By: Bruce Henderson
Eighteen years of sometimes thorny negotiations with property owners east of Davidson have ended with agreements that will complete a key link between greenways near Fisher Farm Park.
Imagine traveling from downtown Davidson to the 200-acre park, a green jewel of woods and meadows, without a car. That will be possible with the right-of-way agreements negotiated by the Davidson Lands Conservancy on behalf of the town of Davidson.
The West Branch Rocky River Greenway now runs south through the Abersham and Fisher Farm parks. The greenway goes north from River Run to the Narrow Passage community along Shearer Road. Connecting the half-mile gap between them was a top priority for expanding the town’s greenway network.
The town of Davidson has budgeted $2.1 million to pay for the connector, funded through general obligation bonds that voters approved. It will become part of the Carolina Thread Trail, an ambitious network of greenways that sprawls across 15 counties.
Mecklenburg County, whose parks department collaborated on the connector, bought the first parcel for it in 2007. But it wasn’t always easy to convince the seven other property owners to give access to their land.
Tensions between rural landowners and the town go back decades. Much of that resentment has to do with the town’s planning authority over development outside the town limits, but where residents don’t get to vote in town elections.
The nonprofit Davidson Lands Conservancy, now in its 25th year, was founded to protect green landscapes and to help bridge such divides. As the 18 years invested in securing this half-mile of trail shows, building relationships with property owners can require a tortoise-like pace.
“That’s what it takes. It just takes a long time – keep knocking your head against that rubber tree plant,” said conservancy treasurer Ed Harris, a retired real estate investor who’s labored on the connector for years.
The conservancy credits its partnerships with the town of Davidson and Mecklenburg County in moving the greenway link toward completion. This spring, Mayor Rusty Knox and the town helped negotiate with property owners on the last two agreements needed for the project to go forward. The town paid about $62,900 for one parcel and the county bought another.
“Those two properties were the linchpin to getting it done,” Knox said. “It’s a huge connection, at the end of the day.”
Harris and Dave Cable, the conservancy’s former executive director and now a senior advisor, were firmly told to leave after knocking on one door in their search for right-of-way easements for the connector. Some property owners were embroiled in separate disputes with the town, making them less amenable to allowing the greenway.
“Most folks were really happy to talk to us, but they wanted to understand completely what they would be giving up, how much it was going to affect the value of that property and whether or not they would be able to access it,” Harris said. “There were a lot of questions that needed to be answered.”
Harris and Cable showed that the greenway’s route had been designed to have the least possible impact on the privacy and value of the properties, running along their farthest boundaries and on the other side of a creek, wetlands and a 100-foot natural gas easement. Much of the greenway will be boardwalk to minimize ecological impacts.
Trent Gazzaway and family, which lives off Shearer Road, took a little time to think before agreeing to let the greenway cross the back end of their three acres.
There was a risk that people would intrude on his property, Gazzaway said, either from the trail or by parking on the street and cutting across their property to reach it. The town agreed to put up a fence along the trail. Their street is private so streetside parking isn’t allowed.
“As long as I don’t have people randomly walking across my property, I don’t have much concern,” he said.
The benefits, Gazzaway added, seemed enticing. With a greenway so close, he could build a trail through the woods behind his house so the family can regularly use it. His wife Jill now has to walk the family’s Great Danes along Shearer Road. And Gazzaway believes that, properly done, the greenway can only enhance his property’s value.
In negotiations, the town made clear that it wouldn’t force landowners to accept the greenway by condemning their property.
But maps that showed the missing link as part of a growing network of greenways in and around Davidson helped convince some neighbors of its worth. Hoped-for connections could extend Davidson-area trails to greenways in Iredell County, to the north as far as Mooresville, and in Cabarrus County to the east.
Knox supports a second route connecting Abersham Park, adjacent to Fisher Farm, to downtown Davidson – this one by way of Grey Road. “How cool would it be if we looped that circle all the way around?” he said.
“It was a lot of finagling around and working and being persistent, but we got there,” Cable said. “What I think was significant was explaining to people that this is potentially part of a much grander vision of the Thread Trail. I think that helped some people realize the importance of it and made them feel inspired to say, yeah, this is something that’s probably really, really good to be involved in.”
Some property owners donated easements for the greenway, while others were compensated for the costs of privacy landscaping or fencing. Low-key celebrations followed each agreement, with champagne uncorked in living rooms.
The town expects to take bids for construction of the connector in early 2026.
