PITTSBORO – Preston Development INC. is planning a new project for Pittsboro called Chatham Park.

The new project would be a long process taking 30-40 years, but could bring many new aspects to the town like medical facilities, parks, trails, houses, and businesses.  Consulting Planner for Chatham Park, Philip Culpepper, says that Pittsboro and the people there will not be left out of the project.

“We will be a part of Pittsboro,” Culpepper says. “We’ve already annexed portions of the property into Pittsboro. We consider Pittsboro, its historic downtown, and the people of Pittsboro an integral part of what we are trying to do.” Culpepper said.

Several developments in Chatham County like Briar Chapel, Powell Place, and Westmoore have tried to blend businesses with housing, but have had little success.  Culpepper says that they have a different plan to bring in business and that they will not focus on retail like these other developments.

“We’re looking at more of broader range, of not only retail, but medical facilities, light industries, office parks, things like that,” says Culpepper. “So it’s a much broader range and we’re already seeing the demand. We anticipate building a medical office facility here very shortly.”

Currently Preston has several projects ranging across the state.  When asked why Pittsboro, Culpepper says it seemed like the next big area for the Triangle.

“Seeing it as the next logical location for development to occur,” Culpepper says. “Wake County, a lot of development has taken place to the west side of Wake County. Jordan Lake comes in, realizing the demand was going to be there, realizing that we wanted to put a quality project there so that the demand could come into a quality development rather than being scattered across the county.”

Culpepper has worked with Pittsboro commissioners for the past eight years on planning this project and has faced almost no opposition. A few people have complained that the town will have to provide the infrastructure for the development.  One of the owners of Preston Development, Tim Smith, says that this will not be a problem because the company is planning on building the entire infrastructure themselves and possibly giving it over to the Town in the future.

“We’re not asking the citizens to pay for anything,” Smith says. “We’re going to pay for our own water lines, our own sewers, own sewer plants, and we going to generate enough tax revenue to go back to pay for anything that the Town would require to give us like fire, police, and all that; so we’re paying for everything. This project will not cost the citizen of Pittsboro one cent, not one cent.”

Preston development is also a member of the “Clean Tech” cluster, a world-leading user of energy saving devices.  Smith says that as a member of the “Clean Tech” cluster the developers plan on using the green technology from the RTP area to make the development as new and modern as possible.

“Everything that we can possibly do, everything that’s new we want to use it,” Smith says. “If something comes out next year that’s better, we intend to use it. So we intend to use everything that’s available to us that’s why we’re a member of this Clean Tech cluster. They’re going to provide us with all their expertise and use our project as a model demonstration project for the world, so we’ll be a world demonstration project for all the newest things that come out.”

The Chatham Park development may grow past the current 7,120 acres of land that are already owned.  Smith says he hopes that in 40 years he can look at the development and be proud of everything that they achieved.  Smith also says they want to work with local contractors and businesses when developing Chatham Park to include the community in the development.

Below is a map of the proposed site for Chatham Park in relation to Pittsboro.  On Saturday, the Town Commissioners are having a meeting to discuss some aspects of Chatham Park with their staff.

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