Duke University has rejected an offer from GoTriangle to enter into mediation over the next four to six weeks to work out remaining differences regarding the Durham – Orange Light Rail transit project.

“Having concluded that your proposed DOLRT route down Erwin Road is simply not workable, we do not see any value in entering into mediation,” Duke officials wrote in a letter to the regional transit authority on Thursday.

GoTriangle had written to Duke on Monday asking for mediation after Duke said last week it would not sign a cooperative agreement regarding the light rail line.

GoTriangle General Manager Jeff Mann and chair of the organization’s Board of Trustees Ellen Reckhow told Price in Monday’s letter that Duke not signing the cooperative agreement “creates significant challenges for the Light-Rail Project, effectively nullifying two decades of work.”

Duke’s response on Thursday reiterated the university’s concerns about the light rail alignment on Erwin Road, near the Duke Hospital campus.

“Unfortunately, Duke’s concerns and requests for consideration of alternate routes – which have been stated in almost identical form since 1999 – were ignored, minimized, or redirected, leading to President Price’s November 19, 2018 letter, which indicated that Duke would not be able to make a donation of land and rights of way to the DOLRT project,” Duke wrote Thursday.

University officials went on to reiterate concerns over Electromagnetic Interference, or EMI, vibration, utilities and indemnification.

Duke leaders said they had entered the non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with GoTriangle in December 2016 “in good faith.”

“However, the results of additional analysis and information that we have now received confirms that the DOLRT route along Erwin Road poses significant and unacceptable risks to the safety of the nearly 1.5 million patients who receive care at Duke Hospital and Clinics each year, and the future viability of health care and research at Duke.”

Duke officials went on to call for unity as there has been backlash from some community members and elected officials questioning Duke’s commitment to the community.

“Now is the time for those of us who have been entrusted with positions of leadership to lead, to seek common ground, to unite and not divide, and to activate the energy and spirit and creativity of a community in which we have all invested so much, for so long.”

GoTriangle officials said Thursday that the organization’s Board of Trustees will “consider and discuss this new information” at its work session next Tuesday.

At least one Durham City Council member has suggested the land be taken from Duke University through eminent domain.

You can read the full letter from Duke to GoTriangle here.

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