Davidson took the action a day after a group of landowners and developers sued the town to overturn a two-month-old building moratorium on more than 4,000 rurar acres east of town. The moratorium had been designed to give Davidson time to orchestrate its rapid growth, but the suit claims that local leaders have deliberately stalled development for years by not approving projects, depriving landowners of the right to sell and develop their land.
In a published report, Mayor Randy Kincaid says he felt it was time to take a stand and hopes the town's commitment will convince landowners the town is willing to put up the money to protect its land. The Davidson area contains some of the last-remaining undeveloped land in Mecklenburg County and has been under intense pressure from developers anxious to start residential projects.
Town planner Warren Burgess, hired last summer, has urged the town to spend money to preserve the acreage it considers most important, according to a published report. The amount of money involved is a huge commitment for a small town, he says in the report, but it was time to do something radical.
Last year, fast-growing Cary, a Triangle town near Raleigh, NC, set aside $12.5 million to buy land for a buffer between the town and its water supply. And in 1999, Gastonia, NC, a town of 85,000 just west of Charlotte, decided to spend $9.4 million to protect more than 400 acres on Mountain Island Lake that provides drinking water to Gaston and Mecklenburg counties. The land was about to be absorbed by a subdivision of 400 homes. Gastonia got its land-preservation money by raising water and sewer rates.
Davidson can't buy everything it wants, says Kincaid in the published report. He says the town's goal is to preserve about half of the 4,000 acres. He thinks $10 million might be enough to save a quarter to a third of it.
The town expects to continue making rules that require developers to leave room for parks and other natural areas when they build new projects. Conversely, landowners and developers believe a requirement to set aside half their land as open space will drastically hurt property values, according to the published report.
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