After years of discussion and planning for the master-planned Chatham Park development, Pittsboro recently took a key step in defining what its South Village will look like. The town’s elected officials recently approved its Small Area Plan, despite pushback from the public and some members of its Board of Commissioners.
The Small Area Plan, or SAP, aims to help guide future development for South Village, a 5,000-acre portion of Chatham Park along Route 64 West. At a meeting on Nov. 10, Pittsboro voted 3-2 to adopt the sixth and latest version of the document, which provides conceptual locations for roadways, open spaces, and public facilities. It also outlines proposed uses for the site, particularly 15,000 housing units, research and development hubs, and activity centers. Commissioners John Bonitz and James Vose were the dissenting votes.
South Village’s most updated Land Use Plan, which outlines potential future uses for the Chatham Park development located south of U.S. Highway 64 Business. (Rendering via Chatham Park Investors.)
The final version of the document particularly features clearer language surrounding the Section Design Plan approval process and the legislative process, stemming from feedback by the board and town staff. In an interview with 97.9 The Hill, Mayor Kyle Shipp explained how those updates will hopefully allow for more reassurance about what is required from Chatham Park’s developers.
“We’re going to see the added concept of Section Design Plans, and so we’re going to see a lot more detailed view of these areas as development goes forward,” Shipp said. “And that was probably one of the more confusing concepts throughout the [SAP revision process].”
According to the SAP, that approval process will include a staff review, planning board recommendation, public input opportunity, and a legislative decision by the town board. Other updates to the document include additional requirements for Chatham Park Investors, like holding ongoing workshops with the town to help streamline future site plan reviews and approvals, providing annual updates regarding plans for the upcoming year, and updating the fiscal analysis each year and with a five-year outlook.
While Bonitz said he is grateful Pittsboro will retain legislative authority over the SDP approvals, he said he thought some of the Small Area Plan’s language is still “as clear as mud,” one of the reasons he cited for not approving the current version. As much of the meeting’s discussion centered on clarifying the SAP’s revised language, Bonitz said he thinks the board needs more time to review it and ultimately called the board’s vote to approve the document “rushed policy making.”
“This is really critical stuff,” Bonitz said. “So I know that we now have that [legislative] power and that future boards, these people that I haven’t even met, 30-40 years from now will have that power. That’s greatly reassuring to me, and I’m still concerned.”
More pushback for the Small Area Plan came from the meeting’s public comment portion, where about 30 members of the public signed up to voice concerns for the document and the Chatham Park development. Many echoed Bonitz’s concerns and cited how Pittsboro’s planning board unanimously rejected the SAP on Oct. 20. Former Chatham County Board of Elections member Mark Barroso added how he believes approving one SAP for the 5,000-acre tract limits opportunities for future accountability and flexibility.
“By agreeing to this proposal tonight, you’re giving up leverage by approving all 16 sections at once,” Barroso said. “If they screw up the first one, you can’t hold them accountable in the next 15.”
While opposed by the other commissioners, Bonitz and Vose both argued to table the discussion until January, which would allow time to both clarify the updated document and workshop it with Pittsboro’s newly-elected commissioners Candace Hunziker and Tiana Thurber after they are sworn in in December.
“I really feel like we’ve been rushed on all of this,” Vose said. “I feel like we’ve heard from everybody in town that this is being rushed, that we should take a beat. I’ve asked for red-line documents. If I’m not mistaken, Chatham Park paid something like $750,000 to submit this Small Area Plan, and we got the paperwork Thursday after closing business. Fundamentally, I don’t understand that.”
However, Commissioner John Foley said he thinks the plan will help Pittsboro to focus on the future and increase density in town. He added how some members of the current board have “lived and breathed” Chatham Park discussions for years and shared why he voted to move the SAP forward now.
“This is a planned community. Their product is very good,” Foley said. “They have provided the town a brand new, beautiful $26 million YMCA. I’m not here to defend Chatham Park, but you have to realize what they have given this town. They have given us affordable housing. They’re giving us parks.”
“We’re getting so much from this developer,” he added. “Chatham Parkway is now being extended around the downtown area so that the traffic isn’t congested in our circle.”
Mayor Pro Tem Pamela Baldwin also pushed back against the dissenting commissioners and the members of the public who discouraged a November vote.
“We were duly elected, we are the sitting board, and we have the right to make [this] decision,” Baldwin said. “So we are duly elected, again as I said — by the public also — year after year, and so we do have the right to make a decision whether you agree with it or do not agree with it.”
To view the full Board of Commissioners meeting, click here.
Featured image via Chatham Park Investors.
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