The town says it likely will sell one of three properties that Town Board members agreed in 2004 to swap with land owner Lawrence Kimbrough in exchange for an exemption from the town affordable housing requirement. Proceeds would go to the town’s affordable housing fund. Meanwhile, town board members Tuesday got a look at a revised 34-home plan for the Kimbrough family property off Pine Road.

The landlocked 1.1-acre triangle of land (“C” in the map above) is beside a gas line right of way at the north end of a 17-acre parcel that Stough Farms Family Limited Partnership plans to develop.

The land-swap first came to light during a May 16-17 planning workshop for the Pine Road property. On June 6, DavidsonNews.net published the text of the agreement along with town officials’ explanations that the land swap provided property needed to complete the Southeast Greenway. (We also link to the agreement again below.)

Questions about the affordable housing exemption continue to arise at public meetings, including Monday night’s Planning Board and Tuesday’s Town Board work session.

At least two political candidates – Rodney Graham, who is running for Town Board, and William E. Jackson Jr., who is running for mayor – have been questioning the exemption. This week, Mr. Graham asked Town Manager Leamon Brice what would happen with the 1.1-acre parcel, which is inaccessible because it lacks a right-of-way to reach it.

In an e-mail response, Mr. Brice told Mr. Graham the town originally had planned to swap the triangle with owners of the nearby Potts Plantation or sell it to another nearby property owner on Pine Road.

“The Pine Road owner wants the property. That is likely who we will sell it to in an upset bid process. … Having access was not an issue because we never intended to sell or use the property for development,” Mr. Brice wrote to Mr. Graham.

SALE LATER

Mr. Brice said the transaction probably will not happen until next year. The agreement with Stough Farms Family Limited Partnership says the land would be conveyed to the town only after the official “plat map” for the 17-acre parcel is recorded.

Mr. Graham said he thinks the town “gave something of significant value” (the exemption) in exchange for property of questionable value.

“Why didn’t they just take the cash?” he asked. The development likely would have required four or five affordable housing units under current town rules. Mr. Graham thinks thinks a payment in lieu of building affordable housing in the development could have brought in up to $300,000. He’s not sure the three parcels transferred to the town are worth that.

Mr. Jackson complains that the town engaged in “excessive secrecy” surrounding the land swap. In a statement Tuesday, he said the swap with a longtime local landowner and bank executive (Mr. Kimbrough), “contributes to the perception, or reality, of a kind of socio-economic ‘apartheid’ within incorporated Davidson. The contrasts in the different communities that make up our small town are steadily growing starker.”

GREENWAY CONNECTIONS

Mr. Kimbrough has already transferred the two other parcels, one at the foot of South Street, which is now part of the Southeast Greenway that opened in March, and another running between Pat Stough Lane and Patrick Johnston Lane, near another section of Greenway. Town officials have said the properties were offered at a time when the town was trying to assemble land for the hiking and biking trail.

“Without that piece (near South Street), I’m convinced we would not have completed the final portion of the Greenway,” Town Board member Margo Williams said in June. “The Greenway is a pretty remarkable accomplishment – that was the balance” for deciding to approve the land swap.

Mr. Brice said Wednesday that when the town was weighing the land swap in 2004, it was under pressure from the state Department of Transportation to complete the right-of-way acquisition so it wouldn’t lose a $600,000 DOT grant that would help pay to build the Greenway.

Together, the three parcels eventually will generate income for the town’s affordable housing fund, Mr. Brice said Wednesday. The town is having the two Greenway-related parcels appraised now, “so we can make a contribution from the General Fun to the affordable housing fund.”

Income from the sale of the third parcel also would go into the affordable housing fund.

34-UNIT PLAN

On Tuesday night, Town Board members got their first look at a revised site-plan for the Kimbrough property. The latest plan incorporates feedback from the May planning workshop as well as town planners.

After showing a series of possible layouts on the second day of the May workshop, architects with The Lawrence Group, who are working for the Kimbrough family and developer Ray Killian, now have a plan for 34 single-family homes.

The property would have two entrances onto Pine Road, one at the south end of the road and another farther north. A drawing distributed Tuesday night shows a racetrack-shaped oval of roadway around open space at the north end of the neighborhood. In addition, lots backing up to existing homes on Pine Road would be larger and deeper, as a buffer, Town Planner Lauren Blackburn said.

Mr. Killian said in May the development would consist of luxury homes costing $600,000 to $1 million each.

APPROVAL PROCESS

It’s not entirely clear when the Town Board will be asked to approve the Kimbrough development site plan, but it appears it will be after the November election.

Ms. Blackburn said Tuesday night that the Planning Board and Town Board will see revised plans in September. It could come up for Planning Board approval in October and then come to the Town Board in November or December, depending on whether officials seek more revisions.

Meanwhile, residents also will have a chance to see and comment on the plans at a follow-up planning workshop on the development Sept. 20 from 1-9 p.m. The workshop will begin with a site visit from 1-3, and continue at 3:30 p.m. at Town Hall.

DOCUMENTS

Minutes of the Dec . 14, 2004, Town Board meeting.

Copy of the agreement between the town and Stough Farms Family Limited Partnership detailing the land swap and exemption, approved by the town board Dec. 14, 2004, (requires Adobe Reader software) CLICK HERE>

MAP of the parcels, (requires Adobe Reader software) CLICK HERE>

Free Adobe Reader software is available for download from Adobe.com.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE

June 6, 2007, DavidsonNews.net, “Town gives details of exemption deal.”

May 17, 2007, DavidsonNews.net, “4 scenarios offered for Pine Rd. parcel”

May 16, 2007, DavidsonNews.net, “Luxury homes planned off Pine Road”

COMMENTARY

June 10, 2007, DavidsonNews.net, Rodney Graham commentary “Was land swap a reasonable deal?”