Greenprint

Greenprint is a guide for a community to grow while preserving and enhancing its natural assets. 

These natural assets – street trees, woodlands, streams, lakes, wildlife, and open spaces, from farms to campuses – are valued not only for their scenic and recreational value but also their role as green infrastructure. They enhance our quality of life (not to mention our property values) by tempering our flood problems, winds, and climate, helping to cleanse the air and water, and enriching us spiritually, physically, and socially. 

Despite very progressive planning ordinances, the loss of these assets is apparent. To address this loss, Davidson's planning staff and the Davidson Lands Conservancy received funding from the Town and the NC Division of Forest Resources to develop a plan that began with an inventory of those assets throughout the town and the ETJ, from the lakes on the west to the Rocky River on the east.

A Stakeholders Committee of community members, chaired by Davidson Lands Conservancy president David Martin, provided oversight for the study. Public participation and comment was solicited periodically through forums and information tables at various community events. 

Davidson Planning Director Kris Krider sums up the potential benefit of the study as follows: “With this ‘Greenprint’ we have an opportunity to chart a course to aggressively plant new trees in all parts of town, protect the ones we have as long as possible, and make wise decisions about the location of development to ensure that 100 years from now, Davidson is even greener.”