We Want Smaller Builders
VERBATIM | Council Member Javiera Caballero backs a small, local builder and emphasizes the importance entrepreneurship and economic prosperity at all levels.
VERBATIM is a series that republishes the words of local leaders supporting better cities.
On June 16, 2025, Durham City Council heard a case to rezone a small property for an equally small townhouse development. It was by a local builder who was going through his first rezoning and cleared the planning commission unanimously. One Council Member asked several questions about the lack of additional proffers despite the small size of the project. Council Member Caballero’s response is published in full.
I appreciate the proffer, and I just want to remind my colleagues—A, proffers are voluntary. B, there have been—trying to think—we’ve had a few cases where we’ve had 50 to 80 units that have offered larger amounts to our Affordable Housing Fund. I honestly can’t think of one that was under 20 units.
If we’re going to say we want smaller builders that are doing infill projects, those people don’t have the funds. They just don’t. It’s a huge risk for a first-time person to probably put maybe money that they’ve saved in retirement or something into doing something like this, and we have to create an ecosystem, because the other option is that it’s the large Pulte Homes.
So, the Pulte Homes can offer a lot—they have a lot of money, they have a national reach, they have a lot more experience with the entitlement process. I appreciate the applicant sharing that he’s only done by-right development, which is a completely different process than coming before Council to do a rezoning.
And so we, as Council members, have to offer grace when we have these opportunities—when we have somebody, well, maybe not in Durham, but they’re 20 minutes down the road in Cary, wanting to do small infill projects.
These are… we need to encourage entrepreneurship at all levels if we’re going to do the commitment of shared economic prosperity. That means lots of different kinds of people risking probably a lot of savings and doing this kind of work. And that means that we’re going to have to offer a little bit of grace and a little bit of forgiveness if they didn’t vet it just so—if it’s their first time approaching us—and they may not have the means to do it.
That does not mean they are bad people. That does not mean we should be surly with them. We should not be turning our noses up. Thank you.
