"Options" for Catalyst Project on Tuesday Agenda in Davidson

Catalyst Project Site
Around Town Hall

At Tuesday evening's Town Board meeting in Davidson, there will be a discussion of the current options on the table.  This comes after the recent series of roundtables that attracted 275 participants.

The discussion has been buried as the last item on a very long agenda.  Intentional or not, that will make it difficult for many people to attend the entire meeting.  It is imperative that folks who are concerned about the project attend if at all possible.

The meeting starts at 6pm, but if you are there by 7pm you likely won't miss too much.  You can also follow along on the streaming broadcast here to give an idea when to head to town hall.  Being there in person for this discussion is important.

On the positive side, it appears the the town may actually be listening to citizen concerns.  None of the options on the current list include a hotel which was possibly the most controversial piece of the original plan.

However, it was also recently bought to my attention that 2 elected officials made recent statements to the latest Civics 101 class that Davidson must "grow or die".  With that kind of world view on the dais, it appears citizens still have work to do.

Plan on coming to Tuesday's meeting with your thoughts.  Doing "nothing" is still an option if the options aren't good ones.

Here' the text of the memo for the discussion. 

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There are many different program options when considering the downtown study. Listed below are 5 options that can be used for discussion when trying to determine the next steps in the study. These options are by no means final options. They should be used for discussion purposes. We would like to develop 2 options in addition to a “do nothing” option to compare the financial feasibility and trade-offs of each option taking into account public feedback.

Option 1 

• Keep current Town Hall building (Knox building), refurbish for Police and Fire 

• Add 3- story building in front of current Town Hall (new Town Hall administration building) 

• The first floor of the new building would contain a multi-purpose room (seating 250-300 people) that could be used for board meetings and as a theater for the Davidson Community Players 

• The lobby of the first floor could be used as an art gallery museum and as retail or a restaurant for the museum 

• Add street parking along Jackson Street 

• Add podium parking in the Jackson Street lots 

Option 2 

• Option 1 plus the following: 

• Add a 3-story building on the corner of Jackson and Main Street 

• The first floor would be retail 

• The second and third floors would house an existing Davidson business that wants to relocate to this site 

• Add podium parking where the current police/town hall lot is located 

Option 3 

• Tear down current Town Hall 

• Add Market Street 

• Build wrapped parking deck in the hole 

• Deck would include first floor retail and residential above (100 units) 

• Town Hall located off-site (Fire, Police, and administration)

Option 4 

• Option 3 plus the following: 

• Add 3-story building on Main Street next to Mooney’s Corner 

• The first floor would contain a multi-purpose room that could be used for board meetings and as a theater for the Davidson Community Players 

• The lobby of the first floor could be used as a gallery for an art museum and as retail or a restaurant for the museum

• The second and third stories would be office space

Option 5 

• Move Police/Fire off-site 

• Use existing Town Hall for administration 

• Develop Catalyst plan for future development(10 years +), not the right time to implement now