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.

Davidson announces Mi-Connection CEO leaving

On Wednesday, the Town of Davidson announced Mi-Connection CEO, David Auger, will be stepping down sometime before June 2017.

The town public information office called it a "retirement", but "moving on" may be a better description since he will be focusing on another business he owns - National Food Equipment Services with offices in Mooresville, Winston-Salem, and Raleigh.

Auger was brought in by former Mi-Connection Chairman John Venzon to help right what was then a fast sinking ship that was about to take the Town of Davidson with it.

In FY 2011 which ended 6-months before Auger's arrival, Davidson's subsidy to the cable company was over $2 million per year and approaching a quarter of its general fund budget.

Venzon and Auger formed something of a dynamic duo to help pull the town back from the abyss the town had been brought to by its elected officials who decided getting into the cable business was angood idea.

Political, financial, and operational moves all helped achieve this.

Six months after Auger arrived, Venzon helped orchestrate a restructuring of the agreement between Mooresville and Davidson that capped Davidson's annual payment at $1 million. That single-handedly cut the subsidy in half from its 2011 peak. It also bought Auger the time needed to implement operational reforms at the company to make it run better.

In 2015 Mooresville was also able to refinance a portion of the MI-Connection, debt saving the towns hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest payments that contributed to the reducing subsidies.

There is no doubt filling Auger's shoes will be a big task.

What may be the most interesting question is why get out now?

For years, citizens have been told that 2017 was the year the towns could first really start talking about selling Mi-Connection due to the structure of most of the debt.  That's just next year.

After such hard work, it might seem curious why Auger wouldn't stick it out until the company is sold and off the backs of taxpayers.  The answer likely lies in the fact that even with all the improvement over the past few years, the company is still deep in debt and requires millions in subsidies.

Auger's planned departure may be a sign that 2017 will come and go with Mi-Connection still on town books for the foreseeable future.

Whatever the reason though, the citizens of Davidson and Mooresville owe a big thank you to Auger for his efforts.

#Davidson Town Hall pulls plug on Davidson Depot closed session

Channeling the spirit of a famous quote often misattributed to Thomas Jefferson, events at Davidson Town Hall Tuesday night proved:

The price of transparency is eternal vigilence.

In the last post, aShortChronicle told you about a closed session planned with the Davidson Depot developer for Tuesday evening.  The meeting was to include a representative from the NCDENR - one Carolyn Minnich - to discuss brownfield issues.

That post went out Sunday night.  By Monday, residents had started sending mails to Town Hall asking "What's up?"

Why would the town be meeting in closed session to talk with a developer - particularly one using a town commissioner's design firm on the project?

aShortChronicle also heard back from Ms Minnich on Monday about the NCDENR's involvement.  She had this to say.

"I was not privy to how the meetings were set up and I do not know the full agenda of the upcoming meeting. I was asked to attend the Aug. 23 and Sept. 29 meetings by the prospective developer of the Davidson Depot property at 301 Depot Road. I am attending tomorrow’s meeting as a representative of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Brownfields Program. I will not be discussing financial incentives or support during the meeting.  I did not play a role in determining whether Tuesday’s meeting is open to the public."

Readers should note, on Monday Davidson Town Hall sent out the agenda in an email blast and this meeting was still listed as "closed".

Based on this and other emails that have come our way, Town Hall was standing by its decision to keep this meeting closed.

Then Tuesday morning, something changed.

Town manager Jamie Justice told multiple residents the meeting would no longer take place.

Rusty Knox posted the following to the Paradise Lost Facebook page from Justice.

"Based on recent discussions with the developer, we have determined there is no need for a closed session so I will ask to remove this from the agenda for tonight’s meeting.  State law allows for towns to conduct closed sessions under particular circumstances.  Those circumstances have changed."

Recent discussions....hmmm.

Monday, the meeting is on for behind closed door discussions.  A little light gets shown on the situation, and a little citizen outrage is expressed.  By Tuesday, the meeting is off.

It would seem the only "circumstances" that changed were that citizens knew about it.

While it's a good thing a closed door meeting didn't occur Tuesday night at Town Hall, citizens are left wondering, what changed, why it changed, and why Town Hall thought they had a justifiable reason for closing the meeting in the first place?  Most importantly, when will the actual discussion really occur?

