200 attend hearing on Pittsboro Place

Proposed are 320 homes, 1.3 million square feet of commercial, retail space

PITTSBORO -- The debate continued over the proposed Pittsboro Place development as 200 people crowded into the Chatham County Superior Court room Monday night.

The development is proposed to include as much as 1.3 million square feet of commercial and retail space as well as 320 homes. It would be on about 120 acres on Industrial Park Drive, currently owned by private real estate company Pittsboro Place Partners LLC. The project would be built over 10 to 15 years at a cost of as much as $600 million.

The company has asked the town board to rezone the property from commercial and industrial to mixed use planned development.

But the project has sparked a public outcry among those who believe it will bring pollution and traffic, and ruin the charm of this town of 2,500.

Citizens at Monday's hearing also expressed doubts about the developers' intentions, asking why they haven't revealed the names of their investors and why they haven't yet named any potential tenants.

Carol Hewitt suggested that Pittsboro Place Partners might plan to resell the property for a profit after rezoning.

"There's a gold rush going on," she said.

Pittsboro Place manager William Jackson said his company fully intends to develop the property.

"We have a history of building things, not flipping things," he said.

The MUPD zoning is fairly flexible, Pittsboro town planner David Monroe said, allowing for all of the Pittsboro Place's proposed uses, including a movie theater, retail, restaurants, a bowling alley and a hotel.

Jackson says the company will be able to build on the land with or without the rezoning, but that only an MUPD zoning would allow certain desirable uses such as a movie theater.

"We would continue to develop the property, just more in a piecemeal fashion," he said in a phone conversation.

Much of the land is currently zoned for heavy industrial uses, and some Pittsboro Place opponents say they'd like to keep it that way.

Cindy Perry spoke on behalf of Lyle Estill, founder of Piedmont Biofuels, a plant-based fuel manufacturer located behind Industrial Park Drive.

Perry asked that the board reconsider before rezoning what she described as the last chunk of industrially zoned land in town, explaining that Pittsboro would benefit from more companies like Piedmont Biofuels instead of commercial and office space.

"Industrial zoning does not have to mean smokestacks," she said.

Pittsboro Place Partners attorney Gray Styers said the proposed plan would leave 88 acres of industrially zoned land on the property, and that there are plenty of other industrially zoned properties in town.

Jackson says an upscale development would only attract more high-paying jobs to Pittsboro. Employees want a place to shop and eat before and after work and during lunch, he said.

He also says his company has the resources to fund a search for desirable tenants, including a potential medical facility.

"We bring a great deal to the table," he said.