for kids!
June 6 2025 –
May 12 2025 –
WRAL Story – Durham parks remain closed due to lead, with no end in sight and a huge price tag looming
April 15 2025-
Contaminated Properties – Issues & Liabilities
Pre-Regulatory Landfill Program
Bingham Park , Greensboro – Remediation Project
DEQ Communications to Private Property Owners – Sample Documents
March 28 2025 –
March 7 2025 –
January 27 2025 –
November 15 2024 –
- Initial waste delineation work should wrap up by the middle of next week.
- Lyon Park – Monday to Tuesday
- Finish East End next week
- Next step (likely early December): trenching and clearing at East Durham, Lyon Park, Northgate, and Walltown Parks to confirm the delineated waste boundaries
- The clearing and trenching is being done to confirm the edge of that waste boundary. Most of these areas are well away from the places that people frequent at the parks. Northgate and East End Park may be in more noticeable open field areas, FYI.
- The clearing involves a small piece of equipment the size of a bobcat and the trenching is also done by a small mini excavator, so it doesn’t take up a lot of space.
- Trenches will be backfilled and sod put down immediately to cover the investigation areas
- As we move into the holidays they don’t think they’ll have too many more field events
Here is the adjusted schedule for the rest of the delineation drilling and the proposed number of drilling days at each park
- East Durham Park – Drilling Completed.
- Northgate Park – Drilling Completed on 11/7.
- East End Park – Drilling Completed on 11/12. We will need to go back to conduct additional drilling on the paint shop property (need additional access). This work should only take 1 day to complete. The plan is to complete Lyon Park and circle back to East End on 11/20.
- Walltown Park – Drilling will be completed today (11/15).
- Lyon Park – 2 days (11/18 and 11/19).
November 1 2024 –
Playgrounds at Pre-Regulatory Landfill Parks
- Playground soil testing by contractor S&ME is nearing completion.
- Clean fill soil has been approved for import to the playgrounds to repair the areas tested.
- Repairs by S&ME’s subcontractor will only take a few days to complete.
- S&ME sampling data will be sent to NCDEQ for review in the next few days.
- Once data has been reviewed by the State’s toxicologist, a report for NCDEQ will be finalized.
Additional Waste Delineation Drilling
- Waste delineation borings determine the vertical extent of waste, or how deep waste goes.
- Waste delineation has been finished at East Durham Park.
- Drillers have been scheduled to complete waste delineation borings at the four remaining parks:
- Northgate Park – November 4 through November 11
- East End Park – November 12 through November 8
- Walltown Park – November 19 through November 22
- Lyon Park – November 25 through November 26
- This schedule may vary slightly as more or less waste is encountered at each park.
October 17 2024 – NPNA community forum on lead testing, remediation, and Northgate Park with invited representatives from Durham Parks and Recreation and NC Dept of Environmental Quality. (Thanks to Keystone Church for providing both the venue and the video recording and Will Garde for facilitating the meeting)
October 17 2024 – Commentary by Scott Washington
October 4 2024 – soil testing of the playground at Northgate Park has been completed, however, the heavy rains impacted the contractor’s ability to fully repair the site. It’ll be another 1-2 weeks before they can bring clean soil in to repair the site.
September 14 2024 – through September 20, NCDEQ is out at Northgate Park removing mulch, gravel, and liners from underneath the three playgrounds in order to test the soils underneath for lead or other contaminants. They are not removing play equipment and the playgrounds are not being relocated. Once the materials are removed, soil is tested, and results are back, they will work with the community on a plan for re-opening the playgrounds safely.
August 2024 –
More information on the DPR website here