Tim Mayes reads a letter to the Town Board Tuesday night asking for a delay in a rezoning vote affecting tthe family property. (Bill Giduz photos)

The Town Board on Tuesday delayed voting on both the N.C. 73 / Davidson-Concord Road Area Plan and the proposed rezoning of 80 acres on Davidson-Concord Road owned by the Mayes family. The delays, until at least the board’s Aug. 12 meeting, were a surprise, coming after officials and the Mayes family decided they needed more time to study the issues, including transportation planning and open space requirements.

The Mayes family asked the town in a letter delivered Tuesday to delay the rezoning vote by a month. The family has said it is considering a mixed-use development on the land, and on Tuesday, they introduced Charlotte developer Peter Pappas as their consultant. Mr. Pappas said he hopes to work on the development with the family. (Hear an audio recording of Mr. Mayes and Mr. Pappas at the meeting in our July 10 posting, “SoundBite: Mayes and developer seeking rezoning delay.”)

Development in the area east of town has been on hold for the past year under a moratorium the Town Board adopted last summer to allow time for development of a new plan for the area. Town planners and the Town Board had been rushing to finish work on the rezoning and adopt it before the end of the development ban this Thursday, July 10.

But on Tuesday family representative Tim Mayes pledged not to submit a development application until the board has a chance to vote on the rezoning at the Aug. 12 meeting.

The proposed plan recommends shifting development in the area east of the three towns to a mix of uses, including several “nodes” that would include stores, offices and other commercial development. Right now, much of the area is zoned rural residential. Davidson officials have said they’d like to attract more commercial development to broaden the town’s tax base, which is currently overwhelmingly residential.

Meanwhile, Town Planner Kris Krider recommended that the board delay voting on the N.C. 73 area plan after a day of discussions with officials from Huntersville, Cornelius and the state Department of Transportation.

Mr. Krider said meetings Tuesday afternoon with Cornelius, Huntersville and DOT officials made it clear the towns need to continue working to get DOT’s support for the area plan – at least in concept. That’s because it deals with land-use along DOT-maintained N.C. 73, which is a key regional transportation corridor. And Davidson also needs to work with the two other towns to achieve a better consensus on parts of the plan.

CONCERNS ABOUT OPEN SPACE

Mr. Mayes, representing family members, said the family is concerned about recent changes in the zoning language affecting the 80 acres, especially revisions that increase the amount of open space required. Davidson officials have increased open space requirements at the behest of neighbors during recent public meetings and private discussions.

Town officials had proposed amending the planning ordinance to require 10 percent open space in Neighborhood General (NG) zones, and 2 percent in areas zoned Central Business District, or CBD – both of which would affect the so-called Mayes node. But after the most recent revisions, the proposed ordinance changes would call for 20 percent open space in NG zones and 10 percent in NG zones.

“In the last four weeks, there have been three noticeable increases to the open space requirements in drafts that have been submitted to us. And one by one we haven’t made comment about any of those, because we’ve tried to absorb what they were and not overreact,” Mr. Mayes said. “But as we received the most recent draft last Wednesday evening, it was pretty clear to our family that we needed more time to evaluate the full impact of all of the changes, the rapidity of them and how they’ve hit us in such a short amount of time.”

Town Board member Evan Webster warned that the open space debate could lead to a showdown between those who would like to see the area keep its rural residential character and those who want to develop. “This is where the pendulum swings both ways,” Mr. Webster said. “They Mayes have indicated they like the lower number.” But if the town tries to tweak the number, nearby property owners are likely to come back and ask for more open space.

Another issue that arose during the meeting was a provision in the proposed ordinance that would allow developers to reduce the open space requirement on a particular parcel by supplying open space in another location off site. The language presented Tuesday would have allowed developers to reduce open space requirements on developable areas of their land by up to 50 percent in the EC (employment campus) and NE (neighborhood edge) zoning classes.

“That’s a lot to be allowed to be reduced,” said Mr. Jenest. The board discussed whether to remove the NE zone from the provision.

NEED FOR COORDINATION

Mr. Mayes also said the family wants to coordinate planning for both the 80 acres in Davidson and another 38 acres it owns in Huntersville. He and Mr. Pappes suggested the need for joint meetings with Davidson and Huntersville officials.

Developer Peter Pappas is working with the Mayes family.

Mr. Krider agreed. “We feel it’s important for our town and Huntersville and the developer to come together. It would benefit all of us to get together,” he said.

Mr. Pappas said he’d like the towns to take a closer look at road planning for the potential project on the Mayes property, in particular “to talk about how we may fund some of this from a public-private perspective. We obviously as a potential developer and the property owners need to share in some of those improvements. But there’s a pretty good gap, if you look at some of the plans that have been suggested.”

“I think the reason we haven’t brought a plan forward is because we want to make sure we bring a plan forward that can be implemented and that the economics work,” Mr. Pappas said.

RELATED LINKS & COVERAGE

For background and documents related to the N.C. 73/ Davidson-Concord Area plan and zoning changes, visit the town website, CLICK HERE>

July 8, 2008, Official town board meeting mInutes, CLICK HERE>

July 7, 2008, “Board to vote on N.C. 73 zoning changes”

July 1, 2008, “Board discusses N.C. 73 zoning, plans July 8 vote.”

June 27, 2008, “Town Board to discuss N.C. 73 area plan Monday”

June 20, 2008, “Stroll on Mayes property shows concern for development.”

June 13, 2008, “On-site meeting to look at Mayes project”

June 11, 2008, coverage of town board hearing on the area plan.

June 6, 2008, “Planning board backs N.C. 73 plan, but stops short on new zoning’

May 23, 2008, “Workshops Tuesday on N.C. 73 plan, IB school project”

Jan. 30, 2008, “Towns to show draft of N.C. 73 plan”

Oct. 27, 2007, “Planning begins for N.C. 73 area”

July 10, 2007, “Board OKs east side building moratorium”