Beaty Street delay...or diversion.

On Friday, Davidson Town Hall published the agenda for Tuesday's upcoming Board meeting.

One expected contentious item was missing however.  That would be the expected vote to proceed with the Beaty Street property sale and development proposal for Davidson Development Partners' "Luminous" project.   The project has been roiling the citizenry these past few months, as has much of what's been emanating from Town Hall.

At roughly the same time, the below email from Assistant Town Manager, Dawn Blobaum, began circulating on local social media.

Eric Giangiordano who has been one of the community leaders opposing the project posted this along with the email.

So, while any delay in moving forward with this effort should be seen as a positive, residents are right to be skeptical.  This show has been seen before...and recently.

Davidson Town Hall recently delayed their vote on the RAP rezoning by a few months, but ultimately passed it after making a few relatively minor tweaks.

What could make this one different is the length of any delay.

Within 90 days, filing for the next election will be over, and those opposing this project and others have been beating the bushes for new candidates.  A delay of more than 30 days puts any vote on this Beaty Street project squarely in the election cross hairs.

While no Davidson Commissioners have said publicly whether or not they will seek re-election, pressure will begin to mount on that front as the July filing period gets closer.

The public deserves to know if the people taking these contentious votes are doing so as lame ducks or are willing to stand behind them while facing the voters.

The clock is now officially ticking on answering that question.

BREAKING NEWS: Davidson receives 6 proposals for Beaty Street property

Town of Davidson Beaty St Property

The Town of Davidson has received multiple serious responses to its RFP for the development of 18 acres off of Beaty street.  Nine firms inquired about the project, and six actually submitted proposals. The due date for proposals was 1/18, and last week aShortChronicle obtained copies of the submissions.

Per Assistant Town Manager, Dawn Blobaum, the initial selection process plans to move forward quickly.  The Beaty Street Selection Committee driving this project will meet on 1/31 to short list the proposals for interviews within the next two weeks and plans are to present at the February 28th work session.  The Town plans to have a public input session prior to the 2/28 Board work session an is targeting a March 14th final decision by the Board.

Based on preliminary review of the proposals here are the highlights:

• This effort could bring 100s of new housing units as well as significant commercial development to the Beaty Street/NC115 area in the next few years.  The largest residential proposal would be over 300 apartments.  The largest commercial proposal rivals what was envisioned by the Catalyst Project and includes a 100 room hotel.
• Each proposal includes $550k towards improving the Beaty St/ NC115 intersection, but they vary wildly in how much developers appear to be willing to pay for the land in addition to that - ranging from $250k to $2.7m.
• Most proposals involve someone with close connections to Town Hall.  It will be interesting to watch as these insiders battle it out for the right to develop one of the most important land holdings of the town.  The first inkling into this will be who makes the short list.

Davidson residents need to stay on top of this one as it will be incredibly impactful to this corridor of town.

Town Hall must ensure that taxpayers get the most value out of  this resource.  It's not something that voters will tolerate if once again land is given away to support pet projects, or if it appears the best interests of those with Town Hall connections are favored over the interests of those who pay Town Hall's bills.

Contact the Board at Board@townofdavidson.org to let them know you will be watching.