Voter input on public facilities "not recommended"

Davidson is in the midst of collecting public feedback on a proposed set of public facilities including expanded town hall and more parking.

In a press release sent out Friday the town started to make its case.

As Davidson’s population has grown from 4,000 in 1990 to almost 13,000 today, we have outgrown our existing town hall. Ensuring adequate space for our police and fire departments is particularly critical. We need to invest in our public facilities in order to keep pace with our service needs. We will study the approximately 4 acres of town-owned land on which our current town hall sits.

This is not the catalyst project where we were considering private-public partnerships to solve some of our space and parking needs on this land. However, as part of the catalyst process, we heard from hundreds of citizens that recognize our lack of parking downtown and a need for space at town hall.

At their July 12, 2016 meeting, the Davidson Board of Commissioners asked town staff to move forward with planning for our public facilities and to look at parking options.

Town staff have been working with a steering committee comprised of citizen experts in the fields of planning, architecture, construction, etc. to help guide the process and select an architect. Architect Creech & Associates have many years of experience in designing effective town halls, have conducted a space needs assessment of Davidson Town Hall, and will facilitate the public workshops. This spring they will create a preliminary design based on citizen feedback and then provide us with a budget estimate. In early summer, plan options and a budget will be presented to the board of commissioners for a decision on whether to move forward with the project

There is even a survey to gather input (none of the above is not an option).

However, the Town of Davidson likely does not want your feedback on one aspect of this project - how the town will pay for it.

At Thursday's Civics 101 class Town Manager Jamie Justice was asked if the town might use General Obligation Bonds, sometimes called GO Bonds.  GO Bonds require voter approval.

aShortChronicle was interested in the response as we've been trying to get an answer to that question.  In fact, just on March 9th Public Information Officer, Christina Shaul answered that question by saying...

"If the Davidson Board of Commissioners decide to go forward with a public facilities project, once they have a better sense of the cost estimate, they will examine a variety of options to finance it. This will be a topic at multiple board meetings this spring and summer, so we encourage citizens to listen to the discussions and share their thoughts."

So, what did Town Manager, Jamie Justice, say to the Citizen at Civics 101 just a week later when asked if public facilities spending might be put up for a vote?

"Not recommended," was the answer.  While trying to explain that answer Justice asked what he seemed to think was rhetorical question.  "What if the voters say no?"

Painting what will likely be the picture for how the town will strong arm this one through, Justice tried to justify avoiding the voters by playing the public safety card.  Davidson's Police and Fire Departments do in fact need more space.  What would they do if voters turned this down???

That argument however ignores another important fact.  This public facilities study is also looking at parking and significantly expanded space for the rest of Town staff.  Those things could end up being quite expensive and are also less necessary.

Justice did at least close his answer by saying ultimately the decision to seek voter input was up to the Board.  Regardless, citizens and voters should be very wary of any plan not strong enough to face them without reservation.

You can watch this exchange starting at the 15:30 mark of this video.

Catalyst Project's consultants officially exit stage left

Davidson's Catalyst Project has been quite the show.

For two years Town Hall has spent untold hours working with the UNCSOG Development Finance Initiative consultants to spin a tale of how a Public Private Partnership could transform downtown by generating enough private sector investment to spin off extra capacity for the public sector.

The only problem?  Few in town liked that storyline.  It was too big, too gaudy, and just too much for most to stomach.

So, quietly late on Thursday afternoon that story exited stage left.  Economic Development Manager, Kim Flemming sent out this notice:

"All, 

Many of you have been involved in the process of studying the four acres of town-owned land in downtown Davidson, the Downtown Feasibility Study, over the past two years. During this process, the Davidson Board of Commissioners recognized a need to transition the focus to improving public facilities to position us to effectively serve our citizens as our community grows. They have provided direction to town staff to evaluate town facility space needs, as well as a public parking solution and public space improvements. At this time, they no longer wish to pursue opportunities for private investment on town-owned land. The UNC School of Government’s Development Finance Initiative will not be involved in the process moving forward since there is no private investment.

Staff will now begin developing plans for public facility needs to ensure we are able to serve our citizens as our population grows. A new process and timeline are being established as we close out the Downtown Feasibility Study and transition to a public facility assessment.

We appreciate the time and input you gave throughout this process. There will be opportunities for public input as we move forward with a public facilities plan. We value your opinion and hope that you will stay engaged during this process."

A little known factoid originally exposed by aShortChronicle was that DFI was being paid on commission based on how much private sector development ultimately was included in the project.  The town had always played up how inexpensive DFI was directly to the town. The town only paid about $50,000 for their services. However, DFI's real payday was going to be on the commercial development. That clearly was a motivation to increase and prioritize that as much as possible. Now that the possibility of that has gone away, so does DFI.

With the consultants out of the way, efforts can now get back to this being a local project, driven by local priorities - as it always should have been.

Catalyst Project dead? Not quite.

The “Catalyst Project” in Davidson has been nothing if not contentious.

