Iredell County Commission Chair Steve Johnson speaks during Tuesday's meeting. (Christina Ritchie Rogers/DavidsonNews.net)

By CHRISTINA RITCHIE ROGERS
and DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

STATESVILLE – Iredell County commissioners stopped short of killing the Red Line Regional Rail Project Tuesday night, though they may have only delayed the inevitable. In a 5-0 vote, commissioners approved a statement saying they would not support the project unless concerns about financing plans and future development are addressed.

The vote came after nearly an hour of discussion in which several commissioners said they doubt consultants’ cost estimates and believe that one way or another the rail line would require raising taxes. Some even questioned one of the basic premises of the financing plan: That businesses could be lured to relocate in special tax districts along the rail line.

Iredell commission chair Steve Johnson said the Red Line proposal “is a cockamamie plan … that has no semblance to the real world.”

Map shows locations of potential stations and financing districts. Click to download the PDF.

“There’s a difference between the way the world is viewed in Iredell County and the way it is viewed in the great state of Mecklenburg. In Iredell County we believe it when we see it. In Mecklenburg, they see it when they believe it,” he said.

“I will not subject the citizens of this county to insanity like this,” he said, drawing applause from the audience of about 30 people.

The board ultimately decided not to vote against the plan as proposed. Instead, commissioners voted unanimously in favor of a statement that signaled their lack of support for the plan and listed specific concerns.

“I do think we have an obligation, if we are going to turn this thing down, that they have a target to shoot at,” Mr. Johnson said of the statement.

Among other things, commissioners said they want a list of firm commitments from commercial and residential developers in the special tax districts. And they want assurances that the state is behind the project.

Tuesday’s vote staved off instant death for the project. Officials had been saying that if even one local government declined to join in, the project would not succeed.

John Woods

John Woods, who chairs the Metropolitan Transit Commission’s Red Line Task Force, said after Tuesday’s vote, “The good news is that the door remains open for more work regarding the business plan. We will put our heads together and develop a strategy to answer many of the questions they identified tonight, some of which are based on opinion.”

Mr. Woods, who is also Davidson’s mayor, said the Red Line Task Force has not had a chance to sit down and explain the plan in detail to the Iredell Commission yet. And Iredell commissioners have not attended any of the regional public meetings where the plan was discussed.

Commuter rail service north of Charlotte has been talked about for more than a decade. In its current form, the proposed Red Line project calls for upgrading 25 miles of Norfolk Southern railroad tracks from Charlotte to Mount Mourne, just south of Mooresville, to handle increased freight traffic as well as a new commuter rail service.

Under a financing plan developed over the past year, the region’s local governments from Charlotte to Iredell County were asked to consider adopting policies to fund half the $452 million rail line’s construction. The state and Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) would both pay 25 percent. The project would be governed by a new regional Joint Powers Authority to be set up among local governments, CATS and the state.

Iredell commisioners also worry about rail-generated population growth and its impact on the schools in Iredell County. Commissioner Ken Robertson called it a “bait and switch” — saying even though the project as proposed would not raise the tax rate, the county would need to raise taxes to support the additional students.

Commissioner Renee Griffith questioned whether other governments in the area would step up to help Iredell extend the rail beyond Mount Mourne in the future.

“The State of North Carolina is broke,” she said. “We need to live in reality.”

She and others are skeptical of project supporters’ claim that the project costs would be capped at $452 million. “We need to look at this as a business and the business model is flawed,” she said, adding that nationally rail projects have exceeded their budgets by an average of 104 percent — more than double their projected costs.

Added Mr. Johnson: “The best way to insulate the people of this county is a sound business plan based upon hard numbers. … It’s no plan at all. it’s just a fairy tale of what we hope it will be.”

RELATED COVERAGE

Jan. 18, 2012, “Audio replay: Iredell commissioners on the Red Line” – Listen to audio excerpts from Tuesday’s meeting and from an interview with Red Line Task Force chair John Woods.