It’s rare that you’ll find seven different candidates for the same elected office generally come to agreement on something. But the seven people running for three open seats on the Pittsboro Board of Commissioners may be taking that stance.
The town of Pittsboro is projected to see a sharp rise in population, size and tax base in coming years, particularly with the construction of Chatham Park in the town’s northern quadrant. The development is projected to bring around 60,000 new residents to the town within the next 40 years, and the current commissioners have already been working on outlines for the development.
Commissioner John Bonitz has already been a figure in those discussions, and he says the coming growth was one of the reasons he first ran for office in 2015.
“(It) is what motivates me to ask the people to keep me in service today,” he said. “My goal is to help shape development so that Pittsboro grows in ways we can all be proud of.”
Perhaps the most significant action commissioners can take is work on the town’s Unified Development Ordinance, which outlines rules for development within the town’s limits. Kyle Shipp, an engineer who is running for the office for the first time, said there have been several projects in recent months that “do not have public support” but were approved due to the town’s “outdated guiding documents.” He cited the Eagles gas station on East Street as an example.
“While the developer did work with the town to design an enhanced facade, ultimately this is a poor use of site which will negatively affect Pittsboro’s historic center,” said Shipp, who’s a member of the town’s planning board. “However, due to the town’s outdated Land Use Plan and lack of UDO, it is a completely legal and allowable use of the site, rendering the Planning & Town Boards unable to prevent its approval.”
That desire to retain the same “feeling” around downtown Pittsboro has been mentioned by several candidates. Pam Cash-Roper, a third-generation Chatham County native and retired nurse, says the town is already different than the one she grew up in.
“The bottom line is simply this — ‘It is not if we grow, but how we grow,’” she said. “The how part of the equation is where the rubber will meet the road and where I will find an appropriate balance between growth and the Pittsboro I grew up loving as a child.”
It’s not that candidates see everything with “legacy Pittsboro,” as Bonitz called it, as perfect. Lonnie West, a real estate agent and auctioneer, said heavy traffic around the traffic circle needs to be lessened, as it increases “traffic in residential areas that usually would have few cars,” and properties along some of the main streets need some cleaning.
“In my current profession I am directly involved and know the impact of growth events,” West said. “We must respect the past but not deny that change is here so we have to make decisions that will be the best decision we can make with available information and sound projections.”
Bridget Perry, who works as a cashier and buyer at Chatham Marketplace, says the town was a “great place” when she and her family moved to Pittsboro in 2002 and still is.
“The town has changed quite a bit in the 17 years I have lived here,” she said, “and as a board member, I hope to help guide the new changes the town experiences in such a way that our citizens, newcomers and those who have been here for generations, will still feel it is a great place to live seventeen years in the future.”
It’s likely that Chatham Park’s impact on Pittsboro and Chatham County as a whole will be unavoidable 17 years into the future. The development has seen pushback since it was first introduced to the area, and discussion of various development ordinances have generated long discussions at board meetings. Heather Johnson, another board candidate, said she “support(s) the opportunity that Chatham Park brings,” and added that “cooperation” with developers is “already yielding great benefits for Pittsboro.”
“I am glad we have such an experienced team working with the town on such a large-scale project,” Johnson said. “This sort of well-planned development protects us from the negative impacts that a piecemeal approach would have on our environment; physical, natural, and human. It’s more than revenue. It is a rational approach to development that ensures Pittsboro will have more, not less, influence on our future.”
The impact of Chatham Park and any growth that will come with it will be on the board’s plate during the entirety of construction and beyond. Candidates like J.A. “Jay” Farrell III, a two-term incumbent to the board, say their goal is to retain some of what they say are the town’s best features, like its “small town atmosphere” and “historic downtown.”
Farrell said his goals if re-elected would be to finish the UDO and complete any Chatham Park development pieces. In making his votes, he said, he would seek to “keep the interest of the citizens first if possible.”
Early voting for the Pittsboro Board of Commissioners race begins on October 16 and goes until November 1, and Election Day is November 5.
Reporter Zachary Horner can be reached at zhorner@chathamnr.com or on Twitter at @ZachHornerCNR.