Pittsboro wrestles with plans for new shops

PITTSBORO -- It was a Monday afternoon, and a wild turkey waddled across Industrial Park Drive, trailing several brown and white chicks.

Taking their time -- there was not a car in sight -- the turkeys disappeared into the woods on the other side of the road.

This rural strip could become home to a shopping complex more than twice the size of Cary's Crossroads Plaza.

The Pittsboro Place development could have 2 million square feet of retail and commercial space and more than 300 residential units at a cost of up to $600 million, if developers are successful. The project, which would be built over 10 to 15 years, could include a movie theater, a bowling alley and various national chain restaurants in addition to retail stores. The land is owned by Pittsboro Place Partners LLC, a private company managed by William Jackson of Carolina Services and Real Estate.

Pittsboro Place Partners has requested a rezoning of the 120 or so acres about a mile from the traffic circle downtown. A public meeting is scheduled at the courthouse tonight to discuss the project.

Some residents say such development is needed and will add vibrancy to the quiet town of about 2,500. Others say it will bring traffic and pollution and drain business from the historic downtown.

"Pittsboro is a very nice town the way it is," said Joyce Kachergis, owner of Kachergis Book Design, just east of the traffic circle.

As it is, Pittsboro is a peaceful place. A weekday afternoon might find a handful of visitors shopping for antiques or having a BLT at the General Store Cafe, across the street from the Victorian-style courthouse, with its weathervane-topped clock tower and its Confederate soldier memorial statue on the lawn.

Drive a mile or so away from the traffic circle in any direction and you'll find yourself amid fields and farmland.

Growth is always contentious, but especially so in Pittsboro. Sitting at the junction of U.S. 15-501 and U.S. 64 in northeast Chatham County, the town is facing development from all sides. To the east are Cary and Apex; to the north, Chapel Hill.

Some neighborhoods are becoming bedroom communities for workers from Raleigh and RTP, changing the demographics of the once-rural area, peopled by old tobacco farmers and ex-hippies who washed up in the 1960s. The town's population is expected to triple in three years.

Some think Pittsboro should slow growth until it develops stronger infrastructure. Others think the town should act now to increase its tax base.

'Growth is growth'

"Instead of everyone leaving Chatham County to do their shopping and working, people will come here," said Pittsboro town planner David Monroe.

"I'm for it," said Michele Wilson, owner of Blue Sky Equestrian, a riding gear shop on Hillsboro Street, the main commercial drag. "Growth is growth," she said.

Ahmed Hasan, owner of Elizabeth's Italian Restaurant on Hillsboro Street, feels the same way.

"The more traffic we're going to have, the more clientele we're going to have," he said. Hasan says diners will continue to come to his pizzeria because his food is fresh and homemade, different from the chain restaurants at a mall.

Offering something different may be the key to keeping a small downtown alive in the shadow of large commercial developments.

"We know for sure that downtowns cannot compete with the malls," said Michael Burayidi, an urban studies professor at the University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh and editor of "Downtowns: Revitalizing the Centers of Small Urban Communities."

Downtown shops need to create a market niche, something that can't be found at the mall, Burayidi said.