From Maydha Devarajan, Chatham News + Record
Pittsboro Town commissioners heard a status update on the town’s Land Use Plan during the board’s Monday night meeting.
Janie Phelps, a planner with the town and acting planning director, presented the update during the board’s meeting at town hall. The board originally adopted the Land Use Plan in October 2012; the town is now updating the plan, soliciting feedback from community stakeholders through interviews and a survey. The Land Use Plan sketches out a town’s vision for the future and offers suggestions for achieving that vision, and guides policy, funding and infrastructure decisions.
The survey was distributed Sept. 30, and Phelps said so far there are 97 recorded responses and the town is working toward translating the survey into Spanish.
The town will have a second steering committee meeting on Oct. 18 and plans to announce the date for a community meeting to be held in November. Phelps said the draft of the Land Use Plan update should be coming to the board of commissioners in January for discussion and a decision on adopting the plan.
Commissioner Kyle Shipp said he hopes, in the future, the town updates the plan with greater frequency.
“I would hope that we do this every three, four, five years going forward, particularly with the growth that we have,” Shipp said. “So even though it is a big deal, it’s not as big of a deal as— we’re going to do it before 10 years, and we can change it obviously with every rezoning that we do. So let’s get good and not perfect and get it done.”
Mayor Cindy Perry said it’s also important to consider that stalling rezonings, whether due to the Land Use Plan or wastewater issues, is going to “come back on this board.”
“We all have a vested interest in being able to move things along,” Perry said. “… And the constituent frustration probably needs to be addressed or at least talked about so it doesn’t come back as a criticism to the board.”
Commissioners also heard an update on the Sanford sewer force main infrastructure project from Town Engineer Kent Jackson. In the past week, the town advertised contracts for construction bids in the Raleigh News & Observer, on the town website, and in the News + Record. The consultant, the Wooten Company, and staff will have a conference at Town Hall on Oct. 25 to answer questions from prospective bidders, and the opening date for bids is scheduled for Nov. 8.
In September, the Wooten Company, on the town’s behalf, applied for a $10.5 million construction grant from the N.C. Division of Water Infrastructure to supplement the funding for the project. Jackson said he expects to hear back about grant approval status in January.
“As we anticipate with everything with the bidding climate that the bids may be slightly higher than anticipated,” Jackson said.
Jackson also said that prior to former Town Manager Chris Kennedy’s departure, Kennedy sent a letter to the Local Government Commission and the Division of Water Infrastructure requesting a loan increase request. The request was approved last week, bringing Pittsboro’s loan approval amount to $26.5 million, Jackson said.
The board also unanimously approved staff to apply for a Rural Transformation Grant through American Rescue Plan federal funds to develop the Lewis Freeman Memorial Park. The grant has three categories, of which Pittsboro plans to apply for the Community Enhancements for Economic Growth category.
Parks and Recreation Director Katy Keller presented the item, and said the goal was to implement the design given to the department several years ago with some minor modifications based on discussions with the town and department’s Advisory Board.
The future park will sit on one-third of an acre along Rectory Street between West Salisbury Street and West Street, and is named for the first recorded free Black settler in Pittsboro.
The maximum grant amount is $950,000; Keller estimates the town would apply for $750,000, though said she won’t have an active price until construction documents come in. The deadline for submissions is Nov. 1.
The board also went into closed session at the end of the meeting for the purposes of consulting with the town attorney. After around 40 minutes, the board returned, and Perry said the item discussed in closed session will be brought back to the agenda for the board’s upcoming meeting on Oct. 24 for definitive action.
Other business
- Commissioners voted to approve a series of zoning text amendments to Pittsboro’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) as well as a consistency statement for the Land Use Plan.
Dan Sundberg is a landscape architect and the chairperson of both the Chatham County Historical Association Board and the county’s Appearance Commission. Shortly before the town approved the UDO amendments, Sundberg spoke about the work of the Appearance Commission to retain Chatham’s rural character and lifestyle by promoting “context-sensitive design” during the public comment hearing.
The work to establish plant lists initially began with the intention of becoming an interim set of guidelines while the UDO was being contracted with Chatham County. Because the UDO has “picked up the pace,” Sundberg said the list of recommended native, cultivar, and exotic plants and the list of invasive plants are directly integrated into the Chatham ordinance. The plant lists are intended to encourage greater diversity of Chatham’s plant palette and to contribute to a cohesive sense of place.
“You have an outstanding chance to make Pittsboro really special,” Sundberg said. “It doesn’t need to be the same. Don’t start from a plan that’s been adopted by so many other communities and towns — start from scratch.”
- The board unanimously approved sponsorship funding up to $3,200 for the Rotary Club of Pittsboro for the Pittsboro Street Fair, which takes place on the last Saturday of October. The Pittsboro Business Association also requested up to $6,975.50 for the Pittsboro Christmas Tree Lighting Celebration, which was approved with the stipulation that any funding previously allocated by the board for the Pittsboro Summer Fest (that had been canceled in July) would be applied to the request and that funds for the Summer Fest would be forthcoming.
- Commissioners considered truck route alternatives to direct trucks to avoid Pittsboro’s downtown, by relocating the U.S. 15-501 route to either N.C. 87 or Chatham Park Way. Morgan DeWit, project engineer, said all trucks are allowed to go through downtown currently; route designation requires a three-step approval process with multiple agencies including the N.C. Dept. of Transportation. Some commissioners expressed that they believed the choice for an alternative route wasn’t binary, as trucks are restricted on some portions of the highway, and that they felt like they had received conflicting information from the DOT. The board decided to submit a list of their questions to DeWit to seek answers at the upcoming Triangle Area Rural Planning Organization on Thursday, Oct. 13.
The commissioners’ next meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 24, at the Chatham County Agriculture & Conference Center.
Chapelboro.com has partnered with the Chatham News + Record in order to bring more Chatham-focused stories to our audience.
The Chatham News + Record is Chatham County’s source for local news and journalism. The Chatham News, established in 1924, and the Chatham Record, founded in 1878, have come together to better serve the Chatham community as the Chatham News + Record. Covering news, business, sports and more, the News + Record is working to strengthen community ties through compelling coverage of life in Chatham County.
