Town officials will be updating older plans for the station area, like this one.
With planning revived for the Red Line Regional Rail Project north of Charlotte, Davidson officials have scheduled a series of meetings this month and next to seek public input on plans for a commuter rail station on Jackson Street, behind the Davidson post office.
The first information sessions are planned Thursday, Dec. 15, at 7 p.m., and Thursday, Jan. 5, at 7 p.m., both at Town Hall, 216 S. Main St.
Click image to download a planning department planning handout on the station area plan. (PDF)
A four-day public planning workshop is scheduled Jan. 17-20, from 9 to 5 daily, in the Town Hall board room. Interested citizens, planners and the consultants will look conditions of potential development sites, draw land uses and urban design alternatives, and create conceptual site plans for the sites.
The town is working with Davidson planning firm The Lawrence Group to update existing plans, which date from 2005 and were discussed again in 2008. In those previous efforts, planners settled on a trackside site near the Metrolina Warehouse, at Jackson and Depot streets, for the rail station. The coming meetings also will continue discussions about potential development and development sites around the station.
“There seems to be a lot of momentum behind making sure we have a clearer vision for what the corridor will look like … and how it can support transit and economic development,” town planning manager Lauren Blackburn told the Town Board Nov. 15.
The town and CATS would help pay for the station and infrastructure improvements by creating a “Red Line benefit district” in the area around the station. That would center on properties within a half-mile of the station, Ms. Blackburn said.
Town officials say they’ll issue a “consolidated report” called the 2012 Davidson Station Area Plan Update, which the Town Board would be asked to approve next April or May.
Ms. Blackburn said the town needs citizens’ input as it plans for development along the rail line. “This is an important, innovative and timely initiative,” she said in a press release. “We’re going to be breaking new ground by identifying partnership strategies to mobilize development according to the goals of the Davidson Comprehensive Plan, but we don’t want to do it without our citizens’ help. We hope everyone in town will attend at least one of these meetings.”
RELATED LINKS
Download a 2-page Station-Area Plan fact sheet that planning manager Lauren Blackburn gave the Town Board in November. (PDF)
More information about the Station Area Plan is on the Town of Davidson website.
June 20, 2008, DavidsonNews.net, “What should rail station area look like?” – a report on a previous planning effort for the rail station area.
See coverage of planning for the Red Line Regional Rail Project on our main page, CLICK HERE»
When looking at this plan I think of the scene in “The Blues Brothers” where Jake brings Elwood back to his apartment after picking him up from prison. Jake and Elwood enjoy his first night our of jail being rattled by the Chicago L train as it zooms by the apartment, shaking everything and everyone.
As someone who has lived areas with very mature mass train transit such as in DC with the Metro and NJ Transit, there are many problems with this plan. The biggest being that residential properties will be devalued next to any rail line. This is a glaring flaw in the recommendation of the sales pitch given stating that “taxes will be offset by increasing property values”. This is simply not reality.
Individuals want to live close to train stations but not really. I lived within sight of the station in Cranford, NJ but still suffered through costs of living so close. I lived about three city blocks away from a NJ Transit station and still knew exactly when each train arrived by the rumble of the train. In addition I was not able to open my windows due to the heavy break dust that is cast off the trains as they slow down for the station.
Bluntly, people do not want to live next to a train track. They want to walk within walking distance. But property values will not rise to offset increased taxes. Commercial property along train rail will be more appropriate.
I have a different experience with rail than Mr. Gibietis. I am familiar with the “mature” rail systems of DC and NJ Transit and they bear little resemblance to the type of density/intensity that will ever occur in Davidson.
I would liken our future experience to that of historic small towns all around this country, particularly in the Midwest where towns were founded along rail lines and have been coexisting quite well for the last 160 years. I happen to live on the future Red Line and we do not anticipate any decrease in land values; rather, we expect the opposite. Further, the commuter trains we can expect in Davidson will be on new tracks, seconds in duration and won’t be blowing horns.
In relation to devaluation I urge anyone interested in the topic to study transit oriented development in the likes of the small towns surrounding Minneapolis, Portland and the San Francisco Bay Area. In all cases property values have gone up and that should please the pocketbook of any conservative bent on not raising taxes. The Red Line will provide Davidson with sustainable direct access to not only Charlotte, but to Amtrak lines to Raleigh, Washington, D.C., and beyond.
We are fortune to have great access to transit, excellent growth controls and the best design review process in North Carolina. I have great faith in our leadership and staff to ensure the outcome is not only financially beneficial but also architecturally compatible and another jewel in our crown of community assets.