Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 12:37:08 -0400
From: “Jeffrey Starkweather”
Subject: Pittsboro matters wants to work cooperative with the town board
The following statement was presented to the Pittsboro Town Board Monday as part of my personal public input. For folks who do not know what Pittsboro Matters is about, I believe this short statement provides a summary the values and objective of Pittsboro Matters regarding the proposed Chatham Park, which would be the largest master planned community in the history of North Carolina. Reacting to this massive rezoning request involves an incredibly challenging land use issue for a small town of 4,000 residents with a highly qualified but extremely professional planning and environmental staff to address. Chatham Park Partners is requesting to locate a 55,000 RTP type mixed use development within the planning jurisdiction of Pittsboro. The resulting expanded town would have more residents than Chapel Hill.
Chatham Park Partners has no legal right to this rezoning. It is a legislative matter within the complete control of the Pittsboro Town Board. There is no legally required time table for the town to respond to this rezoning request. This should not be approved unless the town board and Pittsboro area residents are fully satisfied that the have been able to revise the original flawed master plan to be in the best interests of Pittsboro and Pittsboro area residents. And that will take brining in outside experts to advice the town and extensive citizen input into the design of this development.
Here is that section of the statement from my public input Monday referred to above. Mine was one of about a dozen public input statements from Pittsboro Matters’ supporters providing their own take on this same basic message.
While I do not speak for Pittsboro Matters, I am very proud to be an active participant in this growing grassroots citizen organization. Pittsboro is a unique form of citizen advocacy concerning a major and controversial land use issue. It is a diverse group of town, ETJ, and Chatham residents, businesses, farmers, and non-profit board and staff members. What makes it unique is that we are neither for nor against this development. Instead, we are offering an unusual gift to the town in terms of citizen advocacy – we want to help engage a diverse cross-section of our community’s residents and
stakeholders in a cooperative and collaborative process with the town and developers. We want to use this public input process to make sure this becomes the most sustainable, prosperous, and equitable master planned community possible. We want to help make Chatham Park a development that not only does not destroy what we all love about Pittsboro and Chatham County, but actually enhances our existing town and local businesses and the quality of life of all residents, regardless of race, land ownership, income or wealth.
Pittsboro Matters received an extremely positive response from the Pittsboro Town Board Monday.
Check out resident and local expert analysis of this development on the Pittsboro Matters website as pittsboromatters.org. While you are there please sign its non-controversial petition, as well as sign up as Pittsboro
Matters’ supporter and receive our newsletter.