Projects may go on hold

Chatham County considers putting a moratorium on new subdivisions for at least a year

PITTSBORO -- Nearly 15,000 new homes have been approved for construction in Chatham County. The Chatham County Board of Commissioners thinks that may be enough for now.

Commissioners say the county may need at least a yearlong moratorium on new subdivisions.

The county needs time to write ordinances covering issues such as lighting and development along its major highways, commissioners said Monday. It needs time to figure out where to get the new residents' water and where to send their treated wastewater.

"Generally, I'm not in favor of a moratorium," said Commissioner George Lucier, who was elected last fall. "But in this county, we have to take a step back and get some things in place."

"I think we're past due," said Commissioner Patrick Barnes, a longer-serving board member who has voted against much of the development.

The commissioners still have details to work out, such as how long a moratorium would last and whether it would include commercial development. They plan to continue discussing it April 16.

"I certainly don't want to limit economic development," said Commissioner Tom Vanderbeck, "but there are some things we may not want."

The board's moratorium discussion followed a Triangle J Council of Governments presentation that showed Chatham was the eighth-fastest-growing county in the state in 2006.

Paul Black, a Triangle J planner, said the eastern half of the county is expected to swell from about 34,000 people now to 117,131 in 2035.

That many people would require 15 million gallons of water a day in addition to the 2 million the northeastern part of the county already uses, Lucier said. That means a $32 million contract with Harnett County to buy up to 6 million gallons of water a day won't cover the county's needs.

"Unless we get additional [water] allocation on Jordan Lake, we'll have a tremendous water shortfall," Lucier said.

So the commissioners agreed to make a formal request to the state's Department of Environment and Natural Resources for more water and sewage-treatment capacity.

They plan to ask DENR for 19 million gallons of water per day -- half of the remaining allocation on Jordan Lake. And they will request 19 million gallons of wastewater capacity even though DENR recently denied Chatham's request to send treated wastewater into the Cape Fear River Basin because it had already granted other local governments' requests.