In a single decade, Pittsboro has seen major growth in town and its surrounding areas. The establishment of two megasites and one of the largest planned communites in the region within close proximity in the county means land use and infrastructure investment in Pittsboro will reckon with rapidly growing development across Chatham and the challenges of pressing sewer capacity and affordable housing issues.
Over the past several months, the town of Pittsboro, in collaboration with engineering and planning firm Stewart Inc., has been working toward updating a crucial policy-guiding document that touches on all these issues: its Land Use Plan. Now, Pittsboro residents are only a few months away from seeing the adoption of a new plan — more than 10 years after the first one was implemented.
Staff from the town of Pittsboro and Stewart Inc. held two meetings on Nov. 15 at the Old Chatham Agriculture Building as part of a series of efforts to solicit feedback from the community.
Benjamin Cotton, a senior planner with Stewart Inc., discussed where the Land Use Plan update currently stands, noting that the project is now in “draft mode,” which they hope to wrap up by early 2023.
A Land Use Plan is meant to provide policy guidance on development issues such as design and intensity of land use, as well as investments in infrastructure and general town needs. In addition, it provides a long-range vision of a community’s future — looking even 10 to 20 years in advance. In accordance with N.C. Gen. Statute 160D, all municipalities must have a Land Use Plan to guide future development as part of the requirements for zoning.
The plan is intended to be collaborative in nature, much like a “community conversation,” Cotton said.
Throughout the update process, the town has held a series of community stakeholder interviews and steering committee meetings and distributed a community survey, which was posted on the town’s Land Use Plan update webpage and closed on Nov. 20. The feedback from residents is being incorporated into the plan and draft recommendations and goals.
“That’s one of the best parts about the comprehensive planning process, is just giving a chance for the city to come together and hear what citizens are interested in, what their issues are, what they’re excited about,” Cotton said. “And the important thing is that it’s a policy document. This is intended to help guide the city, but it’s not regulatory. It can lay the groundwork for future regulations.”
The Land Use Plan will also include a Future Land Use Map, which showcases the “intended development pattern for the town’s future,” according to the LUP update’s webpage.
Aside from the presentation and opportunity to engage with both Stewart Inc. and town staff, the Nov. 15 community meetings also featured a series of boards spread across the room, depicting drafts of goals, recommendations and the Future Land Use Map and other elements related to the LUP. Individuals were encouraged to write comments on sticky notes and place them on some of the boards.
In general, staff said several key themes were recurring in community feedback, including a desire for increased access to green spaces, more affordable housing and mixed housing unit types, preservation of town character and improvement of utilities and infrastructure. The full results from the survey, which received 573 responses, are expected to be posted to the town’s website later this week.
The six draft goals included:
• Grow strategically by investing in infrastructure, facilities and programs that improve the quality of life for all residents
• Collaborate with public and private partners, state and regional agencies, and neighboring jurisdictions to address cross-boundary opportunities and constraints
• Support a vibrant and energetic downtown with housing, entertainment, employment opportunities, and gathering spaces
• Opportunities for creative placemaking, entrepreneurship, innovation, and the arts
• Balance the preservation of existing neighborhoods with the need to increase housing and diversify housing opportunities
• Protect natural resources with best practices in land use planning, green infrastructure, low-impact development, and conservation design
Pittsboro’s water and wastewater capacities are facing challenges, as demand threatens to outpace space — an issue that is crucial to continuing development. Though the town is looking to regionalize its water and sewer capacities through a partnership with the City of Sanford — which should by 2026 increase both capacities by several millions of gallons — the current limitations are a looming problem.
Jake Petrosky, a planning manager with Stewart Inc., said he was surprised by just how unanimous community feedback was regarding the need for improved utilities.
“I think everybody realizes the sewer issue needs to be addressed,” Petrosky said. “… And that came out loud and clear.”
The development of downtown is a crucial part of the LUP as well, and Petrosky said there are several elements that need to work together in order for it to be successful, noting that downtown is “not monolithic.”
“We want businesses downtown but we’ve got to have sewer capacity to keep them,” he said.
Ultimately, the goal is for the LUP to be updated perhaps every five to seven years, Petrosky said, to grow alongside changing elements of the town.
“So it’s really difficult to anticipate everything,” he said. “[It’s] the reason why, like, this is not meant to be a plan that is set in stone. I mean, we really need to do this every five years or so, and have that conversation — ‘OK, what changed? How can we make this more appropriate for what we’re dealing with right now, and what we see coming and we didn’t see coming last time?’”
As the LUP moves forward, next steps include compiling feedback and analysis into a completed draft, which Petrosky said staff aim to have ready by the end of December. The draft will be available for public comment as the engineering firm works with the town’s planning board on the document at the start of the new year. The board of commissioners and planning board will then give final approval on the LUP.
Again, Petrosky emphasized the importance of community and staff input in shaping the update, which will look to the next decade of Pittsboro’s future.
“It’s a living document,” he said.
A draft of the Future Land Use Map, a project overview, land use suitability analysis, and other documents created by staff working on the project are available to view at nc-pittsboro.civicplus.com/391/Public-Engagement.
Reporter Maydha Devarajan can be reached at mdevarajan@chathamnr.com and on Twitter @maydhadevarajan.