In fact, it’s been so controversial that as the town limps forward with planning for uses on the 3.5 acres of town owned land surrounding Davidson Town Hall, there seems to be some desire to not use the  name “Catalyst” for what the town looks to do next.

After more than nine months of citizen pushback aimed at protecting the small town character of Davidson, it appears Town Hall has finally backed off from the most controversial aspects presented last October by consultants from the UNC School of Government’s Development Finance Initiative (DFI).  That proposal would have converted the downtown area into something more resembling Birkdale in Huntersville than what’s there in Davidson today.

First, the idea of a downtown hotel was jettisoned.  Then, DFI presented multiple options most of which still had large amounts of commercial and residential uses.  Now, the town appears to have dropped those as well, instead focusing on only public uses such as more space for public safety, additional parking, and a new multi-story, multi-use building in front of the existing Town Hall on Main Street.

When asked about this revised Catalyst proposal, Commissioner Beth Cashion responded with the following.

“First, your wording "revised Catalyst Project" is incorrect.  "Catalyst" would indicate some type of retail and commercial integration to the downtown.  The discussion currently is as you state in # 1 public safety, municipal building, parking and community use facility.  This is not a catalyst project.  I consider this a public facility study.  I will reiterate the word ‘study.’”

Some of the “discussion” Cashion refers to surely includes the lively and almost heated debate between Commissioners at the July 12th Board meeting following what was dubbed a “mini-retreat” the night before.  “Heated” may be too strong a word, but the discussion at that meeting was about as direct as one will see between electeds in normally genteel Davidson.

After a painful-to-watch back and forth on whether or not Commissioners should take an official vote on studying this public-only option, Commissioners split 3-2 to study DFIs option #2 without the commercial.  If that’s ever built it would come later.

Commissioners Jim Fuller and Stacey Anderson dissented.  It’s rare in Davidson to see public discord on controversial topics. But Commissioners Fuller and Anderson should be commended for their persistence in getting this decision on the record with an official vote.

The “#1” in the quote from Commissioner Cashion refers to a list of questions sent to the three Commissioners who supported the proposal.  Commissioners Cashion, Jenest and Graham were asked three questions. #1 In the event this option went forward, would they commit to putting the various pieces before voters in the form of separate bond referendum questions? #2  Would they commit to standing for reelection in 2017 if the public projects went forward? #3 Would they ensure transparency in the process for planning these projects?

Not surprisingly, none of the Commissioners would commit to standing before the voters in 2017 at this early date, but all assured the process would be transparent.  Very disappointingly however, none of them would commit to putting these projects before the voters in the form of General Obligation bonds.  That’s in spite of the fact that combined these projects would constitute by far the largest town expenditure since Mi-Connection.

Rusty Knox who started the Paradise Lost Facebook group has been leading the citizen charge against the Catalyst effort.  Knox had this to say about the new proposal.

"I think we need to address the things we NEED and do them first. Public safety, traffic and pedestrian safety HAVE to be addressed. A pretty new admin building like they are talking about does nothing for the tax payer needs. It only allows the town to grow its staff. " (Emphasis in the original.)

Regardless of how this project goes forward and regardless of what it’s called, development in downtown Davidson looks to remain a controversial topic for some time to come.

This post first appeared in this week's Herald Weekly at HuntersvilleHerald.com

#CatalystProject: Price tags for revised "options" on Tuesday Board agenda

Readers will remember discussions at the marathon Town Board meeting in April on the proposed revised "options" for the Town's controversial "Catalyst Project".

After hearing from residents in a series of roundtables earlier this year, the idea of a hotel as part of the project appears to have been jettisoned.  However, Commissioners asked the consultants from DFI to look at multiple other scaled back options and put price tags on them.  As was mentioned in April by Town Economic Development Director, Kim Flemming, the project under these revised options would take on a decidedly more publicly financed flavor.

As part of Tuesday's Town Board agenda, Commissioners will hear a presentation about that public "price tag" depending on which DFI option (if any) are ultimately chosen.

Here are the new option comparisons.

Here is the highlight slide on costs.

Here is the highlight slide on revenue.

Those revenues however won't come close to covering the costs.  Below are the possible tax increases that may come along with each option.

As the town heads into the final turn for negotiations on the FY2017 budget, taxpayer need to keep an eye on this one.   The Board has discussed placing a bond referendum on the ballot this November for Park/Greenways and Roads/Sidewalks.  Add tax increases from those bonds (if they were to pass) to these numbers and it could add a good chunk to local tax bills.

Mayor John Woods goes "Full Catalyst"

The latest quarterly town newsletter landed in Davidson mailboxes on Friday and Mayor John Woods went "Full Catalyst" in his "Mayor's Musings" column.

Espousing what can essentially be described as the "grow or die" mantra, Mayor Woods rattled off a bunch of items related to growth that he thinks Davidson needs to embrace - including what sounded suspiciously like the full blown version of the highly controversial Catalyst Project.

After a fairly condescending paragraph on the nature of "change" - just to make sure us underlings who don't have the "wisdom" of elected officials get it - Woods had this to say.

