By Jim McNally | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | April 27, 2008
Last month during a regional summit in Charlotte, Queen City Mayor Pat McCrory identified Statesville as perhaps the premier place of growth in the whole state.
“We knew it was coming the year before that, so we kind of got a little behind the eight-ball,” he said. “But in ’06, we really started putting things together.”
McCrory, a leading candidate in the governor’s race, said Statesville’s location at the intersection of Interstates 40 and 77 placed the city “right in the middle of North Carolina’s major growth.”
But Statesville has been at that intersection for decades, and growth has been chugging through the county for just as long. What’s happening now to rev things up?
The Engine
As McCrory pointed out, a certain view of Statesville has the city sitting at the center of a simple geometrical chart, with I-40 appearing as a kind of horizontal axis.
From that perspective, it’s more the motion along the vertical axis — I-77 — that is causing things to start adding up.
Statesville City Planning Director David Currier said the only tricky math in the growth equation is not “if” but “when.”
“It’s just a total guess,” Currier said when asked to speculate how long it would be until Statesville completely ran out of room. “But maybe 15 years it might be wall-to-wall.”
He also said a better metaphor could be that of steam engine.
And if you listen hard enough, you can actually hear it coming.
To the untrained ear, it sounds like a lot of traffic that is, no doubt, emerging from snarl or another. But to those in the know, it’s a growth locomotive and it’s coming — full speed ahead, right up I-77.
And it’s sure to be unlike anything the area has ever experienced.
“Charlotte is the urban engine,” Currier said. “And it’s coming this way.
“You just want to control it so that it moves the way you want it to.”
The Toolbox
Currier’s planning director counterpart in Mooresville is Tim Brown, whose town is knee-deep in the kind of growth Statesville leaders are anticipating.
Brown said the best thing to have to keep the rails of growth true and clear is a “good toolbox.”
He was referring to a sort of three-pronged approach to managing the primary aspects of growth:
“And we’ve spent the past three years updating our tools,” Brown said.
By that, he meant crafting new ordinances and plans specifically aimed at dealing with almost anything that can come up in course of moving — as Mooresville has — from a fading mill town less than a generation ago to a thriving and ever-more upscale town that attracts residents and businesses from all around the nation.
Brown said town officials wanted to get away from what he called “the sprawl-based model” that was used — by default — in Mooresville’s earlier growth spurts.
“Just look at (Highway) 150,” he said, “and you’ll see what I’m talking about.”
During March’s regional planning event, McCrory also decried what he referred to as clutter.
“You see these kinds of main streets along the highway in every town and city in this state,” he said.
But David Saleeby, town manager of Troutman, is hoping town leaders’ foresight can keep it away from their still largely quaint hamlet.
Saleeby said the town started attacking the problem in 2006.
Like Currier and Brown, Saleeby saw the writing on the wall. Or rather the writing on the petitions for zoning changes and land development proposals.
“We knew it was coming three years ago, so we kind of got a little behind the eight-ball,” he said. “But in ’06 we really started putting things together.”
The town went to work on “putting teeth” — as Saleeby referred to it — into stagnant zoning guidelines and produced a set of Unified Development Ordinances.
And, just last summer, the Troutman Area Land Use Plan was completed, which, Saleeby said, “spells out everything within our boundaries.”
Also, about $10 million worth of water and sewer infrastructure improvements has been sewn into Troutman soil in the past few years.
“Most of that was paid for by developers,” Saleeby quickly points out.
All that adds up to keeping the development train on the tracks.
“We’re pretty much ready for whatever comes,” he said, before adding, more definitively, “No, we are ready.”
Comments
I’m glad to see all this planning. I hope Iredell commissioners and representatives from Troutman and Statesville will join the traffic task force made upp of the mayors of Mooresville, Davidson, Cornelius and Huntersville - at least to listen and learn and bring ideas to the table for other things we can do over the next few decades.
I commuted from Statesville to UNCC from 1988-1996, and commute to Charlotte 3 days a week since 2002. I have watched the changes first hands. David Currier hits the nail on the head when he says “when, not if.”
I believe one of the best things we could do is to include light rail in our planning. It should go up to I-77 Exit 154 - yes, above the I-40/I-77 junction. Joining with CATS to provide park and bus from Troutman and Statesville would be good, too.
Finally, Statesville has already had episodes of traffic backed up on the Interstates due to wrecks. It is likely to get worse. If it hasn’t been done already, it is time for our emergency services, local law enforcement and highway patrol based in Iredell County to develop plans to address difference scenarios.
Posted by Marti on 04.27.2008 at 01:19 pm
The Mayor is correct, and we should take his words to another level - that of the small business owner, who is the future of Statesville and of Iredell County. Small business owners create community based jobs, spend and bring in real money at a local level, and reflect the kind of controlled growth and infrastructure needed to replace large manufactures and out of State based corporations. Former so called “destination areas”, such as West Palm Beach Florida, have been using incentives and low corporate tax structures to lure small business owners for decades. The new destination area includes our part of North Carolina, and we need to continue to do our part in supporting the needs of those helping our communities grow and prosper.
Posted by John Casson on 04.28.2008 at 11:27 am
I’m not sure what our leaders of these towns are thinking, but I’ve seen the writing on the wall every since Nascar shops starting blooming all over the place. What you guys are waiting on or why we pay you guys to sit back and watch and wait for something to happen rather than be proactive is startling to me. How long has Lowe’s been on the roadmap now for over 5 years or longer. And, how long before that have you known?? What will it take for you guys to open up your eyes and stop sitting around like lame ducks waiting for Charlotte to over take us. They obviously can’t go further south because we want the tax base in North Carolina - - the likely place to move inward would be north and you are waiting on “what??”.
Can I have a seat on your board..
Thanks
Posted by Gaye on 04.28.2008 at 01:20 pm
As far as Statesville goes please don’t put all you eggs in Nascar’s basket. The sport has seen its peek and with major sponsorship getting harder to get for the mega dollars it costs to run in the cup series fewer teams will be building new shops in the area. Think about other areas such as landing headqarters for major corporations. I have been visiting the area for 15 years and have seen growth you that live in the area everyday may have missed. Mooresville has transformed from a small town to over 20,000 with new people moving in every day. That is why we decided to buy in the Statesville area. Growth is good for everyone just plan ahead, we don’t need another exit 36 here in Statesville.
Posted by Ron on 04.28.2008 at 02:36 pm
Leave a Comment
Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.All comments are moderated before publication.
For more information, see our terms and conditions.