Plans by the widow of seven-time NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt to turn 400 acres of land into the Mooresville Technology Park hit a snag when the city’s planning board considered the request this week.
The town of Mooresville planning board voted down the request unanimously on Tuesday. The request was previously approved by the town’s staff.
A map of property that Earnhardt Farms LLC wishes to turn into the Mooresville Technology Park.
Teresa Earnhardt’s bid to develop a business park on a former farm site is not over, however. The Town of Mooresville Board of Commissioners could choose to approve the annexation and rezoning request at a future meeting.
Bowman Construction applied for the zoning change on behalf of Earnhardt Farms LLC. Under the request, the 399.25-acre property would be annexed by the town and changed from residential agricultural zoning to industrial.
The property is bordered by Patterson Farm Road and N.C. Highway 3 near the intersection of Iredell and Rowan counties. Dan Brewer of Bowman Construction said at the meeting the location would appeal to high-tech industry companies and bring 200 jobs to the area.
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“We’re not planning on any manufacturing that would have distribution centers and stuff like that. It’s just not conducive to that type of development in that area,” Brewer said before taking questions from the planning board.
Alan Goodman who lives on Coddle Creek Highway, spoke at the planning board meeting. He said that his 90 acres of farmland property shared a boundary line with the Earnhardt property. He said he recently worked with Three Rivers Land Trust to apply for a conservation easement on his property to stop any future development of the land bought by his family in 1917.
“As you can hear, my roots run deep and I look to preserve the countryside around Coddle Creek Church,” Goodman said. “The residential agricultural designation of the land within miles around the Earnhardt property seems to be working as there is no industry, no dense housing, and most of the home sites are picturesque farms or large home sites. In other words, the RA zoning has worked because the quality of life in our area is great, with the exception of Highway 3 traffic.”
Nicole Farnsworth of Johnson Dairy Road in Mooresville said Dale Earnhardt was an avid outdoorsman, farmer, and friend. “His goal was to preserve the land for future generations to come. I’m pretty sure this would have not been in his plans. But as we all know, his death changed that,” she said.
Farnsworth said the town of Mooresville had failed the community when it comes to roads. She said that if water and sewer connections were extended to Teresa Earnhardt’s property, more development would follow.
“If you build it, they will come. If the town of Mooresville runs city water and sewer to the county line, developers will come to the county line. All of the property around this area is mostly farmland. If this passes, it will be developed sooner, rather than later.”
Town Clerk Jane Crosby said the matter would be considered for a future town board agenda. Earnhardt’s rezoning request was not on the Nov. 4 agenda as of 2 p.m. on Oct. 24.
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