Several sites in downtown Pittsboro will eventually be available for redevelopment, and community members now have the opportunity to weigh in on the future of each.
About four city blocks along and near West Street are currently owned by Chatham County, Pittsboro, the Pittsboro Fire Department, and Habitat for Humanity, but as Chatham County services prepare to move out of downtown, a total of 28 acres will be left for the town to reimagine.
“The county will eventually be relocating some of their offices to a more central campus off Renaissance Dr., so those are county-owned properties at this time,” Pittsboro’s Communication Specialist Caitlin Murphy told 97.9 The Hill last week. “It’s super exciting, not only for Chatham County, but for the Town of Pittsboro.”
The project sites include 22 individual properties and encompass 28 acres of land in downtown Pittsboro. (Image via the Town of Pittsboro.)
The project is a partnership between the county and Pittsboro, and the town government recently launched two surveys to help create a shared community vision for the downtown’s future. The general survey and site-specific survey will both remain open until Dec. 12 at 5 p.m. Each provides community members an opportunity to share what they would like to see at each site, what they value about downtown, and how the town’s identity should be reflected in the future developments. Pittsboro also asked for public input during a community meeting on Nov. 13.
The sites available for development include Chatham County’s Administrative Complex in the heart of downtown, an ABC store, a fire station along Sanford Road, a pop-up park located west of Hillsboro Street, a former library at West Street and Rectory Street, and multiple buildings and park space west of the downtown core.
According to the town, potential redevelopment options could include housing, commercial spaces, civic facilities, and public gathering areas. The project also seeks to preserve Pittsboro’s downtown character, particularly as the town expands with the future Chatham Park, Asteria, and Reeves Farm developments.
The community input step follows the town’s adoption of an interlocal agreement with the county last May, which allows the two entities to collaboratively decide the future of the sites. The next pre-development phases include conducting site and building feasibility and selecting developers for the upcoming projects.
“It’s definitely a five-to-ten year out project,” Murphy added. “This is just phase one, getting the general idea of what the community wants to see. So this is definitely not an immediate turnaround on this project. It’s more a long-term planning initiative.”
To learn more about the project and the downtown surveys, click here.
Featured image by Brighton McConnell/Chapel Hill Media Group.
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