Date: Sun, 23 Feb 2014 23:09:29 -0500
From: Tom West
Subject: Lawrence Group finds Pittsboro Matters making false claims
The small imaginary Pittsboro Matters group states on their web page that “Chatham Park fits somewhere between Pittsburgh, PA and Baltimore, MD.”
(http://pittsboromatters.org/
Graph at
http://imediagraphics.net/
It appears that this was another false claim by Pittsboro Matters. In response to question 7 of the report, the Lawrence group choose to “respectfully disagree” (a polite way of saying that Pittsboro Matters lied)
From the full report at http://pittsboronc.gov/
See item below.
7. We had some citizen input [Pittsboro Matters] suggesting that the densities proposed by Preston Development are higher than what is currently found in major metropolitan areas though out the entire 7,100 acres. I sincerely hope that this is not true and that this type of density, to the extent that it will occur at all, will only be in the five activity centers. We need some analysis from the consultant to debunk this notion if it is erroneous. If it is not erroneous, that could be a show stopper.
*LG Response:* *We have also read suggestions by interested parties that the development rivals the population density of the city of Baltimore (across its 92 square miles). We respectfully disagree and would suggest that it’s not an apples to apples comparison.
The overall gross residential density proposed by the applicant is 22,000 dwelling units across 7,120 acres (-11 square miles). As a gross density, this equates to slightly over 3 units per acre.Most of suburban Wake County and Mecklenburg County are zoned and built at this same density.
Southern Village in Chapel Hill is comprised of 1150 residential units across 312 acres for a gross density of 3.68 units/acre. Some portions of Southern Village peak at 8 units/acre whereas other areas hover below 2 units/acre.
Meadowmont, also in Chapel Hill, is permitted for up to 1298 units across 435 acres for a gross density of 2.98 units per acre.However, the 22 million square feet of non-residential space requested is another matter.
To put this in perspective I have listed other large commercial development typologies:
* Regional Mall (e.g., Streets at Southpoint in Durham): –1.33 million square feet on 125 acres
* PNC Plaza Building in downtown Raleigh: 730,000 square feet
* Raleigh Convention Center: 500,000 square feet* Target General Merchandise Store: 126,000 square feet
* SuperTarget: 174,000 square feet
* SAS Building P (approved in 2013): 244,000 square feet
Coincidentally, Research Triangle Park covers approximately 7,000 acres and is comprised of 22,500,000 square feet of built space. Conversely, Center City Charlotte has approximately 18.4 million square feet of office space within its 2 square mile boundary in addition to its 15,000 residents, convention center, museums, churches, shops, and other amenities. All we can assume is that the applicant is seeking to keep flexibility to develop under two different models — the Research Triangle Campus model or the mixed-use community model.
If Pittsboro Matters has chosen to fib about this, what other false claims have they made up?
BTW, since the leadership of Pittsboro Matters has a tendency to delete their pages once they are caught in a lie I have downloaded a copy of the page for future reference