BY LAURIE DENNIS

John Woods recalls the first time he was asked to run for mayor of Davidson ? it was 10 years ago, and he had never sought an elected office.

“I hate politics!” he recalls saying.

Not long after that, Mr. Woods was encouraged to run for a seat on the Town Board. That seemed a better fit, more like community service than politicking. He put his name on the ballot, won a seat in the 1997 election, and has served on the board ever since. His first election was also the one that brought Randy Kincaid to the mayor’s seat. Now Mr. Kincaid is stepping down, and Mr. Woods has decided he is finally ready to be listed on the ballot as candidate for mayor.

“Putting your name on the line is scary,” he admitted.

After five terms as a commissioner, Mr. Woods said he has a clear understanding of the role of the mayor. He also seeks to emulate the strengths of Mr. Kincaid (who, incidentally, says he intends to vote for Mr. Woods).

“The mayor is the person who sets the direction of the town,” said Mr. Woods. “The mayor works with the board on consensus and works closely with the town manager. I would hope to emulate (the outgoing mayor) in being objective and open to debate and different points of view.”

Mr. Woods has put together a ten-point plan for his goals as mayor, and can point to lessons he has learned and projects he has accomplished as a commissioner. Mr. Woods’ plan focuses on careful planning to prevent sprawl and “an over-reliance on a residential tax base” while at the same time encouraging open spaces, affordable housing and pedestrian access. He also calls for playing “a leadership role in regional initiatives” including road connections and efforts to extend commuter rail from Charlotte to Davidson and beyond.

SLOWING GROWTH THROUGH ‘STRATEGIC HOLD’

Perhaps the most intriguing of Mr. Woods’ plans is his interest in a new role for the town board in land purchases – a role he refers to as “strategic hold.”

He noted that the town has accumulated over 350 acres of land for such parks as the new Fisher Farm on the east side of town along Shearer Road. He would like to expand that effort, but in a new direction, taking advantage of the expected revenues from commercial development now under construction along Interstate 77’s Exit 30.

“I would like for us to consider committing an incremental portion of our tax revenues at Exit 30 to land acquisition over time,” he explained.

The land could be used for more open space, but could also be designated for certain types of development and then held until the right opportunity came along.

“I think we should study that idea because it would have the effect of slowing and managing the pace of development,” he said. “There would be a cost. We could do it without tax increases but we would likely not be able to reduce taxes.”

EXIT 30 BENEFITS

This is just one of the potential pluses for Davidson that Mr. Woods sees coming from the Exit 30 construction projects, which include a Harris Teeter grocery store, two hotels, small retail and condominiums as well as a possible office tower. He thinks the commercial growth will help balance a tax base that he and other town officials consider too reliant on residential property taxes. It will also provide needed retail jobs.

“One of the goals of Exit 30 was to provide entry level and mid-level jobs for our citizens, to make Davidson more attractive to young people,” he said.

Mr. Woods is aware of criticisms leveled at the Town Board, particularly by his opponent in the mayor’s race, for allowing what his critics consider too much development and unsightly office and condo towers at Exit 30. Mr. Woods counters that the board has to respect the legal rights of property owners to develop land.

“These were two large tracts of land held out of the market for years until the time was right,” he said. “The northeast quadrant (which includes Exit 30) was designated for commercial development in the town’s master plan.”

Mr. Woods considers this area an example of how the Town Board can use its leverage not to stop development, but to guide it according to the town’s needs.

“I’m all for slow development,” he said. “But we cannot stop somebody from developing their land. We do not have a ‘Harry Potter’ magic wand that we can wave around.”

He said the board uses its leverage to insist on good exterior designs and traffic flow patterns that fit the needs of the rest of the town.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

The Town Board has also used its leverage to require residential development to include affordable housing. That has proven challenging in a town which, according to Carolina Multiple Listing Services, has an average single-family home price of about $530,000.

“Affordable housing is the issue that is most on my mind these days,” Mr. Woods said.

He is a past board member of the Davidson Housing Coalition and is an active member of the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity. As a banker, he has also helped provide the financing for numerous affordable housing projects in the area.

“Our affordable housing ordinances are immensely complicated,” he said. “I would like to work to improve them. I think we’re doing a good job and can do better.”

Mr. Woods was on the board that unanimously approved a controversial exemption to the affordable housing ordinance for developer Lawrence Kimbrough, allowing the exchange of three parcels of land for an exemption to the affordable housing requirement. Mr. Woods said he voted for the land swap because it came at a critical point in completing a new greenway trail through town. The Kimbrough parcel helped the town avoid losing a $600,000 state grant for the trail, which opened in the spring.

Looking back at the Kimbrough controversy, Mr. Woods said it taught him an important lesson in the need for open communication.

“I learned that we’ve got to be very careful in making exceptions to our rules,” he said. “I would work diligently as mayor to avoid exceptions. We also have to communicate more thoroughly and make sure that people understand the circumstances of any exception.”

