BY DEBBIE PAGE

Elected representatives from the state and Iredell County met with Troutman officials on Friday to discuss the progress of converting the Iredell County Fairgrounds site into a modern event center.

State Sen. Vickie Sawyer, Rep. Jeff McNeely, Iredell County Commissioners Scottie Brown and Melissa Neader, Troutman Mayor Teross Young and Mayor Pro Tem Paul Henkel, and Town Manager Ron Wyatt met to discuss the future of the project on county-owned property near Troutman’s northern border.

BACKGROUND

The county has been setting aside money for the project since 2019, and state lawmakers have worked to get money directed to the project, including $5 million earmarked for the project in the November 2021 state budget.

A committee of stakeholders has been meeting over the past three years to discuss a vision for the project that expands on its present agricultural uses to include a multi-purpose event center and various entertainment venues.

Several drafts of plans have been examined by the group, with another draft that includes the addition of a hotel on a North Main Street corner expected in mid-July.

After some initial miscommunication about the town’s desire for the fairgrounds to remain at the current site, the Troutman Town Council approved a resolution in June of 2019 to indicate its desire that the fairgrounds remain within town limits. 

A recent 14-acre donation to the town adjacent to the fairground property again sparked miscommunication, as did the intended potential effects on the project in a bill introduced by Sen. Sawyer.

Friday’s meeting provided an opportunity for everyone to get on the same page.

Mayor Young began the meeting by stating that the town was proud to host the fairgrounds and emphasized its central location in the county. He and Wyatt serve on the planning committee, which Young said was progressing well with stakeholders deeply engaged in creating a regional event complex in which citizens can be proud.

MISCOMMUNICATION OVER LAND DONATION

Wyatt noted that when developers of the Wakefield (Barium Springs) mixed-use project approached the town about a land donation, he suggested contacting the county to gauge its interest in buying the property on several occasions and contacted multiple county officials about the property’s availability, but no movement occurred.

At a second Wakefield project community meeting, developers revealed a revised site plan that donated the property to the town, which the town saw as an opportunity to build an amphitheater or park connecting to the the proposed event center complex.

Young said that the town’s desire to incorporate the land donation into the proposed site plan indicates “our willingness to work together” on the fairgrounds redevelopment.

Wyatt said the site will be accessible through a Technology Drive extension and through a proposed road and pedestrian bridge over a creek to the current campground area in the Wakefield development plan, which will be presented to the Town Council in July. These improvements will also create multiple entrances to the fairgrounds complex, which would help alleviate traffic congestion on Main Street.

Wyatt also said the Wakefield developer is considering donating an additional 30 acres to the town, including a four-acre lake, for the town to create additional recreational uses as well.

Additionally, when the committee’s discussion of the proposed hotel site at the proposed fairgrounds complex emerged, Troutman officials noted that the parking had to be behind the hotel, not next to the street, to comply with the town’s UDO.

This UDO requirement sparked rumors of Troutman being uncooperative, but Wyatt pointed out the UDO requirement applies to all building in town and in its ETJ, in which the fairgrounds fall, whether annexed or not. He also noted the new hotel preliminary drawing with rear parking worked better on the proposed site plan because of improved walkability.

CONFUSION OVER SENATE BILL

Another confusion arose when Sen. Sawyer filed a bill, crafted with the N.C. School of Government and county officials, intended to help the county, which lacks a convention and visitors bureau, to collect occupancy taxes. That would require owners of  the nearly 400 short-term rentals currently operating in the unincorporated county areas to collect the tax and turn it over to the county.

That tax would provide millions of dollars of revenue for the county.

“That’s a lot of money being left on the table, and it’s the best kind — other people’s money,” Sawyer said.

In addition to collection authority, the bill would also give the county a government structure to identify which properties are short-term rentals and which are not.

Sawyer also did not want to interfere with the two existing convention and travel bureaus in Mooresville and Statesville, so the bill focused only on unincorporated areas.

Sawyer said the bill had nothing to do with the fairgrounds project, but when she learned that Statesville uses part of its tourism dollars for its Citizen Center debt service, she wondered if these tourism dollars could also provide another revenue source to fund the fairground renovation project.

However, Sawyer said the bill has several roadblocks before it. Attorneys disagree about the legality of sharing occupancy tax revenues between incorporated and unincorporated entities.

This disagreement led to one Iredell elected official calling for de-annexation of the fairgrounds from Troutman, which Rep. McNeely shared with Wyatt, thus sparking Friday’s meeting to express Troutman’s opposition to de-annexation.

