After a vote by the Mooresville Planning Board which recommended approval of a technology park on Teresa Earnhardt's 400-acre land, the widow of NASCAR icon Dale Earnhardt is one step closer to seeing the land, much loved by her late husband, industrialised.
Still needing final approval from Mooresville Board of Commissioners, who will now debate the development in a meeting, this sees the planning board recommend approval with four to three votes - a substantial turn around after a eight to zero votes against the proposal in October of last year.
In fact, 200 residents from the area attended this meeting to push back against the development of the rural land found between Patterson Farm Road and Rustic Road near Cabarrus County in east Mooresville, just 2.5 miles away from the former home of Dale Earnhardt Inc..
The development will see the land become a data centre campus, with the building being managed by Tract, a data centre developer. According to Kristin Dean of the company, it will produce 277 “recession-resistant” jobs in the area, of which 195 of those will pay $125,000 annually. According to Dean, the tax revenue for the country will be “in the multiple billions of dollars," over the next two decades.
Presentation of the Dale Earnhardt memorial: Teresa Earnhardt
Photo by: Michael C. Johnson
Building is set to be completed in 2029, as long as it can successfully begin, and the project is said to have minimal environmental impact while also addressing complaints from the community. Currently, one-third of the land will not be developed, and a police substation will also be built.
Despite this, the development is still coming under criticism, especially due to Dale Earnhardt's love for the land.
“We are a community in itself,” Rene Earnhardt, wife of the eldest son of Dale Earnhardt's, Kerry, said according to the Charlotte Observer in October of last year. “We deserve to be protected and preserved ... Stand up and support the preservation of rural communities.
“On behalf of myself and my husband, Kerry Dale Earnhardt, whose passion for the preservation of land and the conservation of wildlife was instilled by his late father, we are proud that he knows that we are continuing that legacy that he leaves behind.”
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