Davidson’s population growth has challenged us to support the town’s administrative and public safety functions that assure our quality of life. Our 25-year old town hall is no longer sufficient for our needs as we cannot place one more employee there, and  the spaces for fire and police services are totally inadequate. Indeed, our town hall was built when our population was 4,000; we now have over 12,000 living here. With our downtown booming and a growing waiting list of merchants wanting to serve Davidson, we continue a feasibility study to determine if the town could partner with a private developer to build a stronger downtown, enhancing parking, while emphasizing our small-town character. The town-owned property including town hall, the Sloan house, and current Jackson Street parking lots could be redeveloped to emphasize our downtown’s attractiveness, improve the Davidson Farmer’s Market location, and create improved public space, retail, offices, residences, and parking in the downtown area. An important part of this effort is the needed improvements in town hall, including the addition of sleeping quarters in our fire station to better assure timely response during the night-time hours. The growth needs in all our public safety functions -- police, fire, and  emergency first responders -- are an important consideration as our community continues to “transition.”

Nobody would question the need to ensure our public safety departments have what they need.  What people do question is leveraging that legitimate need to push something like the Catalys Project.  You'll notice Mayor Woods doesn't actually use the words "Catalyst Project" even though the bold portion of his comments perfectly describes that effort.  That's how toxic the project has become.

Davidson Town Hall has asked their consultants to look at three options more closely.  One of those is to just move public safety out of Town Hall and use the freed up space in the existing Town Hall building for other town needs.

That would be a minimally invasive solution without jeopardizing Davidson's small town character.

aShortChronicle is looking into information received that indicates the lean might be towards this low impact option versus what Mayor Woods describes.  That will be presented as soon as it is more confirmed...or not.

Are the "good guys" winning Davidson’s Catalyst Project debate?

Proposed Catalyst Project Site
TownofDavidson.org

In this case, the "good guys" would be town citizens who oppose the project, and judging by last week's discussion at Davidson Town Hall, the answer to to this post's title question appears to be a resounding "yes".

Five options were presented to the Town Board for discussion last Tuesday.  In those options, there were several indications that the Birkdale-esque proposal rolled out last October is DOA, or at the very best it's on life support.

Most notably, none of the options included a hotel of any size.  The addition of a 100+ room hotel in the October presentation provided the initial spark that ignited citizen pushback on the whole idea.

When asked about the absence of a hotel in the list of ideas, all Town Economic Development Director Kim Fleming had to say was "currently it is not part of any option that we are studying."

As for the ideas that are on this list, they range from doing little more than moving police and fire off site and keeping administration at Town Hall to options with varying levels of intensity all of which were less intense than the earlier ideas presented.  Though to be fair, the largest ideas on the table would still be too big for many people in town.  They would still include significant residential numbers on the order of 100 units.

Commissioners also seemed keen to distance the current discussion from the earlier Catalyst Project proposal.

At one point Commissioner Beth Cashion said three times that discussing these new ideas and asking the project consultants to look at them further does not commit the town to anything.  She was emphatic on that point.  Commissioner Jim Fuller pondered whether or not the new ideas should even be called "Catalyst" because they are so scaled back.

One tangible impact of reducing the size of any project on the town owned property is how it would be funded.

Initially, the Catalyst Project was talked about in terms of a Public Private Partnership (P3) where there was little public funding involved other than the land.  At the meeting last week, Flemming mentioned that it was now looking like more of a publicly funded effort.  To that point Commissioner Rodney Graham asked if the consultants from the UNC School of Government could get back to the town in short order on the new options so the information could be incuded in decision making for the new budget year starting July 1st.

If any new version of the Catalyst Project goes forward as a primarily publicly funded effort, that would likely mean using some general obligation bonds requiring voter approval.

That would seem to put the "god guys" - aka the voters - in the driver's seat, and that certainly would be a good thing.

This is ot over yet, however.  The project definitely needs the public to stay focused. It's not anywhere near fully resolved, but things do appear to be headed in the right direction.

"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. 

====================================

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 

CharlotteStories.com story on Catalyst Project is WRONG!

A story appeared yesterday on the CharlotteStories.com website that has sparked up a bit of swirl in Davidson.

The story opened with this paragraph.
"The Town of Davidson is in the final planning stages of their new 3.5 acre catalyst project that will be built on top of the municipal facilities between the North and South Main Street areas."

It ends with this paragraph.

"The town will most likely need to pass a multi-million dollar bond referendum to help pay for the massive new project. Leaders are now working with UNC’s School of Government, to determine the type of private/public partnership that will be required to finance the new development."

In the middle were a few more paragraphs that seem to be random plucking of disconnected bits of information on the highly controversial project.

See the full story here.

Taken all together it gives the impression the project is a done deal.

So, it seemed like a good idea to check with the town itself.

Public Information Officer, Christina Shaul had this to say.

"I can’t tell who wrote this piece, where they got their information, or how current it is --  it contains many inaccuracies."

