Good news for the town of Mooresville and everyone who wants to preserve Dale Earnhardt’s iconic legacy.
Of course, the town, where Dale owned his Dale Earnhardt Inc. race team and lived nearby, is currently assessing the request by his widow, Teresa Earnhardt, to rezone it for an industrial complex called Mooresville Technology Park.
Now, Teresa doesn’t exactly have the best reputation with fans of NASCAR and her late husband, many of whom even refer to her as “The Wicked Witch of the South.” There are plenty of reasons as to why that is, which you can read more about HERE. Bottom line is, she’s not a favorite among NASCAR fans or North Carolinians, and this is thankfully something we have some say in.
On Tuesday night, there was a huge crowd of almost 200 neighbors in attendance at the town meeting, including Rene Earnhardt, wife of Dale Earnhardt’s oldest son, Kerry, who urged the Mooresville Planning Board to recommend denial of Teresa’s request. The industrial park would sit on 399 acres of beautiful countryside, in one of the less populated areas of the county, on the eastern side of Iredell.
According to The Charlotte Observer, “board member Shaun Hooper made the motion against the request, agreeing with residents that the proposal was out of character with Mooresville’s more agricultural, less populated eastern side.”
Of the 13 speakers who encouraged the board to vote against the proposal, at one point, one of them asked everyone who was at the meeting and opposed to the rezoning to stand up, and the entire crowd stood up.
Literally only one person wants this to happen…
Dale loved that land, and Rene Earnhardt explained just how important the rural community is and what it meant to Dale:
“We are a community in itself. 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.”
Notably, Teresa Earnhardt didn’t show up to the meeting, but rather sent the engineer for her project, Dan Brewer, to speak on her behalf
The board agreed with all of the speakers, voting 8-0 against Teresa Earnhardt’s proposed Mooresville Technology Park. The Planning Board works in an advisory role to the Mooresville Board of Commissioners, which has final say on whether the project can move forward or not.
There is no date scheduled for the commissioners to make a decision yet, though clearly the arguments against this development are very compelling, and I really hope they make the right decision here. Turning Dale Sr.’s land into some stupid industrial complex would be a mistake, and go against everything he loved and worked so hard for.
It’s really sad that his wife can’t see that, but the community is stepping up and ready to fight to keep the land pristine and rural.
I think this sums up a lot of people’s feelings about all of this pretty well…
Now Teresa is trying to sell off Dale’s farm and turn it into an industrial park. Greediest woman alive.
— The Catch Fence ™ (@TheCatchFence) October 19, 2024