It's doubtful too many believe the developer's issues just went away.

Town Hall can be sure the citizens watching won't either.

#Davidson Board should open closed meeting with Davidson Depot developer on Tuesday

aShortChronicle has learned that the scheduled closed session meeting this coming Tuesday for the Davidson Depot project is not the first one on the subject.

According to a source familiar with the situation the developers previously asked in a closed session for financial help from the Town to clean up the site and were clearly told no.

Which closed session that may have been is unclear.  A review of all Board meeting agendas since January 2015 shows three closed sessions with the same "economic development" justification as the one for this coming Tuesday.  They were on 4/28/2015, 10/13/2015, and 1/12/2016.

While the actual date is of lesser importance, it is interesting to note the 4/28/2015 date was right after the initial approval of the site plan came from the town on 4/13/2015.

In light of this new information, the Davidson Board should open the discussion this coming week to the public.

Closed sessions for economic development are intended to allow competitive information between municipalities to remain confidential when municipalities are competing with each other for a new opportunity.

That is not the case here.

As mentioned in the initial post there has been discussion of Tax Increment Financing (TIF) support from the town.  If implemented, this could run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

However, there is also indication in the public record that the developer may have found a less expensive way to conduct the asbestos remediation not requiring public support.  This was in a communication from the developer to Town Manager Jamie Justice.  That message copied only Commissioner Brian Jenest and local real estate attorney, Susan Irvin.

In fact, Commissioner Jenest is the only Commissioner copied on the various correspondence in the record request.  His firm is doing the project's landscape design work

The public absolutely deserves to know what is going on with this project.  Are special requests are being made to reduce costs for the developer?  The public should know.  Who on the Board supports the project? The public should know?  What (if any) financial support is being sought from the town?  The public should know.

For these reasons the Board should open Tuesday's discussion to the public.  Not doing so needs a very clear and  public explanation.

Commissioners may think that because this project is "by right", that they have little to do with how it proceeds.  That may be true.  However, unless the public has confidence everything has been handled properly, that will be hard to believe.

Contact the entire Davidson Board a board@townofdavidson.org to ask them to open this discussion to the public Tuesday night.

Controversial Davidson Developments Part 2: Exit 30 Hotel

The previous column told you about Davidson Depot.  Now, it's on to the next bit of concrete and steel that could also be a real Town Hall barn burner of a project - a new Exit 30 Hotel.

aShortChronicle broke the story of this project back in February of this year.  See here and here.  Those stories revealed that a possible 120 room hotel was in the works.  A follow-up piece in June (see here) revealed it was likely to be a Hyatt Place developed by the same firm that did the Homewood Suites.

From that June article...

Nishith Patel whose firm, Beacon IMG, is mentioned in the documentation was also contacted.  Beacon IMG is a hotel development firm and is behind the Homewood Suites also at Exit 30. When asked if he had a comment for this story, Patel declined with the following statement. "Not at this time, we are still in the process of completing our application for the town."

Finally, Davidson Planning Director Jason Burdette said this about the project.  After qualifying that the town has a standard process for projects he said, "some of these projects continue, some do not. Those that do continue usually go through significant change before an application for development is officially submitted."In a followup question Burdette did say if this project goes forward this plan would be "conditional" - meaning the Town Board would have to approve it."

This week aShortChronicle was able to confirm some significant new details per a public records request and some follow up questions.

The new hotel will be a Hyatt Place as previously reported.  The current estimate for the number of rooms is 110-115

Per town Planning Director Jason Burdette on Thursday...

"The application came in late yesterday and should be on the web by the end of the week. As proposed, this project would be an amendment to a conditional master plan and will require approval by the Board of Commissioners." (Emphasis added.)

As of this writing on Saturday the plan is not up on the town website.  Readers should check here for it to show up any time now.

Burdette went on to say...

"I believe the last discussion we had with the developer suggested a proposed five-story hotel with a partial sixth story as a rooftop restaurant and outdoor dining space." (Emphasis added)

At 6 stories, this would likely be the tallest building in town sitting right next to the Community School of Davidson elementary/middle school on Griffith Street.

