PITTSBORO - Mayor Randy Voller says the town's request for road improvements into the subdivision he developed off U.S. 15-501 is unreasonable.

Pittsboro town officials drew up a contract two months ago asking Voller to pay for improvements to Springdale Drive, such as turn lanes, traffic-calming devices and repaving.

Once the improvements are made, the town will remove blockades between Springdale Drive and Fox Chapel Lane in Voller's Chatham Forest subdivision. The road would then connect the subdivision to U.S. 15-501.

The mayor, who is president of Voller Realty and Construction, said he has given the contract to his lawyer because he has a conflict of interest as mayor. The holidays delayed discussions, he said, but he said his his attorney will discuss the contract with Town Attorney Paul Messick this month.

Voller said he has always agreed to traffic-calming devices.

But the cost of repaving and extending turn lanes on U.S. 15-501 would be "extensive," he said. The Town Board required neither when his subdivision was approved almost 10 years ago, he said.

"We can't agree to do those," Voller said. "It's not fair to ask people to make improvements five to 10 years after the fact."

Voller said the N.C. Department of Transportation should be responsible for the turn lanes.

But Town Planner David Monroe said it's the DOT, not the Town Board, that's asking Voller to extend the turn lanes.

"Springdale Drive does not generate much traffic right now," Monroe said. "If Fox Chapel is open, the upper third of Chatham Forest will use that to come and go, and that will create traffic on 15-501."

Messick wrote the contract after several Chatham Forest residents asked the town to get the mayor to make improvements so the road could be opened, Monroe said. Currently, all subdivision traffic and emergency vehicles must come through one entrance off Thompson Street.

"We're waiting for him to do the work and sign the contract to get the work started," said Bonnie Iversen, president of the Chatham Forest homeowners association.

Springdale Drive has never been a through street. It was constructed originally to be part of a small subdivision and ended at the boundary of Chatham Forest, Monroe said.

Chatham Forest residents asked the town to make Springdale Drive and Fox Chapel Lane a through street in 2003, which is when the town first asked for the road improvements, Voller said. In 2004, the roads were connected, but the town put a barrier between them pending the improvements.

Voller was elected mayor in 2005 and re-elected for a second term in November.