That should be good news to most Davidson residents who seem to overwhelmingly oppose the project - particularly at the scale it has been presented.  However, it should also be noted it was a supposedly "incorrect" article last fall that sparked the initial controversy which has brought much needed focus from town residents.

Shaul goes on to say...

"On March 22, Economic Development Manager Kim Fleming gave an update on the Downtown Catalyst Feasibility Study to the Davidson Board of Commissioners, after the town hosted several well-attended roundtable discussions with over 275 citizens. The mayor and commissioners now need to discuss next steps and provide guidance on how town staff should proceed. We will continue to seek input from citizens."

So, Davidson residents who are rightfully on edge about the project, shouldn't go over the edge just yet.

Per the town, groundbreaking isn't imminent - regardless of what you might have read.

Town Hall sales pitch for Catalyst Project in full force. Sign up to have your voice heard!

This week, the Town of Davidson relaunched its sales pitch for the so-called Downtown Catalyst Feasibility Study. That’s the effort to study/plan/propose redevelopment of 3.5 acres of town-owned land surrounding and including Davidson Town Hall.

The renewed effort to sell this to the public has so far included a four page color insert in the most recent edition of The Town Message quarterly newsletter.  That landed in mailboxes this past weekend.  The pitch also includes the announcement of four small group “roundtable” discussions to be held later this month.  There was even been a dry-run of these roundtables held this Monday with a  group of hand-picked residents to help the Town work on its messaging for these later meetings.

All of this is in response to the less than favorable reception this project received when it was rolled out last fall.  The reason for all this effort is described in the four page color insert like this.
“After the last public input session on October 20, 2015 we realized that there was a need to provide more information and seek more feedback on the Downtown Catalyst Feasibility Study.”

There is one word to best describe that reason, and that word is “understatement”.  There is another word that can best describe that meeting last October 20th, and that word is “debacle”.  It was a debacle, that is, if the goal was to sell the public on the project’s merits.

During that October 20th meeting dozens and dozens of town residents packed Town Hall to an overflow, standing room only crowd including a couple dozen additional seeds added to accommodate the gathering.  The crowd was so large that one of the consultants from the UNC School of Government’s Development Finance Initiative who was there to present the proposed plan joked that the crowd was evidence of the town needing more space.
It was a joke met with groans rather than laughs.

You see, the people who gathered that night last fall were overwhelmingly against the project as it was being proposed at that time.  Dozens of people spoke, and only a handful (and that’s being generous) spoke favorably of the idea.

Though in fairness, one of the few who spoke in support of the project did provide one of the evening’s more memorable comments.  That’s the speaker who will forever be remembered by those in the room as “The Lamborghini Guy”.

That speaker asked the crowd if they’d noticed all the Bentleys and Lamborghinis in town to dine at the fine establishments on Main Street.  He somewhat lamented where the drivers of those fine automobiles might go if they couldn’t find parking.  Didn’t the town owe it to the restaurants to solve this problem he asked?

The crowd that night was not sympathetic to the plight of Lamborghini drivers.  The crowd was not amused at cheap jokes.

No, the crowd that night was concerned about protecting the character of Davidson.  They were concerned about ensuring the town does not lose that something different it possesses – that something special centered around the town core on Main Street.

So, here we are nearly four months later, and the Town is ready to try again.  To their credit, they are at least making the effort.  But honestly, it’s probably going to be a steep uphill climb.  The kinds of heartfelt positions seen last fall do not change easily.

If done right though, Town Hall should at least get the answers to the many questions they still have about the study – questions that probably should have been answered before the study even started.

Questions such as:
• Do you want residential housing downtown?
• Do you want a hotel downtown?
• Should the town-owned land downtown be developed?
• What is an acceptable level of development?

The real trick for citizen will be making sure Town Hall listens once they have the answers  But the first step is to make sure Town Hall has them.  To ensure that, sign up for one of the roundtable discussions planned for February 18th and 25th.

Sign up at www.townofdavidson.org/catalyst
.
This post first appeared in the Herald Weekly at HuntersvilleHerald.com

UPDATED BREAKING NEWS - Possible new hotel at Exit 30?

This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates. Updates at bottom.

Original Post:

Both parcels fully pictured
here are in question.  Town
owns land to right along
Griffith St. Total area 2.1 acres.

As aShortChronicle reported last week, Town of Davidson officials will be kicking off the renewed sales effort for the Downtown Catalyst Project Monday evening with a "pilot" roundtable discussion made up primarily of town advisory board members.

Now, this morning comes a piece of breaking news that could significantly impact this discussion.

According to a person on site Monday morning at the construction equipment that suddenly appeared last Friday at the parcel adjacent to Woodies Auto and the Community School of Davidson at Exit 30, the work taking place is part of "investigating a hotel" on the site.  When asked about the size of a potential hotel, the answer was that had not been determined.   According to the person at the site, even bigger projects had been discussed, but it looked like the idea of a hotel is one that could "go".

When development was originally discussed at the site a coulle years ago, it was a multiuse project with condos and office.  See this story here.  The idea of a hotel would be a significant departure from that plan.

