So has talk that the ramshackle trailer park will be leveled to make room for Pittsboro's next shopping center.

A major developer wants the Pittsboro Board of Commissioners to rezone 50 acres the trailers sit on -- across from Northwood High School at U.S. 15/501 and U.S. 64 -- from residential to commercial use. That would put the national American Asset Corporation one step closer to building a 191,500-square-foot, grocery-store-anchored shopping center called Pittsboro Commons.

But the commissioners put a halt to those plans for now after a Monday public hearing that drew many opponents.

They voted 3-2 to not send the rezoning application to the planning board, Mayor Randy Voller said.

"Right now, it's in limbo," he said.

If they want the project to get public and political support, Voller said, AAC officials should hold meetings to talk to people like Larry Wilson. The 62-year-old former security guard, his wife and their cockatiel live at Five Oaks off $900 per month in disability checks.

Though Wilson acknowledges the Five Oaks trailer park is an "eyesore," there aren't many places in Pittsboro he can afford.

"This old trailer I have here ain't much," Wilson said. "But it's mine."

Residential and commercial development has cascaded south down U.S. 15/501, which connects Pittsboro to Chapel Hill.

It was bound to reach Five Oaks, a jumble of 50 or so single-wide mobile homes connected by unpaved roads. Only 13 trailers are inhabited. The rest are abandoned.

Some trailers at Five Oaks are well-kept, their lawns neatly mowed. Wilson's is painted blue with yellow trim. Many others look like peeling tombs swallowed by tall grass.

It was dark and hot last week inside one trailer at a dirt road's dead end. An elderly woman laid awake in bed while two young men watched a TV buzzing with static.

"Developing that place will make such an improvement," said Bob Atkinson, a realtor who helped the American Asset Corporation secure the land.

"It's an excellent piece of property," he said. "And Pittsboro needs the tax base. It's just time."

That intersection is being rapidly developed.

A new Lowe's home improvement store holds down the southeast corner. Another 900-plus unit subdivision is going up in the southwest corner.

Add that traffic build-up to a major morning and afternoon jam outside Northwood High School.

"Our students are precious, but also very reckless," said Efrain Ramirez, one of several Pittsboro residents who spoke against the development Monday night.

A UNC-Chapel Hill-founded home for autistic adults, The Carolina Living and Learning Center, also has mounted a defense.

A bright and busy shopping center would provide too tempting a distraction for people with autism, said staff and relatives of autistic residents.

"They have problems enough without a whole lot of activity bothering them," said Ray Johnsen, who brought his autistic son to the hearing.

The American Asset Corporation just wants to build an "asset to the community," said Joe Dye, executive vice president of the Raleigh office.

Raleigh's Brier Creek development -- a large mix of shops, offices and homes -- is an example of their good work, he said.

"I understand there's going to be progress here whether I like it or not," Wilson said. "But we'll probably have to get out of Pittsboro. All this development is outrageous."

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