The bill is also currently stuck in a tussle between the N.C. House and Senate, with the former wanting two-thirds of the tourism revenue to fund facility maintenance and the remaining one-third to promote tourism. The Senate bill earmarks two-thirds for tourism and only one-third to maintenance.

Sawyer said she actually prefers the House bill revision of the bill, which would better benefit the fairgrounds project.

Sawyer said both Mooresville and Statesville have existing convention and visitors bureaus, which are the authorized collectors of municipality occupancy taxes. Mooresville collects 5 percent, while Statesville collects 4 percent. Sawyer’s bill proposes a 6 percent tax rate for the unincorporated county areas.

Ideally, Sawyer said the county should consider creating one convention and visitors bureau, with representatives from each of the three municipalities and the county.

Mayor Young said it could be modeled after its economic development efforts, which were consolidated into the Iredell County Economic Development Corporation.

Sawyer noted that Surry County once had a similar multi-bureau situation and successfully consolidated its efforts.

“There really needs to be collective thought between all tourism boards in Iredell County moving forward because really we are ‘Iredell Strong,’ not Statesville, Mooresville, and Troutman,” said Sawyer.

For now, however, Sawyer wants to get this bill passed to set up a non-consolidated area convention and travel entity to collect these taxes, with consolidation into one bureau as a future goal.

Wyatt also suggested that either Troutman or Iredell County could collect the 6 percent and then split it if a countywide entity is not formed. He also suggested the possibility of lowering Troutman’s percentage to 1 percent as another contribution toward the fairgrounds project.

Sawyer said Nags Head, Lake Lure, Wilmington, and Chapel Hill all have long-standing short-term rental ordinances and collect revenue on them. VRBO automatically collect these occupancy taxes, but other companies or private rentals presently do it only on a voluntary basis.

The group also discussed opposition groups that are trying to stop or limit short-term rentals, but courts have stopped some efforts to restrict or put regulations on them, including banning towns from making short-term rental owners register as businesses or creating lists of short-term rentals.

Sawyer said one bill has even been filed to stop municipalities from any type of regulation of these short-term rentals, so there’s no consensus on how to handle them at the state level.

Sawyer suggested another mid-July meeting that would include Statesville Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Cindy Sutton to discuss the Surry County joint bureau model and bringing in Mooresville into the discussion at some point as well.

Town Clerk Kim Davis said a Troutman Convention and Visitors Bureau was started a few years ago for a hotel project on Exit 42 that never progressed, so the group never met. Sawyer asked for the documentation to see if it could still function.

REIMAGINING THE FAIRGROUNDS AS A REGIONAL EVENT DESTINATION

Board of Commissioners Chair Melissa Neader emphasized the need to get all the revenue available to fund the renovation and expansion of the fairground site.

Wyatt agreed, envisioning a multi-purpose complex with flexible buildings that could host agricultural events such as national horse shows and a regional all-year farmers market as well as conventions, trade and hobby shows, and sporting events.

The first phase of the project includes a new arena, parking lots, and three barns.

Commissioner Scottie Brown noted that if the complex is built well it could be booked 52 weeks a year, bringing significant economic benefits for the county.

Mayor Pro Tem Paul Henkel said it will not be just a fairgrounds but a destination, including shows, education, and entertainment, and an economic engine for the town and county to meet tourists’ needs for lodging, services, and goods.

The mayor emphasized that the complex will be a regional draw and managed in a professional manner and be a point of pride for Iredell County.

Now residents go somewhere else for events, said Wyatt, but with this complex, they can stay here and shop local. Occupancy and sales taxes paid by visitors will also benefit residents.

Neader questioned homeowner and traffic concerns that may emerge with the expansion, but the mayor said controlling the timing of events to alleviate noise and light concerns and having easy access to I-77 through Exit 42 to the site should mitigate those issues.

“I think clearly we want to be good partners and good neighbors here.”

Though the town does not know when NCDOT improvements to build four lanes in the area will occur (now scheduled for 2029 but repeatedly pushed back over the years), Wyatt said the developers are currently funding and constructing $17 million in road improvements required by traffic impact studies to improve congestion in the area.

Mayor Young said the town will have to strongly engage with NCDOT to get the North Main Street improvements going. Sawyer also urged town leaders to actively participate in the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization (CRTPO) to advocate for road project funds.