Requests for more information are out to the Town Planning and Economic Development departments as well as those associated with the property.

In relation to the Catalyst Project, this could be a game changer.  When the initially proposed details of the Catalyst Project came out last October, the most controversial piece was the inclusion of a hotel at the site in town center.  The consultants from the UNC School of Government had floated the idea by developers and including a hotel as part of Catalyst and indicated it was well received as a way to gain more interest in the project.

Now that the idea of another hotel is apparently in the works, the question must be asked if Davidson could support possibly 2 new hotels.

If nothing else, it highlights the risk of the Town diving into the development business where they have little control over what the private sector may do that competes with a town related effort.

Update #1:  Martin Kerr of Flat Creek Construction in Davidson was able to confirm that a hotel developer is interested in the property.  The equipment on site is for soil testing.  At this time the hotel brand or size is not available.  More details should be available in a few weeks.  Mr Kerr did confirm a development application has not been submitted, but the town has been aware of the possibility of a hotel from preliminary discussions. No response has been made available from the town at this point.


Update #2: From town public information officer Christina Shaul...

"The Davidson Planning Department fields questions daily from residents and developers as to what could be built on a specific property. In these conversations, we typically discuss the planning ordinance and the development process. Most of these questions do not lead anywhere. However, once we do have a formal submittal for development, we make this information public by posting to our website. We have not received a formal development application submittal for the parcels in question.

The Davidson Commons East conditional master plan (last amended in 2013 to allow for Woodie’s) depicts two storefront and/or workplace buildings up to three stories and not to exceed 50 feet for the parcels in question. Any deviation from this approved master plan would require a conditional rezoning and approval from the Board of Commissioners."

Davidson Catalyst Project - Take 2

When details about the so called "Downtown Catalyst Project" first hit the general public last fall, it is safe to say its opening reception and initial reviews were less than blockbuster. (Read this if you need a synopsis of that early part of this story.)

In fact, the reception was so bad, the presentation had to go back to editing.  Town economic development director, Kim Fleming put it another way.

“After the last public input session on October 20, 2015, we realized that there was a need to provide more information and seek more feedback on the Downtown Catalyst Feasibility Study,” said Economic Development Manager Kim Fleming. “We have outlined multiple ways to answer your questions about the study and receive additional input from citizens to help guide the future of the downtown area – we hope you’ll attend one of these sessions later this month.”

The sessions Fleming is referring to are a series of "roundtable" discussions designed for small groups to talk about the project.  They are planned for later this month.

Here are the details from the Town's press release.

"Citizens are invited to attend one of four identical roundtable discussions on the Downtown Catalyst Feasibility Study at the Davidson College Presbyterian Church Congregation House (218 Concord Road) on:

·         Thursday, February 18 from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m.

·         Thursday, February 18 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m.

·         Thursday, February 25 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

·         Thursday, February 25 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.

These roundtable discussions are open to the public and we encourage your participation. Citizens will sit at tables and a discussion will be facilitated by town staff, members of the Davidson Board of Commissioners, and the Development Finance Initiative team. Space is limited, so we encourage you to save your space by registering for a session on our website at www.townofdavidson.org/catalyst. Those who are not registered will be accommodated on a first-come, first-served basis."

This all sounds good and Davidson residents should definitely pack these sessions.  If they are not a series of full houses, then town residents won't have anyone to blame but themselves for the decisions that are ultimately made.

However like any good "show" , there is a "pilot" before the series kicks off.  This show in Davidson is no different.

On February 8th, this coming Monday, there will be a dress rehersal for these open discussions.  How that goes could be telling.

Twenty two town residents have been invited to participate in this pilot.  Most would be called "insiders" to the goings on at Town Hall.  The vast majority of the invitees serve on the town's various appointed auxiliary boards.

When asked about the purpose of the "pilot", Fleming responded that "the purpose of the pilot session is to make sure that the proposed roundtable format addresses citizens questions about the study and provides enough time for citizens to provide feedback about the study. We will spend some time at the end of the session discussing what worked and what didn’t work with the roundtable to see if any changes need to be made for the additional 4 public input sessions."

While it's not necessarily a bad thing to have knowledgable insiders participating in the pilot, the participants also likely aren't representative of town residents at large.  So, it will be interesting to see how this goes.

Rusty Knox has been a leading voice opposing the Catalyst Project.  He's also one of the invitees to this initial pilot session.  Knox had this to say about the makeup of the "pilot" group after seeing the list.

Knox said he feels personally "the list is weighted very heavily towards town hall."  Knox goes on to say the list doesn't seem to represent the sentiment seen from the public at the raucous October 20th meeting where nearly every speaker opposed the project.

Davidson has one last chance to do this right.  If people feel these meetings are being manipulated or coordinated to achieve a desired outcome, when the curtain finally comes down on this show it won't be pretty.

Let's hope that doesn't happen.

More Catalyst Project Meetings Planned

Davidson's "new" Town Board will be sworn in on Tuesday at the regularly scheduled December monthly meeting at 6pm.

