Commissioners approved a $3.73 million deal Nov. 9 to protect 77 wooded acres on Southview Road. Raleigh pays $2 million and the county $510,000.

Durham County commissioners on Monday, Nov. 9, approved a deal to protect 77 acres of woods and streams on Southview Road in east Durham County. The land will be kept from development for good.

Updated Nov. 12: the board approved the deal unanimously as part of its consent agenda on Nov. 9, the county’s meeting highlights said. Earlier versions of this story were written before the vote.

The project costs $3.73 million. The county’s share is $510,000, or 14%. The City of Raleigh’s watershed program is paying $2 million because the land drains into Falls Lake, which supplies Raleigh’s drinking water. That is according to the county’s agenda action form for the Nov. 9 meeting.

The item was on the consent agenda, which commissioners approved together in one vote.

What the deal does

The Board of County Commissioners first approved the project in February 2026. The Nov. 9 vote approved a revised plan:

  • The county buys 15 acres outright.
  • Triangle Land Conservancy, a nonprofit land trust, buys the other 62 acres.
  • Each side puts a conservation easement on the other’s land. An easement is a permanent legal bar on development that stays with the property when it is sold.

The plan changed because state money was slow. Delays in processing at the N.C. Land and Water Fund led the conservancy to find other money, the county said in its Nov. 9 meeting agenda. Raleigh’s Watershed Protection Program set aside $1.44 million in spring 2025 and has since raised that to $2 million. With that, the state grant is no longer needed. Raleigh requires a third party to hold an easement, which is why the county and the conservancy each hold one.

The county expects the purchase and protection to be done before the end of the year.

Who pays

The 77 acres appraised at $3,662,000, or $47,558 an acre. Survey, due diligence and closing costs bring the total to $3,730,000.

Funding partner Amount Share
Raleigh Watershed Protection Program $2,000,000 54%
Landowner donation $950,000 25%
Durham County Open Space $510,000 14%
Sound Rivers settlement $270,000 7%
Total $3,730,000 100%

The landowner donation means the seller is giving up part of the land’s appraised value. The county’s form lists the Sound Rivers money as a settlement and gives no more detail. County money covers survey costs and $480,000 of the purchase price. No grant money passes through the county, the form says.

Horizontal bar chart of funding for the $3.73 million Southview Road land deal: Raleigh Watershed Protection Program $2,000,000, landowner donation $950,000, Durham County Open Space $510,000 and Sound Rivers settlement $270,000.
Funding for the 77-acre Southview Road project, from the county's agenda action form. Chart by Bull City Now
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Why this land

The county’s form says the 77 acres hold about 3,700 feet of streams and 7,400 feet of streamside buffer. They flow into Lick Creek and Falls Lake. Raleigh is about 21 miles southeast of downtown Durham.

Keeping the land wooded would stop about 28 pounds of nitrogen and 12 pounds of phosphorus a year from reaching Falls Lake, the county estimates.

The new land joins existing preserves on both sides of the road:

  • Durham County owns 103 acres at 7099 Wake Forest Highway. In 2014 the county, the Trust for Public Land and the City of Durham bought 134 acres along Southview Road together.
  • Triangle Land Conservancy owns 83 acres on the east side of Southview Road.

With the 77 acres, protected land along Southview Road grows to 263 acres. The county says that creates one wildlife corridor in a fast-growing part of the county.

Aerial map of Southview Road showing the 15-acre county parcel outlined in green over a creek floodplain, the 62-acre conservancy parcel outlined in orange west of the road, and existing county, conservancy and City of Durham land nearby.
The 15-acre county parcel (green outline) and the 62-acre conservancy parcel (orange outline), with land already protected. Map: Durham County, from the Nov. 9 agenda packet

Will there be trails?

Not yet. The land will be managed for conservation first, the county said. It could open to the public later. The county’s form says the county and conservancy land together “could offer hiking trails connecting to the Mountains-to-Sea Trail,” the walking route that crosses North Carolina.

The county has protected 4,330 acres since its Open Space Program began in the early 1990s. That is 1,450 acres it owns and 2,881 under conservation easements. Its comprehensive plan aims to put 30% of the county’s land in permanent conservation by 2050.

What it means for you

  • No new park yet. This protects the land; it does not open it. Watch for any future trail plans from the county or the conservancy.
  • Watch the meeting: the Nov. 9 session is on the county’s YouTube channel, linked from the meeting highlights.
  • Your money: the county’s $510,000 comes from its Open Space budget and was set aside when commissioners first approved the project in February.

For places you can walk now, see our Durham parks and trails guide.