TOD discusses how Davidson Pointe water will spur development

It has been a while since aShortChronicle posted anything.  Covid-life has just not allowed for it.  However, something just floated over the transom regarding a former storyline covered here that may interest readers.

Way back in 2017, before the earthquake that hit Davidson Town Hall, there was contentious rezoning effort for land off of NC115 and Bridges Farm Road just over over Iredell County line.

Check here, here, and here for the backstory on all that.  It culminated with this embarrassing moment at Mooresville Town Hall when the Mooresville Board couldn't vote for it after it became clear what was going on behind the scenes.

Well, development along this corridor is likely to become a hot topic again as Covid winds down, but this time the conversation involves actions at Davidson Town Hall.  It has to do with extending Charlotte Water service to the Davidson Pointe neighborhood which is not contiguous with Davidson in Mecklenburg but still part of the Town.  The discussions of extending water to the neighborhood were put on hold last year just before the pandemic but is now back on the agenda.

In this year-old Lake Norman Citizen piece it's made clear this extension has nothing to do with development.

"At the meeting, Justice said when the Davidson Pointe neighborhood was approved, the water service extension was not available and a community well system was installed as a temporary measure until Charlotte Water was ready to extend services.

And Mayor Rusty Knox emphasized, multiple times, the extension has “zero to do with development” but is designed to provide permanent water service – and subsequently more reliable fire protection services – in Davidson Pointe."

Fire service improvements have largely to do with water pressure.  At the February 23rd Davidson Board meeting it was noted by Fire Chief, Ryan Monteith, that with the water service extension water pressure would be about 1000 gal/min versus the 700 gal/min the fire department can achieve by supplementing the Davidson Pointe well system with DFD equipment when on site.  Per discussion at that meeting it was noted that Davidson  Pointe is the only neighborhood in town that needs such supplemental support in the event of a fire.  It was also made clear that extending water service has been in the plan since this neighborhood was approved in the late 1990s.

However, a year after discussions were paused and after the February 23rd Board meeting at Davidson Town Hall, those statements by Davidson officials that this isn't about development no longer seem to be entirely accurate.

Town Manager Justice explained that extending the line opened up other "opportunities to serve" for future development and that Davidson has been in discussions about a "boundary agreement" with Mooresville that would eventually redefine the border between the two towns mentioning that the area south of Bridges Farm Road could eventually become part of Davidson proper once development occurs calling the division as defining "Future Mooresville" and "Future Davidson".  Justice also stated that this discussion wouldn't be complete until later this year.  The proposed water line going to Davidson Pointe would be on the Davidson side of this line.

There was some discussion initiated by a question from Commissioner Fort to the Charlotte Water representatives asking if Davidson's policy on approving water sewer extensions would apply to future development along this line.  The response was less than reassuring  "There is not an answer to that question. It depends" was the response from Charlotte Water's David Czerr.  However, Czerr did go on to explain that the largest 80 acre parcel on the Future Davidson side would almost certainly require an extension which would need approval from Davidson under the Town water and sewer extension policy.  Mayor Rusty Knox also asked about the possibility this new line could facilitate development north of Bridges Farm Road in the Future Mooresville area.  The answer here was "I'm not going to say it can't, but it can't go far".  This is due to engineering and capacity issues.  It was also stated that if there was any development north of Bridges Farm Road off of this line it would need to come before Davidson as an extension approval.  Manager Justice then pointed out that this was part of the boundary discussions with Mooresville.

At the end of this discussion, Commissioner Sitton gave a vigorous response saying that bringing up all these development issues at the "eleventh hour" after saying all along that this was only about fire service felt less than transparent and looks "deceptive" and "sneaky".  Commissioners Fort and Campbell responded that the input from the neighborhood had been received and that they felt comfortable with the process.

The Board is set to vote on this approval this Tuesday, March 9th.

After watching this discussion, recognizing the impacts the virtual setup Covid has required, and recognizing (now) that new development will be in the cards with this water extension it seems a couple things should happen prior to any vote to ensure no future surprises.

The prudent thing would seem to be to make sure (at least) this pending boundary agreement with Mooresville is fully worked out and the Town officially and fully understands from Charlotte Water the possible development impacts of this extension.

But...prudent doesn't always happen.