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Growth encroaching on Troutman’s small-town feel

Russell Ledbetter | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | Feb. 18, 2008

When Elizabeth Wall wants to catch up with her neighbors, she stops in for a cup of coffee at the Red Light Cafe. To Wall, the downtown restaurant is more than just a place for a hot meal.
“Everybody speaks to everybody,” she said. “You come into the Red Light to get a cup of coffee and everybody knows everybody.”

Wall, who moved to Troutman 15 years ago, shares a similar sentiment with many life-long natives.

“I like the town small,” she said. “It’s more homey. Everybody’s closer. In bigger places, nobody cares about anybody else. I come to the Red Light for the atmosphere and to see a lot of the people I know.”

Regulars at the cafe seem to understand as they gesture outside storefront windows to Troutman’s main street that the sleepy small-town life they hold so dear is in jeopardy.

“I think everybody likes downtown the way it is. It’s a good little town,” 20-year Troutman resident Bob Hankins said. “But, like everything else, things change with the times. If Troutman doesn’t change, taxes will continue to go up and then people won’t be able to afford to live here. I know we’re next on the list for the big changes coming at our stop on the interstate at Exit 42. But I do enjoy the small town quiet.”

Eleven restaurant/hotel combinations are planned for Troutman off Interstate 77, Mayor Elbert Richardson said. However, “no names have have been mentioned per se. I’ve been led to believe that Hampton Suites might be one of the hotel developments according to a sketch plan we had looked at, but there’s nothing been given other than Lowe’s. Nothing specific.”

Seventy Troutman residents attended a land-use public hearing in January at Town Hall. Divided into small groups, residents let their voices be heard when the town’s elected leaders and staff facilitated discussions about how residents want to see their town grow.

The primary directive of the attending residents: “Let’s keep Troutman, Troutman,” Town Manager David Saleeby said.

“One topic we heard loud and clear was: revitalize, but preserve downtown,” Saleeby added.“Keep the quality of life as we know it.”

Residents fear that while their town will gain from impending commercial and residential developments, getting bigger threatens the quality of life they cherish.

“You get all these people in here and they’re going to try and take it away,” said Frank Ridenhour, who lives in Statesville but frequently visits friends in Troutman. The slower pace and small-town feel that led him to buy a home in the area.

“Mooresville, Troutman, Charlotte - they’re all just going to become one town,” he predicted.

Growth can be managed, but not controlled, according to Saleeby.

“If you notice where we put the water and sewer infrastructure at Exit 42, we have to grow the non-residential tax base. Hopefully, there will be new Troutman and old Troutman and the water tank, water lines at Exit 42 will draw a crowd down there. And somewhere in between Exit 42 and downtown there will be light industrial, large business parks and such, but it won’t be a commercial concrete jungle like in some towns. We hope to preserve the base and improve quality of life as we know it.“

Saleeby mentions Davidson, parts of Mooresville and Statesville where some of the empty buildings and old jewelry stores are being turned into coffee and antique shops. “Preserving downtown is very important to our citizens and we hear that loud and clear,” he said.

Local developer Mike Heinen of North Point Resources remembers when he first moved to Mooresville in 1981, back when it had only one restaurant.

“You could’ve laid down on Highway 150 in Mooresville and not had a car come for 20 minutes to half an hour,” he said. “When a Chinese restaurant later opened downtown, that was a big addition.”

Heinen later lived in Troutman for many years before his wife’s job required the couple to return to Mooresville, he said. Impending commercial and residential development will benefit Troutman, he said.

“Troutman’s economic tax base can’t survive as strictly residential. No town can,” Heinen said. “The town fathers and elected leaders are on the right track encouraging commercial and residential development, but don’t want to see (Troutman) become another Cornelius or Highway 150.

“I’m pretty proud of what I’ve done in the past (as a developer),” Heinen said.“It’s inevitable in an area where people want to live that your quality of life has to change. With growth you may get more traffic, but you’ll also get good restaurants and quality retail.”

Architects who specialize in small town revitalization and restorations have visited downtown Troutman and will address town officials at the town’s annual retreat, which will take place later this week at Lake Norman State Park.

“We’ve gotten a mental picture from our discussions with regard to what we can do,” Saleeby said. “This is what downtown looks like now and this is what it will look like if we take proactive steps to preserve and maintain it.”

Richardson summed up what’s just around the corner, when he said: “Mayberry’s got to grow up.”

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