Normally, the swearing in meeting for a new Board is nothing but formality and completing required actions such as appointing committee assignments, electing Mayor Pro Tem, etc.  New work is not typically started or old work finished.  That's particularly true if there are new Board members who might need some ramp up time, or to even just let them "enjoy the moment."

But since Davidson's "new" Board is the same as the "old" Board, that's not the case this time.  Instead, they are charging right ahead with what will likely be the most controversial topic for the town in the next term.

At the pre-meeting scheduled for 5:30, the Board will discuss its next steps on the Catalyst Project.  The agenda item includes a full court press communication plan for soliciting feedback.

It looks like it incorporates some of the suggestions heard at previous info sessions.  That's a good thing.  However, knowing that certain town staff are fully behind the project, citizens need to definitely keep their attention on this topic and look at the information presented with a critical eye.

See here for the details on the next 3 months.

Things are about to start moving quickly, so those interested in this topic need to get ready to participate.

Davidson growth set to explode...no catalyst needed.

As staff and elected officials in the Town of Davidson continue to ponder the proposed Downtown Catalyst Project, there is a looming wave of explosive growth just on the horizon.  This is growth that will happen whether or not the town's own project "catalyzes" anything.  Frankly, knowing this is going to happen it is hard to believe the Town itself is looking to promote even more growth through its own efforts.  Maybe the town should change the Catalyst's name to something like Accelerant.

The first project if it materializes could have the most direct impact on the supposed need for something like the Catalyst project in the town center.  In the past we've told you about potential development at the old Davidson Clinic site on South Main.  That previous development plan fell through this past summer, but that property - as well as the adjacent two parcels - are now showing as "active contingent" on real-estate sites - meaning a sale and new development could be imminent.

At almost six acres this site is nearly double the size of the Town-owned land proposed for the Catalyst Project. Whatever this site on South Main eventually becomes, it will certainly be big (and controversial), but it will also achieve the town's goals of 'connecting' South Main in ways the Catalyst never would by creating a center of gravity at that end of Main Street.  Also, there will almost certainly be a significant retail/commercial component of any development that size which meets another stated town goal for the Catalyst.

As of last week, a proposed development plan had not been submitted according to Planning Director, Jason Burdett.  There is also nothing on the town website as of this writing.  However, this is definitely something to keep a close eye on.  Things appear to be in the works and could move fast.

The second major development is closer to coming to fruition.  That regards what is going on out at Westmoreland Farm.  We originally told you about surveying activity at the site almost three months ago.

A records request to the town turned up some additional information.

The below picture called a "bubble diagram" was put together by staff at Commissioner Brian Jenest's firm during the discussions leading up to passage of the planning ordinance rewrite earlier this year.  The purpose of the diagram was to provide a conceptual picture of what could be built under the new ordinance.  To be very clear it is not a proposal.  However, it does give a sense of the scale of any development that could be on the way.

 

A week after the Town Board passed the planning ordinance rewrite back in April, a planner from ColeJenest & Stone contacted Town staff saying "we are working towards a schematic site plan for the Westmoreland property along Davidson-Concord Road and have a few questions/requests".

That combined with the work seen recently and the counts on that bubble diagram would indicate another development with potentially hundreds of units is on the way.

While again, like the South Main project no site plan has been submitted, it is clear something is in the works.

Finally, this coming Monday, November 30th, the Davidson Planning Board will hear a request from the developers of Summerswalk regarding removal of the planned neighborhood retail at the front of the neighborhood along 73 to be replaced with more townhomes.

The proposal, also submitted by ColeJenest & Stone, appears to have the approval of the Town Planning Department.  The staff recommendation says "this master plan amendment is appropriate and in line with the town’s current development policies".

One of the stated reasons for the Catalyst Project is to increase the commercial tax base for the town.  Removing a planned commercial area - even if it may not be built out for some time would seem to run counter to that goal.

If the recent pushback from town residents was not enough to convince Town Hall that the Catalyst Project is not needed or should be drastically scaled down, maybe this looming wave of growth will do it.

How much for your soul, Davidson?

There's a great line in the the movie,”The Usual Suspects”, where the con man Verbal tells the interrogator interviewing him, “the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.”

As the Town of Davidson works its way through the planning process of the controversial Downtown Catalyst Project, the true costs for its consulting services falls in the same category as the line from that movie.

Consultants from the Development Finance Initiative at the UNC School of Government have been working with the Town since the middle of 2014 to come up with a plan to develop 3.5 acres of land around the current town hall site.  One of the early selling points of the study has been the relatively modest cost of the consulting work.  In multiple presentations and news articles the cost of these services has been stated as being only $50,000.

In the grand scheme of things the “cost” for this work “doesn't exist.”  However, that also is not entirely true.

The “Letter of Agreement” between the town and DFI lays out the services DFI will provide including the work already completed, any revisions certain to come after the recent round of negative public feedback, and the bidding process with developers.

There is also a section about how DFI is paid.

The first portion of the payment is the $50,000 paid when the contract started.  However, there is a second portion.  This portion could be considerably more lucrative.

