Neighbors urge caution on proposal

By Randall Rigsbee

For nearly five hours, opponents of the proposed 180-home, 294-acre Booth Mountain carefully outlined to Chatham County commissioners their concerns about the plan, from fears that it will worsen an already problematic traffic situation to concerns about the proposed wastewater treatment plan and potential impacts on neighbors.

“Unpeel the onion,” Tom Franks, a resident of The Preserve who brought concerns about the development’s proposed wastewater treatment facility urged commissioners, “and understand exactly what you’re signing up for.”

Franks was one of about two dozen speakers who voiced concerns about Booth Mountain, which MacGregor Development Co. seeks to build off Lystra Church Road and Jack Bennett Road, during a more than five-hour public hearing Monday night.

“My plea to you is to not force some folks to live with their heads in the sewer while others make a profit,” Franks said.

Most speakers urged commissioners to reject the development proposal and others urged that, if approved, the plan be carefully scrutinized.

Daniel Addison, who lives adjacent to the proposed development, said the area doesn’t need another development with average home prices at $400,000.

“It’s a radical change from the surrounding area,” he said, noting that present surrounding development is “large, multi-acre wooded home sites.”

more- See Thursday, October 7 paper: Vol 84, No.45

Developer plans 1,546 new homes

By Cara Rotondaro

An application for the biggest development to hit Pittsboro yet was delivered to town hall on Monday at 4 p.m., said Town Planner David Monroe.

The proposal is “River Oaks,” a mixed-use development across the street from Northwood High School on 773 acres of land, just east of town.   

The Toll Brothers group, the developers responsible for Brier Creek in Raleigh, is proposing 1546 residences on the property.

They are planning on building roughly one residence every two acres.

It’s not an incredibly dense development, Monroe said.

Still, he said, it is bigger than Pittsboro planners have yet come across

With Powell Place now undergoing approval for its first phases, there is no doubt that the town will have a lot to contemplate in the next few months.

The Toll Brothers plans would include rezoning the land, now zoned for residential use, to MUPD or mixed use development.

In addition to houses, townhouses and condominiums, the application includes plans for a community activity center, hiking and biking trails, a golf course, and public school site.

The developers project an 11-year build out for River Oaks.

Mainly, said Monroe, what the town is looking at is a proposed upscale residence development.

more- See Thursday, October 7 paper: Vol 84, No.45

By Randall Rigsbee

Linda Harris first envisioned a memorial to honor area veterans three years ago, but the project was put on hold while she and her Goldston neighbors focused their energies on building a new town library.

But now, with the new Goldston Library built and opened for business, Harris has recently resurrected her idea, helped establish an eight-member committee to see the plan to fruition, and is working to raise the $30,000 that will be needed to build the memorial, which will occupy a space on the library grounds.

Harris said she has long felt local veterans deserved the honor.

“We need to do something to honor our veterans,” Harris said in an interview last week. “We’re in the middle of a war now. We should honor our guys who are there in Iraq and the ones who have already served. It’s so important.”

It’s not a new cause for Harris.

A few years ago, she was instrumental in establishing a local parade for Veteran’s Day.

While neither she nor her husband is a veteran of the US Armed Forces, she’s committed to honoring their service.

“It’s just something I’ve had an interest in,” she said, “something I think we need to do.”

The memorial, which has been designed and will be built by Chatham Monument,  will consist of a 4-foot-by-8-foot black granite wall, bound on either side by two 4-foot-by-6-foot gray granite walls.

more- See Thursday, October 7 paper: Vol 84, No.45