Jan. 8th, 2019

Tuesday night’s Board of Commissioner meeting got Town Hall off to a fast start for 2019. Discussion items including 2 developer presentations, the reveal of the IB School task force, Ada Jenkins lease of the Town-owned house at the north entrance to Town, and an appearance by a former commissioner. A heated moment came at the end on the topic of when to draw the line on supporting local non-profit organizations financially or with staff services. [Meeting Agenda]

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River Run: 6th and FINAL PHASE
Initial plans presented for “Age in Place” community

Developer shares early conceptual plans to get sense of support from the Board.  Plans would require approval by the Board for an increase in allowed units and because the land overlaps two planning areas , Neighborhood Edge and River Run.

Details:
– 75 Acres // 132 Units // 55+ Age restriction restriction (at least 1 householder)
– The Developer is requesting approval to increase the number of units from 90 to 132

Commentary:
Why was this topic was not on the agenda and not mentioned at the onset of the meeting? The presentation seemed planned. Unfortunately, many meeting attendees left not knowing it was on the agenda.

Developers purchased a large, adjacent parcel in the flood plain (unbuild-able) and are requesting approval to increase buildable units based on the added ‘open space.’ Ordinance requires 45% open space.
Is this in the spirit of the ordinance?

Commissioner Campbell raised the question, ‘Are you planning or willing to build affordable as part of this project?’ Before the developer declined, Mayor Knox commented that it’s too far from public transit for affordable; There are two categories of Affordable Housing, lower income which tends to have a greater need for public transport; and moderate income which has less of a need and more closely aligns with the Town’s affordable program. Not all affordable housing requires public transportation; there is a difference between low-income housing and affordable housing.

Davidson Bay Phase II
Development on Beaty St. near IR and CSD High School

Joined by land planner and former commissioner Brian Jenest, the developer who is under contract to purchase the land from the current owner, made a case to reduce the commercial square footage that was last master planned in 2007. The Board and supporting staff showed strong support for commercial and it seems the plans would unlikely get their approval without a commercial component.

Commentary:
Whether or not commercial would thrive or survive in that location is questionable and the builder didn’t hide his specialty in residential pushed the envelope that commercial didn’t make sense in this location

IB School Task Force

15 citizens were selected to be on the Steering Committee to evaluate the use of the recently purchased IB School on 251 South Street. Originally to be billed a ‘task Force,’ the naming was changed to ‘steering committee,’ and recommendation was made to include all 45 applicants not selected for the committee. Special Projects Coordinator Dawn Blobaum was appreciative of the interest and talented applicants that showed interest.

Commentary:
Some think they should move forward with the 15-person task force so that the group can move swiftly and having the other 30 applicants will crowd progress.

Ada Jenkins ‘Training House’

Town Attorney, Cindy Reid along with Janice Hinton from Ada Jenkins discussed the rental of Town-owned house located on the corner of Beaty/115 to Ada Jenkins, to be used as a ‘training house’ for families learning about home-ownership. The program will help struggling families understand the aspects of home-ownership from organizing paperwork to home repair. Of approximately 140 families in need, 2 candidates have been identified.

Commentary:
– Questions remain about the details of the contract, how the program will be designed, and the impact on the Park at Beaty Task Force efforts to create the north entrance of town in that area.
– Commissioner Fort raised a point that after 12 months we don’t want to be between a rock and a hard place and recommended the possibility of earmarking future funds.
– Recommendation is to confirm all details upfront so that all parties understand that a replacement location will likely need to be secured in the mid-term so that the Park at Beaty Town plans can begin.

Davidson Learns Utilizing Parks & Recreation Staff

The meeting concluded with ‘Misc./Open Discussion’ among the commissioners. Commissioner Fuller raised topic of a recent complaint made to him about the Parks & Rec department pushing back on the terms of registration support they have been providing to Davidson Learns. Parks & Rec Director, Kathryn Spatz, took a seat at the table to provide background. An agreement, made by the previous mayor with Davidson Learns, committed the Parks & Recreation Department to handle class registration for Davidson Learns. The registration process is demanding of staff hours and the policy to offset this is two-fold 1. Davidson residents receive priority registration (and since the staff is paid with Davidson tax-payer dollars, it would give value for tax dollars) and 2. non-residents assessed a small fee to make up for the Town staff time. Davidson Learns objected and wanted to continue and have town provide these services without complying with the policy under the terms defined . A similar arrangement is also provided for Davidson Community Players which led the discussion to the larger topic of where to draw the line in financially supporting local organizations directly or indirectly with staff services. Commissioner Fort commented that he understands the reason to offer support to younger organizations, but Town extends a lot of money and staff support to various organizations and the objective should for the bird to eventually leave the nest and stand on their own.

Discussion concluded with the decision to collect more information and explore which options make sense for tax payers while offering some type of support to local non-profit organizations.

Commentary:
It’s great that our Town can offer support to upstarting non-profits. However, at some point, the non-profits should be able to operate or sustain on their own.

Announcements and upcoming dates

MLK Day: Monday Jan. 21^st
Proclamation: Mayor Knox asks that everyone observe by participating in a project or service beneficial to the community
Community Breakfast: Monday morning @ the IB School

Police Chief Dunn requested the I77/Griffith bridge at Exit 30 to be named after Officer Swaney, who was killed in the line of duty in 1997. Only 5 Towns have gotten NCDOT approval since 1995.

Exit 30 Bridge construction estimated to be finished in April.