Davidson Plans for Rail Station Area Development

The Town of Davidson is in the process of creating a development plan for the rail corridor that it hopes will eventually bring Red Line commuter trains into its downtown. Over the past two months, citizens, planners and consultants from The Lawrence Group have reviewed potential development sites, land use proposals and urban design alternatives, and created conceptual site plans for the sites. The group is working from station area plans that date from 2005 and were discussed again in 2008. In those previous efforts, planners settled on a trackside site near the Metrolina Warehouse, at Jackson and Depot streets, for the rail station. The town and CATS would help pay for the station and infrastructure improvements by creating a “Red Line benefit district” in the area around the station.

At its last meeting earlier this month, the citizens group spent most of its time looking at three areas of town that could see rail-related development: a northern area off Beaty and North Main streets, the area around the Central Business District and West Side, and South Main Street. Participants drew suggestions on maps, such as turning Depot Street into a wider, more pedestrian friendly “boulevard,” with a public plaza at Jackson and Depot streets near the proposed site of the future rail station. The idea session, and a similar meeting held Dec. 15, were preludes to a formal public planning workshop coming up January 17-20. At that series of meetings, citizens, planners and the consultants will look conditions of potential development sites, draw land uses and urban design alternatives, and create conceptual site plans for the properties. That four-day workshop will run from 9 to 5 daily, in the Town Hall board room. Then on January 21, the town will host a followup open house and design critique. The plan will go to the Town Board for approval in April or May.

For more on Davidson’s rail corridor planning process, click HERE.

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Davidson Plans for Rail Station Area Development

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