Conceptual drawing shows layout of small park proposed near Harris Teeter.

Davidson’s Town Board on Tuesday night voted 5-0 to hire a lobbyist jointly with the Town of Cornelius to seek Congressional earmarks and other federal funding for high priority projects. At the Town Board work session, the board also:

• Told Planning Director Kris Krider to move ahead with possible changes in signage at the Davidson Commons (Harris Teeter) shopping center.
• Heard a proposal from the owner of Davidson Commons to replace a planned row of townhomes with a public park and tot lot, at least until the residential real estate market improves.
• Listened to a proposal for a new Parks & Recreation fee policy that seeks to ensure costs of the department’s programs are covered.

BOARD OKs LOBBYIST, LISTS PRIORITIES

The board voted to hire Steve Dye, director of federal affairs at McAllister & Quinn LLC in Washington, D.C., to lobby for federal funds. (Download a copy of the proposed contract in PDF form.)

Davidson plans to share the cost with Cornelius. The contract would cost $72,000 for this year, with Davidson paying half, 0r $36,000. The vote followed a discussion with Mr. Dye about what projects he might pursue. After an hour-long discussion that weighed both the Town Board’s priorities and Mr. Dye’s assessment of the likelihood of funding, the board decided to ask him to pursue:

• Funding to help with the town’s $4 million portion of the proposed Community Recreation Center at Davidson IB Middle School.
• Money to help create a good pedestrian crossing over I-77 from the homes west of the highway on Lake Norman.
• Funding for a proposed parking deck on town-owned land next to Town Hall. The $3 million deck would serve communter bus riders and downtown shoppers and employees and eventually could provide parking for the planned Commuter Rail station.

DAVIDSON COMMONS ISSUES

Planning Director Kris Krider gave a short presentation on a request by some second-floor tenants of the Davidson Commons retail building along Jetton Street. The tenants, including an eye doctor,  are hoping for permission to put up more visible signs.  The issue could come up at the Feb. 10 Town Board meeting, when commissioners may be asked to vote on an amendment to the Davidson Commons master plan to allow more visible second-floor signs.

Edens & Avant, the owner and developer of the shopping center, also presented the board with a second issue: the possible development of a temporary park along Jetton Street, behind Aquesta Bank. The land originally was slated for a row of 5 townhouses. But Bobby Carver, an Edens  & Avant vice president, told the board his company can’t build the townhouses itself and it has been unable to find a developer to do so, in part because of the poor real estate market.

The developer and town officials were careful to say that the park would be temporary. It was suggested that signs be erected that would make it clear the site was destined for residential development.

Download a conceptual drawing of the proposed park (PDF).

PARKS AND REC FEE POLICY

The board also heard a presentation by Parks & Recreation Director Steve Fraher about a proposed fee policy for Parks & Rec programs.

Mr. Fraher has proposed that the department set fees so that it recovers at least 95 percent of a program’s costs. He also suggested a goal of having program fees cover 30 percent of the department’s budget, excluding maintenance and repair, capital expenses, and debt service.

The board asked Mr. Fraher and members of the Parks & Rec. Advisory Board to come back with specific examples of how fee changes would affect budgets and how they might compare to surrounding  towns.