Chatham County Board of Commissioners is one step closer to developing the Moncure megasite, which could bring many job and business opportunities to the area.

The Chatham County Board of Commissioners took a vote on Monday and approved the Public Option Agreement for the Moncure Megasite.

This approval gives Chatham County the option to purchase the 987 acre megasite from Moncure Holdings LLC and authorizes the county manager and county attorney to make minor changes to the option before it is finalized.

County manager Renee Paschal says the option was made to insure infrastructure for the megasite.

“The option is being done in the first place because the City of Sanford was awarded a Golden LEAF grant of $4 million to run approximately nine miles of sewer to this site,” Paschal said.

The Golden LEAF Foundation is a nonprofit that helps rural communities transition away from tobacco production using money from a nationwide settlement with cigarette makers.

To be eligible for the foundation’s grant money, the megasite would need to be under public control for the next five years.

Although the cost for the county to secure the option is only $1, the county is to pay the City of Sanford up to $3.4 million to fund the sewer line, according to a contract approved on May 23.

Paschal says the megasite will cost the county $25,000 per acre and can be purchased in parts.

“It does not require us to purchase a minimum amount of land if there is a business we want to locate on the track,” said Paschal.

Paschal says she hopes the developed megasite will attract businesses to the area, such as auto manufactures Toyota and Mazda who recently made an alliance and are looking for possible automobile manufacturing plants in North Carolina.

This option approval keeps the Moncure megasite in the auto manufacturing conversation as a soon “ready-to-go” site that can handle large-scale projects.

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