Lake Norman area-strategy for economic growth/rebranding (Charlotte, Kannapolis: hotel, home)

[susan42]

http://www.lakenormantrans.org/pdf/L...l%20report.pdf

BusinessToday.com -- Business Intelligence: Serving the Golden Crescent, including Lake Norman, Cabarrus and University City

[susan42]

Maybe the regulars here won't be remotely interested anyway (or are chosing to ignore my posts- Have I been branded a troll?????????)

I hope that newcomers/ potential newcomers will find it informative anyway.

[Native_Son]

It would help to copy and paste some statements from the article to give people the gist of what the plan is. Or at least give some of your thoughts on the plan.

A thread with nothing but a couple links is boring! I know I'm too busy to "cold-call" a news story.

[lumbollo]

Indeed. I don't normally look at link only posts. However I did look at those since you bumped the topic. The 2nd link is nonsense. The first one won't load.

However I think the concept of "branding" an area like a bucket of chicken is usually a waste of money.

[susan42]

As I expected. Would I dare to comment on them?
1st link loads perfectly for me.

[MysteryMT]

54 Page PDF wow...I skipped to the conclusion cuz after a 14 hour day it's all I had the heart for. Basically (page 32) says that they recommend the same things they said in the 1990 and 2001 report and that Charlotte needs to work with Hunterville, Cornelius, Davidson and Mooresville.

The panel believes that it is important to understand that the North Corridor includes Charlotte and the
towns of Huntersville, Cornelius, Davidson, and Mooresville. The towns and the city depend on one
another now and will do so even more in the future, especially economically. Charlotte must work with
the four towns to the north, and the four towns must work with Charlotte. Everyone must recognize
the value of the North Corridor and ensure not only that future transit supports the land use strategy for
mobility but also that future transit initiatives attract funding and creative financing through the strong,
collective efforts of all parties. The panel recom*mends that the Lake Norman area embrace a brand—
the North Main Line—that will not only sell the benefits of living, working, and enjoying recreational
offerings within the four towns but also recognize the benefits of proximity to Center City Charlotte and all it has to offer.

Looking over it more, it's probably easiest to drive a discussion off one point. Maybe consider different opinions on the SWOT Anaylsis around page 47.

Strengths
• Proximity and access to Charlotte
• Lake Norman (executive housing options)
• Growth in skilled labor force over last
decade
• Proactive approach to economic
development by the three towns and City of
Charlotte
• Presbyterian Hospital-Huntersville and
growing medical/health care sector
• Emphasis on environmental protection and
recreational uses along Catawba River
• Parks (including Robbins, Jetton, Bradford)
• Recent I-485 completion through northwest
Charlotte; shorter trip to airport

Weaknesses
• Inadequate supply of improved industrial
sites and available buildings
• Tax base imbalance; weighted toward
residential
• I-77 congestion
• Lack of professional job opportunities for
residents, which negatively impacts tax base
and contributes to I-77 congestion
• Sewer service (short-term issue with
expansion underway)
• NC-73 congestion (improvement underway
between US-21 and NC-115)
• No business-oriented hotel with meeting
space
• Lack of available property along Lake
Norman for corporate office space
• Overcrowded schools/mobile classrooms
• Negative perception within development
community of entitlement process

Opportunities
• North Corridor Commuter Rail to serve
employees traveling in both directions
• I-485 completion to I-85 North
• Future business park sites being studied; 173
acres on NC-73 in Davidson, 80 acres on
Bailey Road in Cornelius, and 350 acres at
Hambright and Mt. Holly-Huntersville roads
in Huntersville
• Business park with a corporate campus
environment
• Medical-related business growth
• Recreational uses along Catawba River
• Spin-off business related to the North
Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis
• 600,000-square foot former Phillip Morris
distribution center on NC-73

Threats
• Lack of action on widening and improving
NC-73 east of NC-115; it is the only regional
east-west connection and remains two lanes
• Lack of action to address I-77 congestion
• Competition from the new limited-access
NC-16 corridor in Lincoln County on the
west side of Lake Norman; one business
park announced

[susan42]

Hope this helps the others who couldn't take time out of their busy schedules to read it. Thanks for taking the time.
Interesting that the Lake Norman CVB site Visit Lake Norman's Homepage

only includes the cities in Meck' county on its homepage.

Anyone know how the CVB originated or how it's funded?

[brokensky]

Thanks, MysteryMT for some highlights. My opinion that there is nothing new here as far as understanding the region is based on the history of that corridor's development. These were small communities and most of that area was not even developed 15 years ago. Huntersville was not even considered a "bedroom" community of Charlotte 15 years ago. People considered it a nice small town and folks were as likely to work in Davidson as Charlotte.

Burgeoning growth has changed everything from infrastructure demands to social issues. None of the growth was planned well . . . people have moved here literally in droves. Meeting needs has meant employing a fireman philosophy . . . too much going on to do much more than put out the fires as they occur, rather than prevent the fires, so to speak.

The local municipalities in the LKN area are dealing with too rapid growth. What else is there to say?

[southbound_295]

susan, I read your thread, but admittedly not the links because I don't live there, so it doesn't have an effect on me. Conversely, Charlotte does have an effect on me because that is the hub in the wheel where we all live.

Here's the Lake Norman CVB website. Visit Lake Norman's Homepage

It's a marketing group. (CVB - Convention & Visitor's Bureau)

In the same vein, I think you took it a bit too personally that there were no comments. I posted a link to the Lake Norman RPO, which does effect people in Iredell, Lincoln, western Gaston & Cleveland Counties & to my knowledge, no one from Iredell commented. Lumbollo & I had a brief discussion on commuter trains. Now, the RPO is the organization that NCDOT uses for road planning, so considering the litany of complaints on here, about roads, that I see all of the time, I thought people in Iredell would be interested to know how the road planning that effects them occurs. Apparently not. That's OK.

[susan42]

Originally Posted by southbound_295

susan, I read your thread, but admittedly not the links because I don't live there, so it doesn't have an effect on me. Conversely, Charlotte does have an effect on me because that is the hub in the wheel where we all live.

Here's the Lake Norman CVB website. Visit Lake Norman's Homepage

It's a marketing group. (CVB - Convention & Visitor's Bureau)

In the same vein, I think you took it a bit too personally that there were no comments. I posted a link to the Lake Norman RPO, which does effect people in Iredell, Lincoln, western Gaston & Cleveland Counties & to my knowledge, no one from Iredell commented. Lumbollo & I had a brief discussion on commuter trains. Now, the RPO is the organization that NCDOT uses for road planning, so considering the litany of complaints on here, about roads, that I see all of the time, I thought people in Iredell would be interested to know how the road planning that effects them occurs. Apparently not. That's OK.

Why Thanks.

I didn't see your post, maybe because I was away on vacation or because m it slipped down rapidly as not many people commented.

I already posted the link to the CVB and am aware that it's a marketing group.

What I was wondering about was it's background as it only mentions Huntersville, Cornelius and Davidson in the towns/cities on it's home page.