Practice makes perfect . . .

You know the old saying, "Practice makes perfect." Well, firemen from several different stations converged on an old dwelling Monday night just north of Siler City to work on their skills . . . and burn a house to the ground! The old house, located on Piney Grove Church Road had been condemned and was a good opportunity for firemen to get their training in. After lighting up the inside a few times, firemen from different stations practiced dousing the flames. After a while the home caught on fire for good and the walls came tumbling down. Siler City, Staley and Bonlee Fire Departments, along with Chatham Rescue were on hand to learn and practice how they along with the fire would react.

A small but enthusiastic group of health and recreation advocates gathered at Wren Library in Siler City last week to discuss the possibility of establishing a YMCA in the town.

The group heard a brief presentation by Kim Looby, a network consultant with YMCA of the USA, who explained the process local groups must go through in order to establish their own organization.

YMCAs across the country are locally owned and operated, but they all work under the YMCA umbrella, which provides logistical support in areas such as marketing and development.

Looby told the group that they should consider the needs of residents in the town and they should also look at exactly what they expect their customer base to be.

"You really need a base population of about 25,000 people to justify starting a YMCA," Looby said.

In Siler City, that would mean pulling hard from the population that lives within a few miles of the town.

A donation or reimbursement of town fees requested by Chatham Habitat for Humanity dominated discussion at Monday night’s board of commissioner’s meeting in Siler City.

Executive Director at Chatham Habitat for Humanity Amy Powell sent a letter to the town of Siler City asking for support either through a donation or the town’s budget process.

The town fees are those associated with the development of the Westmont subdivision, located off N. Chatham Ave.

In the subdivision, Habitat is creating 36 lots to be constructed in three phases.

The reason Habitat makes this request of local government, Powell said, is to see how the town can partner with Habitat to help stretch their dollars.

"This is simply a request," she said, "certainly not an expectation."

The fees Habitat is asking to be waived or reimbursed include: conditional use rezoning; water connections; utility inspections; meter setting fee; final plat fee; zoning permit and building permit.

Jordan Lake’s water is already polluted and a proposed subdivision called The Homestead, which would be built on 577 acres near the lake, would only further contaminate the drinking water source, several opponents of the development said at a public hearing Monday.

About a dozen speakers voiced their opinion of the proposal for the Homestead to the Chatham County Board of Commissioners and the county Planning Board, most opposing the developers request for a conditional use permit.

Many expressed strong opposition, saying the lake is too valuable a resource to risk further pollution from runoff and fertilizers that could be generated by the proposed 475 residential units, which would be built near the lake off Big Woods Road.

Jim Granger, a member of the steering committee of Chatham Citizens for Effective Communities, expressed his group’s opposition and he chided the county board for simultaneously planning for compact communities while entertaining proposals for developments like The Homestead which, he said, "epitomize sprawl."