The requirement to get Board approval could be contentious.  When Woodies Auto next to this site was approved it resulted in a split 3-2 Board decision with current Commissioners Rodney Graham and Jim Fuller voting against it.  The scope and size of this project makes that one look like child's play.

To that end those lobbying for the project appear to be hard at work.  The public record shows extensive efforts to meet with Commissioners outside of the normal planning process.  There's nothing wrong with that per se, but it is an indication they are not certain the project has the votes.

Tentative schedule being discussed at town hall as of 8/4 (from public record request)

M 8/15: Application Submission to Town/EPM (Sketch Plan)
W 8/24: Notice to Adjacent Parcels due to Town (PIS)
F 8/26:Town Mails PIS Letters
W 9/7: Public Input Session (Alt. Dates:  Tr. 9/8, 9/12, 9/19-22
W 9/14: PIS Report due to Town
F 9/16: Notice to Adjacent Parcels due to Town (BOC Hearing)
Tu 9/20: PB-BOC Joint Work Session?
M 9/26: Revised Plans Due to Town/EPM (Master Plan)
T 9/27: Ad for BOC Hearing Due to Observer
F 9/30: Town Mails BOC Hearing Letters
Tu 10/11: BOC Hearing
M 10/3: Final Plans Due to Town
M 10/24: PB Hearing
Tu 11/8: BOC Decision
Nov-Dec: Additional EPM As Needed

The clock is already ticking for citizens to have their input heard.

If this project concerns residents, they should do the following:

1. Send an email to board@townofdavidson.org.

2. Get ready to pack Town Hall for the above events in red.  Make sure to check back here in case the dates change from this tentative schedule.

Controversial Davidson Developments Part 2: Exit 30 Hotel

The previous column told you about Davidson Depot.  Now, it's on to the next bit of concrete and steel that could also be a real Town Hall barn burner of a project - a new Exit 30 Hotel.

aShortChronicle broke the story of this project back in February of this year.  See here and here.  Those stories revealed that a possible 120 room hotel was in the works.  A follow-up piece in June (see here) revealed it was likely to be a Hyatt Place developed by the same firm that did the Homewood Suites.

From that June article...

Nishith Patel whose firm, Beacon IMG, is mentioned in the documentation was also contacted.  Beacon IMG is a hotel development firm and is behind the Homewood Suites also at Exit 30. When asked if he had a comment for this story, Patel declined with the following statement. "Not at this time, we are still in the process of completing our application for the town."

Finally, Davidson Planning Director Jason Burdette said this about the project.  After qualifying that the town has a standard process for projects he said, "some of these projects continue, some do not. Those that do continue usually go through significant change before an application for development is officially submitted."In a followup question Burdette did say if this project goes forward this plan would be "conditional" - meaning the Town Board would have to approve it."

This week aShortChronicle was able to confirm some significant new details per a public records request and some follow up questions.

The new hotel will be a Hyatt Place as previously reported.  The current estimate for the number of rooms is 110-115

Per town Planning Director Jason Burdet on Thursday...

"The application came in late yesterday and should be on the web by the end of the week. As proposed, this project would be an amendment to a conditional master plan and will require approval by the Board of Commissioners." (Emphasis added.)

As of this writing on Saturday the plan is not up on the town website.  Readers should check here for it to show up any time now.

Burdett went on to say...

"I believe the last discussion we had with the developer suggested a proposed five-story hotel with a partial sixth story as a rooftop restaurant and outdoor dining space." (Emphasis added)

At 6 stories, this would likely be the tallest building in town sitting right next to the Community School of Davidson elementary/middle school on Griffith Street.

The requirement to get Board approval could be contentious.  When Woodies Auto next to this site was approved it resulted in a split 3-2 Board decision with current Commissioners Rodney Graham and Jim Fuller voting against it.

To that end those lobbying for the project appear to be hard at work.  The public record shows extensive efforts to meet with Commissioners outside of the normal planning process.  There's nothing wrong with that per se, but it is an indication they are not certain the project has the votes.

