PITTSBORO — Visitors who enter Pittsboro from the north approach the quaint town passing single family homes with a “Mayberry” vibe and see a classic Southern courthouse in the distance.
Then they see something unexpected: the rotted carcass of a house on the east side of Hillsboro Street — with its peeling paint, broken windows and holes in the roof, it’s as if the town has allowed roadkill to fester on its welcome mat.
“It’s become a long-term eyesore,” said Pittsboro Mayor Cindy Perry. “I get a lot of comments about it.”
In the coming year, though, the town of Pittsboro may roll up its sleeves to force neglectful property owners — like the owner of the house at 196 Hillsboro St., beside The French Connection — to either bring their buildings up to code or demolish them under threats of fines. Theresa Thompson, Planning Director for the town of Pittsboro, says that after years of not having the staff to enforce the town’s ordinances, the town has contracted with a Greensboro company to identify violators, and maybe update the town’s ordinances.
“Right now we’re in a fact-finding stage,” she said. “We’re identifying properties, updating our codes, and then (we’ll) decide on enforcement.” The last time the town went through this was 2003.
In addition to dilapidated buildings, properties with tall grass and junk cars may see citations from the town by the end of the year.
Thompson reports that 25 properties have been identified as violating the current minimum housing standard, and more may follow. The home at
196 Hillsboro St. is on that list of violators.
The building, more than 100 years old, is owned by Deacon Investments LLC, based in Chapel Hill and a developer of many properties in Pittsboro. The company bought it at a forced sale in 2016 for $149,500. The latest tax assessment has it valued $180,818.
CEO Dan Deacon agrees that the house is an eyesore, but has plans to restore it, and has applied for tax credits to make it profitable to fix it up.
“It’s one of those things that I wish was a little bit better in shape or a little worse in shape because it would make my decision easier,” he said. “If it was in worst shape I’d just tear it down, but it has a decent structure to it.
“I love Pittsboro and I’m all for doing things to make it a beautiful town. I think it would behoove everybody to work together.”
Why hasn’t something been done before?
Court records going back 22 years reveal that the town has never taken judicial action to force a property owner to comply with its minimum housing standards, despite state law and local ordinances that would have allowed them to do so.
Thompson, hired about a year and a half ago, can’t explain why enforcement was nearly nonexistent before she got here, but says the codes are there to protect the safety and welfare of citizens.
Dennis Pinnix, CEO of State Code Enforcement LLC, which signed a contract to do code enforcement for Pittsboro in July of last year, said ordinances are also there to protect the value of adjacent properties.
“If I’m causing your property to go down in value because I won’t keep mine up, that’s when it’s important to enforce the codes,” Pinnix said.
It gets even more trickier if the property just looks bad, but isn’t being used for habitation — like the old Village Motel, behind Cafe Diem on Hillsboro Street. It’s also on the main road into town from the north.
Built as the Shady Rest Motel in 1955, the concrete block building with rusted ironwork and a parking lot of crumbling asphalt is owned by Snuffy and Pam Smith.
“The people we got it from ran it in the ground,” Snuffy Smith said. “It was pretty raggedy. I had plans the day I bought it to turn it into retail and some artist studios, and one day led to the next... and it got filled up with junk.”
He now uses it as a storage facility.
“It’s not up to code for a motel and would need extensive renovations to (rent out the space),” he added. “But from my point of view, it’s good enough for what I do with it.”
Perry, the mayor, agrees.
“Appearance Commissions are sort of tricky because what is quaint and funky may very well be, in someone else’s opinion, a total disaster,” she said. “You can’t take away somebody’s property rights without a fairly complex process ... the solution may very well be with the market.”
Fortunately for Pittsboro, it’s attracting plenty of buyers.
“I certainly think the historic corridor and downtown need to have properties that are appealing and interesting,” Perry said, “but I’m just not certain whether I think the solution is to make a local code or not.”