News 14 Carolina sent a questionnaire to everyone running for office in the 10-county Charlotte viewing area. Read what the candidates for mayor of Waxhaw had to say.

Daune Gardner

Position seeking: Mayor of Waxhaw
Age: 36
Family: Married, no children
Occupation: Business Owner
Hometown: Milton, Florida.
Length of time living in current location: Nine years, in Waxhaw 15 years.

What are your top 3 priorities?

Planning, communication and transparency in government.

How do you consider yourself different than your opponent(s) in this race?

I prefer not to compare myself with others but, rather, to focus on the issues and how my skills, abilities, education and experience qualify me to do the job well. Let’s start with education… I have a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Montreat College in Charlotte and a Master’s degree in Environmental Management from Duke University. The area of focus of my graduate work was Resource Economics and Policy. I have become increasingly involved in the community in the last several years including involvement in the Waxhaw Business Association which I have been a member of since 2004 and had the privilege of being the President of in 2006. I also served as Co-Representative of the Union County Chamber of Commerce in Waxhaw and am a member of the Waxhaw Woman’s Club. I currently serve on the Unified Development Ordinance committee and am a member of the Land Use Planning committee. I have become increasingly involved in what is happening in the governance of Waxhaw over the last few years – attending meetings, speaking at public hearings and engaging and educating anyone who will listen to me about the issues and processes of governance in our community.

If elected, what is the biggest issue facing your constituents over the next term?

Growth. Over the last several years, I have watched the growth in and around Waxhaw come at an ever-increasing rate. It would seem as if it could not accelerate any further, and yet it does. I have grown concerned about the toll that this growth is taking on our charming little town where people know their neighbors and kids still ride their bikes to the park.

We are beginning to see some of the effects of growth both in Waxhaw and in the rest of Union County but what we aren’t seeing, yet, is the impact of those projects that have been approved but have not yet been built. For instance, there is one subdivision in Waxhaw that is not yet built that will easily double the population of the town.

Our infrastructure is already strained; new schools are over capacity before they even open, water and sewer availability for new projects is now being scheduled for two to five years out, and our roads were designed and built to serve an agrarian, rural community characterized by extremely low-density and fairly localized traffic. Now that Waxhaw, as well as the rest western Union County, is becoming a suburban extension of Charlotte in terms of the current pattern of development, the road system needs to be redesigned to alleviate traffic congestion and to make movement around and in and out of Waxhaw convenient and safe.

There is a lot of rhetoric about how we need more commercial growth to keep our taxes low. In the last 12 months alone, we have entertained 12 Conditional Use Permits, (the Wal-Mart CUP was denied and the concrete plant became moot when their rezoning requests were denied) 10 of which were approved and all but two of those are commercial, and there are other commercial projects that were approved in previous years that have not yet been built. Unfortunately, we don’t really know how much commercial, and what kind, is needed nor do we have a sense of what the impacts will be from the projects that are already approved. The only type of projects that we are not considering are industrial projects, which are better in terms of positive budgetary impacts which is what helps keep our taxes in check.

The challenge for us, then, is to stop and think about where we want to end up when we are all built out. We are not the first place in the country to develop so quickly – we can learn from the experiences of others without having to experience all of that pain ourselves. Once we have an idea of where we’re headed, we will need to take stock of where we are, both in terms of what is already built as well as what has been approved that has not yet been built. Only then can we begin to craft a plan and a strategy for getting from where we are today to where it is that we want to go. Building a comprehensive plan for well-managed growth is the greatest challenge for Waxhaw in the next four years.

Gary Underwood

Position seeking: Mayor of Waxhaw
Age: 59
Family: single
Occupation: Retired 9-1-07 Wachovia Bank NA
Hometown: Waxhaw
Length of time living in current location: 17 years

What are your top 3 priorities?

1. Improve traffic and infrastructure
2. Increase commercial business mix
3. Regional issues affecting Waxhaw and Western Union County

How do you consider yourself different than your opponent(s) in this race?

1. Currently serving as Mayor of Waxhaw
2. Long time resident of Waxhaw
3. Served as Waxhaw Commissioner 1991-1998
4. I have been active in community and civic affairs in Waxhaw and Union County for many years. This has given me the opportunity to network with many people on different boards in helping solve many issues.

If elected, what is the biggest issue facing your constituents over the next term?

Roads and infrastructure will continue to be a major concern. With the railroad dividing our town and limited on street parking we will need to be creative in improving traffic flow.

We must increase our commercial business mix environmentally conscious businesses. This is necessary to increase our revenue so that our tax rate can remain affordable.

Working on Regional issues such as water and sewer that affect the entire area.

Candidates are listed in the order in which their responses were received