IMPROVING COMMUNICATION

That leads to another priority for Mr. Woods as mayor. He hopes to explore new ways to open communication lines with the public.

He pointed to a “Civics 101” program that he recently helped launch which drew a larger-than-expected crowd attending classes in how the town works.

As mayor, Mr. Woods would like to continue that program and also seek new innovative communication techniques. In particular, he would like to investigate whether the town could use group phone voice-mail messaging in a manner similar to that begun recently by Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools.

“What about neighborhood meetings with the mayor? What about free internet access for the entire town?” he wondered. “We could make more use of our web communication. We’ve got to find ways to communicate better.”

CABLE CONSORTIUM

Free or low-cost internet access would be easier to provide if the town board moves forward with controversial plans to form a public consortium with Mooresville offering internet and cable TV services.

Mr. Woods said he spent two years studying the risks and concept of public ownership of the high-speed communications network before voting in favor of forming the consortium. This followed the bankruptcy of the Adelphia system, the private company which had previously served the area.

“I knew this would be controversial,” he said. “Should we or should we not be in this business? Reasonable people can disagree on this. I believe, in a nutshell, that we can hit a home run for ourselves if we take the system as it exists and improve it and grow it.”

Mr. Woods thinks the consortium will help attract corporations that require high-speed communications services. As a banker, he also considers it to be a good financial opportunity for the town.

OUTREACH TO THE NEIGHBORHOODS

Internet access or not, improving communication in Davidson is a challenge, Mr. Woods said, in part because the town includes such different types of neighborhoods.

“When I grew up here, we were predominantly a college town,” he said.

Today he noted that the college is one of two major employers in town – the other being Ingersoll-Rand – and includes diverse neighborhoods with differing needs.

“I have personal contacts with the west side, historically the mill section and the African-American neighborhood, which is today seeing changing patterns of development and more integration,” he said. “I have embraced River Run (a wealthy golf-course development) as a neighborhood and attempted to bring them into the community. I have met with the new president of Davidson College and found him to be very committed to the town/college relationship.”

Mr. Woods said he would like to see Main Street evolve into a place with more services for young people, and he has long wanted to see the town open a community center offering such recreational sports as tennis and basketball.

“This would need to be centrally located,” he said. “It could involve a shared relationship with the IB Middle School site. It’s something the board would like to have happen but it needs the right circumstances and financing.”

TRANSPORTATION

The mayor of Davidson has a seat on the Metropolitan Transit Commission and is involved in both local and regional transportation issues. Mr. Woods “very positively supports” the extension of a commuter rail line from Charlotte to Mooresville and has been involved in other regional transportation planning issues.

He pointed to the board’s success at working with Cornelius and Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools to connect Bailey Road to Davidson-Concord Road. As mayor, he would like to continue to work with the Bailey Road area to prepare for a new high school that would serve Cornelius and Davidson, if voters approve the necessary bond sale. Mr. Woods said the town has negotiated an extension of Bailey Road south to connect with Barnhardt Road in conjunction with building a new high school.

“We must ensure this connection is completed,” he added.

Mr. Woods also noted the board’s work involving another large project, the extension of Shearer Road across the West Branch of the Rocky River (behind the River Run subdivision) to connect with Hwy. 73 at Ramah Church Road. Among smaller projects he would like to pursue, he listed extending Spring Street a few hundred feet to make a new connection with South Main Street.

“In general, we must always be open-minded and diligent to complete ‘good’ connections wherever the opportunity arises,” he said.

BACKGROUND

John Woods, 58, is the son of the late James B. and Elizabeth Woods. His parents, who served as missionaries in China, arrived in Davidson in 1942 where James began work as the town doctor. John, the youngest of four, was born seven years later and said he is still known to some in town as “the doctor’s son.” The flagpole in front of what is now the IB Middle School is dedicated to Dr. Woods by “the grateful citizens of Davidson.”

John attended the local public schools, graduating in 1967 from North Mecklenburg High, where he was a member of the football team. He holds degrees from Presbyterian College, the University of South Carolina and the LSU School of Banking of the South. He also served as a first lieutenant in the Army in the early 1970s. He has been a banker in the Carolinas for 34 years, working previously for First Charter and BB&T. Mr. Woods currently is a senior vice president at the Newton-based Peoples Bank, where he specializes in commercial lending.

He and his wife, Diana, a fourth-grade public school teacher, live around the corner from the house on Lorimer Street where John grew up. He and his wife have two adult children, a son and a daughter.

Mr. Woods describes himself as an “active but unaffiliated” voter. He dates his first civic experience to his membership on the Davidson Land Plan committee, which in 1995 established land use priorities for the community that were later incorporated into the town’s award winning planning ordinance.

On Davidson’s board of commissioners, Mr. Woods has served for his past three terms as Mayor Pro Tem, or vice mayor, the role traditionally given to the top vote winner in board elections.

“I’ve been asked to make hard decisions from time to time,” he said. “But I have done everything I can to prevent rampant development. There are plenty of examples of how not to do things around us. We have assured that things are done our way.”