From the contract...

“The second portion of the fee (the ‘Contingent Fee’) shall be contingent on the execution of an agreement (the ‘Development Services Agreement’) between the town and a third party (the ‘Developer’) regarding the responsibilities of either the Town or the Developer regarding any aspect of the development of the Project or any portion thereof.  The Contingent Fee shall be an amount equal to 1% of the total costs of the development of the Project, as further described below.  The 1% fee shall be paid from the Developer to DFI.”

The contract goes on to provide language that must be included in any agreement between the Town and developers to ensure the DFI gets paid “no later than 30 days following execution of the Development Services Agreement” – well before the actual project is completed.

According to the town’s Economic Development manger, Kim Fleming, this 1% fee is paid on the private development portion of any project.  Any public funding is not subject to the fee.

For a project like the Catalyst Project, that 1% fee could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Look at examples at both extremes of what has been discussed to date to see what that could mean to DFI’s payday.

The project idea recently floated including the Hotel and a full buildout to the property’s “highest and best use” was presented as up to a $60 million effort – almost entirely private investment.  Compare that to the roughly $7.6 million it would cost to build a parking deck and expand the existing town hall which would likely be entirely public funding.

1% of $60 million is $600,000.  0% of $7.6 million is $0.00.

Regardless what the actual numbers turn out to be, DFI clearly has real incentive to propose and push for the biggest project possible while at the same time looking to build at least something with the private sector to cover their costs.

One can also see any consulting fees paid by a future developer being passed through to the Town in various ways.  The simplest way would be for the developer to offer that much less for the property if the Town sells it for any project.  They could also offer the Town less space or ask for higher rents for the Town portion of the project.  Regardless how it happens, Davidson taxpayers will likely be the ones who “pay”.

Davidson has been down this road before listening to consultants on big decisions.  It was possibly the biggest mistake on the road to forming Mi-Connection.

The town can not afford to let that kind of mistake happen again.

This post first appeared in the Herald Weekly at HuntersvilleHerald.com

Catalyst Project brings out pitchforks and torches in Davidson

Well, that may be a bit of an exageration, but let's just say the people were not happy.

The long awaited public meeting on the proposed Catalyst Project, a project which could transform downtown Davidson, took place Tuesday evening with an overflow crowd in attendance.




In fact it was one of the biggest crowds possible at Town Hall with people actually standing on the outside breezeway for a full hour listening to the various UNC SOG consultants give their presentations.  One of the lead consultants even said that in all his years of doing these events he had never seen a crowd like the one in town tonight.

The crowd was not there because they enjoyed the consultants pretty pictures though.  They were there because they were concerned, very concerned, about the possibility of the town pursuing changes that would likely alter the fabric of the town.

The crowd was polite, just as one would expect in genteel Davidson, but things started to turn when the below picture was posted as a depiction of how the project could be made to fit in with the "feel" of the town.

The gasps and chuckles were clearly audible.

When the Q&A portion of the presentation started it was clear that many more people were there in opposition than support.  A couple of questions in, Rusty Knox garnered the evening's first applause when he said he was more "infuriated" after seeing the presentation than he was before.

As the Q&A went on there were questions and concerns about increased traffic and potential safety issues.  When pressed on specifics the answers were often some version of "that's to be determined". 

There was a bit of comic, dark - very, very, dark - comic relief when one resident finally spoke in favor of the project.  He asked if people had noticed the Lamborghini's and Bentleys parked in front of Kindred.

Where would those people go if they couldn't find some place to park?!?! 

As if that was a good enough reason to build a project that could change what the town means and what it feels like - just so someone in an expensive car could find a place to park!

Unfortunately, that person was not joking.  Fortunately, many more people appeared to strongly disagree that reasoning.

Davidson officials got a bit of an earful Tuesday night.  Will they listen?

This blogger had to head home before it was over live and in color. I have not had the chance to watch the last bit of the video in detail, so maybe the tide turned in the fourth quarter.  Somehow I think not. 

You can watch the whole video here.

Catalyst Project up for discussion Monday night

About twenty residents gathered at the the Allen Tate office on Davidson's Main Street Monday evening to discuss their concerns with the proposed Catalyst Project to remake the town owned property on and around Town Hall with a potential mixed use development.

Also in attendance were Davidson Commissioners Rodney Graham and Beth Cashion.

After host Rusty Knox kicked off the meeting with his recollections of what it was like growing up in Davidson when it was much smaller place, he quickly outlined what are the major concerns with the project held by many in attendance - the project's size, location, and perceived rapid schedule.

The last item, concern with the schedule for the project, definitely rang true with many in the room.  It also brought out some of the evening's more interesting comments.  With one participant citing a media report saying the project was anticipated to be completed in the "next for years", Commissioner Cashion responded with "we're not sure where that came from".

Where that "four years" came from was a WSOC TV report that hit the airwaves last week.  The report featuring Mayor Woods can be seen here.  The accompanying article concludes with the following line:

"While there are no set deadlines yet, the town spokesperson says the goal is to try and get the project finished in the next four years."

