The Davidsonian

Issue date: 5/2/07 Section: News

The Town of Davidson faces development and imminent changes.

As the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) debates running a commuter rail between Charlotte and Mecklenburg County towns, the Davidson Town Council and its Board of Planners are busy meeting with residents, developers and transit officials. Last Monday, Kris Krider, Planning Director for the Town of Davidson, spoke with staff writer Julia Edwards to inform Davidson students about the progress of the rail line and the issues surrounding its development.

Julia Edwards: Let's start with your title and your role in bringing the commuter rail to Davidson

Kris Krider: I'm the Planning Director. I've been here since 2003, and like other representatives from the communities along the line, I am the representative from Davidson that works most closely with Charlotte Area Transit. The planning directors, at this stage, are meeting once a month with CATS to go over the progress.

JE: At this stage in progress, what are some of the main issues on that agenda?

KK: We're looking at the engineering and where roads will need to be closed. I think there's 107 crossings between here and Charlotte, most of which are private. The impact for us here in town is Delburg Street is going to be closed. But because there's so much student foot traffic, which I recognize from living next door, we are requiring a pedestrian crossing. There are also issues related to land use. We are trying to design it to increase ridership, and the College makes the Town of Davidson have one of the highest ridership potentials. We talk about streams of funding. Right now, we don't really qualify for federal funding. If Iredell County decided to bring the rail past Mecklenburg and into their cities, like Mooresville, we could be more likely to qualify for federal funding.

JE: Right, I've heard that Iredell County isn't able to fund the commuter rail. And, that if that happens, Davidson will be the last stop on the line. Won't that lead to increased congestion from Iredell County residents driving into Davidson to catch the train?

KK: It is true that we don't have any support from Iredell County's elected officials. We do know that there's tons of support from the poor souls that are sitting in their cars everyday that live in Iredell County. The way I look at it, is if you look at the metro in Washington, D.C. in the early '70s, it didn't go as far as it goes today. So it expands. What I would see happening is it would stop at Davidson for the first three years, and there would be a dotted line that would eventually become a solid line as it continues up to Mt. Moore and Mooresville. I think it's only a matter of when. We think we can park them downtown, but we don't know what it will be like traffic-wise.

Continued...

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