Tentative schedule being discussed at town hall as of 8/4 (from public record request)

M 8/15: Application Submission to Town/EPM (Sketch Plan)
W 8/24: Notice to Adjacent Parcels due to Town (PIS)
F 8/26:Town Mails PIS Letters
W 9/7: Public Input Session (Alt. Dates:  Tr. 9/8, 9/12, 9/19-22
W 9/14: PIS Report due to Town
F 9/16: Notice to Adjacent Parcels due to Town (BOC Hearing)
Tu 9/20: PB-BOC Joint Work Session?
M 9/26: Revised Plans Due to Town/EPM (Master Plan)
T 9/27: Ad for BOC Hearing Due to Observer
F 9/30: Town Mails BOC Hearing Letters
Tu 10/11: BOC Hearing
M 10/3: Final Plans Due to Town
M 10/24: PB Hearing
Tu 11/8: BOC Decision
Nov-Dec: Additional EPM As Needed?

The clock is already ticking for citizens to have their input.

If this project concerns residents, they should do the following:

1. Send an email to board@townofdavidson.org.

2. Get ready to pack Town Hall for the above events in red.  Make sure to check back here in case the dates change from this tentative schedule.

Controversial Davidson Developments Part 1: Davidson Depot

Davidson residents who care about the small town character of the community have more, much more to worry about than just the Catalyst Project.

The worst aspects of Catalyst appear to have been beaten back.  Those would be the inclusion of a Hotel and a large amount of residential on the Town Hall site and surrounding area. Instead, that project has slowly morphed into a project for various civic uses.

However, the sentiment behind those proposed uses which people disliked at the town center are about to resurface just along historic downtown's edges.

Davidson Depot and an Exit 30 Hotel loom large in the immediate future.

Here is what aShortChronicle has found out recently.

The long wait for movement on the proposed Davidson Depot site appears to be over.

Davidson Depot proposes 180 apartments on the site along Eden Street across the tracks from Jackson and down Depot Street.  It's on the site of the Metrolina Warehouses occupied by Eden Street Market and The Rumor Mill.

View From Jackson/Depot Intersection

View down Depot Street

View towards Main Street
where 180 apartments are proposed

Developers gave an FYI presentation to the Design Review Board (DRB) on Tuesday.   It's safe to say by the reaction of the DRB, the project architects have a long way to go before getting that group's approval.

However, via a public records request, aShortChronicle has learned this was just one of a series of planned meetings worked out in conjunction with Town Hall staff.  The next will be as part of a closed session during the 8/23 board meeting.

The discussion per the records requests will include a representative from the NC DENR.  That's the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for the state.

It's unclear why a meeting with NCDENR would qualify for a closed session.  When asked, Town Public Information Officer Christina Shaul responded by referencing the general statute...from § 143-318.11.  Closed sessions.

(4) To discuss matters relating to the location or expansion of industries or other businesses in the area served by the public body, including agreement on a tentative list of economic development incentives that may be offered by the public body in negotiations, or to discuss matters relating to military installation closure or realignment. Any action approving the signing of an economic development contract or commitment, or the action authorizing the payment of economic development expenditures, shall be taken in an open session.

Without more information its difficult to know exactly what they are planning to talk about behind closed doors.  The bold part added for this article is a likely clue - economic development incentives.  When you add the point that NCDENR will be there it logically follows there may be some discussion on incentives from the town to help clean up the brownfield on the site.

The warehouse site used to be used for manufacturing asbestos tiles and that needs to be cleaned up.  The cost of that cleanup is a major reason the site has not been redeveloped earlier.

The state environmental agency + closed session + economic incentives = possible big $$$ from the town to help clean up a mess for private owners.

When asked if the town was considering Tax Increment Financing for the project, Shaul only said this.

"We are not ruling out any TIF at this time."

Tax Increment Financing is a method whereby the additional taxes brought in by a development are dedicated to paying off some specified need.  While that can be positive, it hollows out the tax base and can leave little money left to serve the residents of the new development, thus shifting the tax burden to the rest of the town.

Oh, and judging by the logo on this landscape plan, Commissioner Brian Jenest's firm appears to once again be involved.  So, if/when the Board votes on any possible incentives he would once again have to recuse himself.

Keep an eye on this one.

Up next Exit 30 Hotel.