Interestingly, that line is not actually in the video report.  It is only in the accompanying article.  Also, the "spokesperson" is not specifically named.

In a follow up conversation with Commissioner Cashion to find out what she meant when she said "we're not sure where that came from", Cashion indicated that both town public information officer, Christina Shaul, and economic development manager, Kim Flemming, denied telling WSOC that schedule.

The good news for opponents of the project is that regardless if anyone actually said that or if the WSOC report simply got it wrong, it does not appear to be the case.

Graham and Cashion also attempted to clarify what Commissioners really endorsed in their last meeting with consultants.

Much has been made of the introduction of the possibility of adding a 128 room "boutique" hotel to the plan - an idea that first appeared during the last discussion with the UNC SOG consultants.  What the commissioners "endorsed" during that meeting was not a plan that would definitely include a hotel, but rather the idea that plans for further investigation would include tearing down the current town hall rather than simply trying to modify/expand town hall and adding some parking.

The difference may sound subtle, but considering that much of the recent angst surrounding the project involves be inclusion of the hotel, it could be significant.  While the consultants indicated there was a lot of developer interest in a hotel project, if that concept generates a lot of community discontent, it seams that it could end up being a deal breaker.

There was also a good bit of discussion about other potential developments along South Main, the increase in traffic any development in that area will cause, and concern of the town getting into the development business.

The Commissioners indicated the town will have another public meeting on the project.  The tentative schedule for that is October 20th.  They also indicated the possibility of other community meetings to ensure all concerns are sufficiently aired.

As the first hour of the meeting wrapped up, this blogger had to head home, but one thing was clear - there will be a LOT more discussion before anything happens with the Catalyst Project.

Catalyst Project or Paradise Lost

This story first appeared in the a Herald Weekly at HuntersvileHerald.com

Two weeks ago, the Town of Davidson received an updated report on the Catalyst Project - the proposed multi-use facility for the town Center that the Town has been working on with the UNC School of Government over the past several months.

According to the consultants from the UNC-SOG, the most popular proposal floated by developers includes a new hotel and convention facility on the town owned property along Main and Jackson streets as well as 400+ parking spaces along with new residential, retail, and office space – totaling hundreds of thousands of square feet in new construction.

Now, over the recent years I have given Davidson town hall a fair amount of grief, but I have not sounded off on too much is this one.  Frankly, when this idea first surfaced, I thought surely they will not pursue this.  Then again, this is the same town that entered the cable TV business and bought Mi-Connection.

Avoiding bad ideas, is not always Town Hall’s strong suit.

Well, in the last week, others have taken up the challenge of challenging this idea which could have everlasting impact on the town.

It is one thing for someone like myself who is relatively new to town to chime in on local politics.  It is entirely something else when one of the town’s favorite sons from one of the town's oldest family names does it.

Last Friday, Rusty Knox launched a Facebook Page titled “Paradise Lost”.  Within two days it had over 300 “likes” with multiple posters commenting.  None of the comments were what you’d call “supportive” of the Catalyst Project.

Many people know Rusty from his work as a professional musician, but his family is also part of the bedrock in Davidson.  His father, Russell Knox, was a longtime mayor, and the family real estate business has been around for decades.  In years past, they were involved in rehabbing several of the old buildings along Main Street.

 I checked in with Rusty Knox on why he started the page.  The answer was poetic and personal.

On his first album, one of the songs was about his home town of Davidson.  The song was titled “Paradise Lost”.  Here are the lyrics:

The big city’s here with all the traffic and fear
Paradise is lost once more

          There’ll come a day
          When we all stop and say
          Trees used to grow around here
          What was the cost?      
          Now that Paradise is lost once more

Cars come and go- their pace never slows
Careful when crossing the street
The interstate’s stopped-we’re caught in gridlock
We got a mall ain’t that neat

          There’ll come a day
          When we all stop and say
          Trees used to grow around here
          What was the cost?
          Now that Paradise is lost once more

Buildings come up with concrete and dust
Floating around in the air
The parking lots full and so are the schools
Leadership just doesn’t care

          There’ll come a day
          When we all stop and say     
          Trees used to grow around here
          What was the cost?
          Now that Paradise is lost once more

The concern with the Catalyst Project according to Knox is that once the small town is gone you can't get it back.  “It's gone forever.”

That’s not to say all growth is bad or that opposition to the project is based on NIMBYism.  It’s also not about saying “I've got mine, and nobody else should have it.”  It is about protecting the small town character at the town’s core – both figuratively and literally.

Town Hall is driving the  Catalyst Project - supposedly in the spirit of the town’s Comprehensive Plan developed back in 2010.  Ironically, the Town likes to tout that the Comprehensive Plan involved input from over 150 volunteers over several months.  The Paradise Lost page garnered more than twice as many followers in two days.

That should tell us something.

If you are interested in joining the discussion, “like” the Paradise Lost page on Facebook.  There is also a Facebook group by the same name.  As importantly, attend town meetings when they are held to make sure officials know what you think.