Robert Misenheimer

By Bob Misenheimer

Special to the Citizen

As 2005 draws to a close, it is a good time to pause and reflect on the changes and exciting progress made in Kannapolis over the course of the past several years.

In 1998, city leaders and the community together launched a shared visioning process for what we collectively wanted Kannapolis to look like in 2015. As part of this process, goals were set to plan and manage growth, improve gateways to the city like Dale Earnhardt Boulevard and the "Westside Bypass," and recruit new business and industry with a city-owned business park.

Citizens and government officials decided to place an increased emphasis on marketing, sports and recreation and preserving our community's history.

In addition to setting goals about what Kannapolis would feel like as a place to live, work, play and worship in 2015, the Weaving a Shared Future process established economic development as the city's No. 1 priority.

Happily, we are well on our way to reaching these goals. The Westside Bypass outlined in Weaving a Shared Future is under construction and officially called the Kannapolis Parkway. Childress Klein is working to develop a 275-acre parcel at the Parkway's intersection with I-85 and a group of three firms — Merrifield Partners, Crosland, and the Kellswater Group — announced this summer that they will invest $80 to $90 million to build a commercial center adjacent to the Kellswater Commons neighborhood on the parkway.

The city-owned business park along the Kannapolis Parkway has been a major success. This year it was announced that MarkPiercePoole would begin construction in the spring on a small retail center on the property and a new industrial spec building. The firm also has plans to develop either Class A office space or more retail, depending on market demand.

In November, Haas CNC Racing closed on a deal to purchase land in the Gateway Business Park to build a new 140,000-square-foot facility. This deal brings the 70-employee firm, which expects to add 85 employees over the course of the next several years, to the city.

With the Haas Racing announcement, all the land in the Kannapolis Gateway Park is now fully spoken for. In the coming months the city will work to replicate this successful model by buying land to create a new business park.

Several businesses have chosen other Kannapolis locations this year. Golden Gate Trailers announced plans to move its headquarters to Kannapolis in May. The relocation is projected to create 70 jobs over the course of several years.

Gem Marble and Granite, a high-end stone fabricator, picked Kannapolis and built a new 10,000-square-foot facility that will spur job creation into 2006.

In the past two years, Biscayne Industrial Business Park has seen brisk growth. ECS Enterprises, a CNC manufacturer, built a $1.5 million facility that also houses Carolina Transportation Systems. Falapco Plumbing created 60 jobs at its $2 million facility, and the Tiverton Group located in the park

One key reason these firms and David Murdock have chosen Kannapolis as their preferred place to operate is our high quality of life. As a city, we have made great strides to improve the services offered through our Parks and Recreation Department since our visioning process in 1998.

One area where the city is improving the services offered for sports and recreation is in Village Park. In addition to building the amphitheatre where we hold our award-winning summer concert series, the city recently broke ground on a new multi-purpose building at the park. A train and tracks have been purchased for installation in the park, and architects are working now to design a new train station for this ride.

Long-term plans also include a spray park for children. Planning is underway to make sure that the N.C. Research Campus and Village Park complement one another gracefully.

While our community has made great progress in the face of tremendous adversity over the past several years, we still have much work to do. Our gateway corridors need improvement. There are infrastructure challenges to meet in order to make the N.C. Research Campus proceed on schedule. Our educational institutions are adapting their programs to meet the needs of our citizens as they prepare for our future as a technology center.

That said, 2005 has been an incredibly bright and positive year for Kannapolis. As we move into our Centennial Year of 2006, we stand at the edge of a new era. Luckily, the foresight of our community has laid the groundwork to help Kannapolis compete and prosper over the next decade.

Bob Misenheimer is mayor of Kannapolis.