Judge Dismisses Chatham Park Lawsuit

Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway has dismissed a lawsuit against the Town of Pittboro that challenged the approval of the Chatham Park Development in a ruling dated December 9.

A release from the group representing the developers says Ridgeway dismissed each of the claims by the plaintiffs for “either lack of standing or failure to state a claim.”

This was the third lawsuit brought by the group Pittsboro Matters, according to the vice chair of the group’s board Jeffrey Starkweather.

“We are a grassroots citizen group that has been attempting to improve the plans for Chatham Park so that it puts the people of Pittsboro and the town in charge rather than an outside developer,” Starkweather says.

The outside developer he is referring to is Chatham Park Investors and Cary-based Preston Development.

Chatham Park is a 7,000+ acre development described as a “live, work, play sustainable community” by the developers that has zoning approval for 22 million square feet of commercial, office and civic space and 22,000 residential units. Developers say it will be “one of the largest master-planned communities in the country upon completion.”

Developers say nearly 2,000 acres will be set aside for park and open space, along with 50+ miles of walking and biking trails.

The development could take Pittsboro’s population from about 4,000 to possibly 60,000 over the next 30 years.

Starkweather says citizens have voiced concerns with the project at public hearings at different stages throughout the process.

Starkweather says, while the judge has dismissed this lawsuit, the group has been able to alter the proposals along the way due to legal action that has been taken.

“I think we did maybe the most significant thing we could do,” Starkweather says. “Which is we gave the town the authority to pretty much decide on whatever is reasonable – the term health, safety and welfare – whatever is reasonable, they could reject or propose changes in all of the things that are going to implement this plan.”

Starkweather criticizes the plan for being “very general and very vague,” without telling residents exactly what will be happening.

Starkweather says town officials have said in the past that some of the group’s concerns, including affordable housing and transit support, would be specified with proposed Small Area Plans rather than under the broad umbrella of the Master Plan. He says the group will continue the discussion over portions of Chatham Park during the authorization procedure.

“We were challenging the Small Area Plan approval process and the Development Agreement approval process,” Starkweather says. “The new town board, which there was an election and there was some change, they would have the authority, if they want to, to strengthen those now. They can vote to change those.

“Unlike the Master Plan, which unless we win a lawsuit can’t be changed, they can change those procedures because they were just policies.”

Starkweather says the group will continue to lobby town leaders over specifics throughout the approval process.

“For an example, on the Small Area Plan process review they didn’t require an environmental impact assessment, which seems to me grossly deficient,” Starkweather says. “And they also didn’t require an official public hearing.

“We proposed there ought to be some kind of a stakeholders group that meets to review these, similar to what Chapel Hill has with their Compass Committee.”

Mitch Armbruster, a partner at the law firm representing the development company, said in a statement, “Obviously, we are very pleased with the judge’s ruling that the Town of Pittsboro Board of Commissioners acted in accordance with the law when granting approvals requested by the developers of Chatham Park.”

Starkweather says Pittsboro Matters will appeal Ridgeway’s decision to dismiss the case.

“We feel that there is a strong possibility this will be overturned,” Starkweather says. “We think the judge made some significant errors.

“Land use is a very complicated thing and often goes back and forth from appeals.”

The first ground breaking for a project associated with Chatham Park was held in December.