Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2014 14:29:05 -0400
From: Pittsboro Matters
Subject: Pittsboro Matters and Local Residents File Lawsuit Challenging
Approval of Chatham Park
Pittsboro Matters and local residents filed a lawsuit on Wednesday August 6 challenging the Pittsboro Town Board’s June 9 re-zoning approval authorizing Chatham Park.
The lawsuit, filed by expert land-use planning attorneys Robert Hornik Jr and Nicholas Herman of the Brough Law Firm in Chapel Hill, claims the Town Board violated the state constitution, state statutes regulating local land-use zoning approvals and the town’s own zoning requirements. Plaintiffs state that the approved master plan and rezoning is inconsistent with the town’s recently adopted land-use plan, a specific requirement of North Carolina law. Plaintiffs also assert that the development is not in compliance with the town zoning ordinances, including the Planned Development District (PDD) ordinance that was proposed by Chatham Park Investors and adopted by the Town Board in 2013 to guide the approval and implementation of their proposal. Additionally, the lawsuit asserts that the PDD and master plan are unconstitutional in that key regulations contained in each are so vague as to be unenforceable.
The lawsuit asks the court to overturn the approval of the PDD ordinance and both the master plan and rezoning of Chatham Park. It also asks for the Town of Pittsboro to be enjoined from issuing any permits for the development. The Town of Pittsboro and Chatham Park Investors entered into an agreement approved by the Town Board on June 23 that calls for Chatham Park Investors being responsible for any legal challenges to the town’s approval of their master plan and rezoning. The town taxpayers are not paying for the legal expenses to defend this lawsuit.
“We are not seeking to stop Chatham Park,” said Pittsboro Matters board member Amanda Robertson, whose home is adjacent to the Chatham Park property. “Instead we seek to greatly improve the process for implementing this massive development and to enhance its quality in a manner that protects and respects the environmental resources, small- town character, and quality of life of Pittsboro and its citizens. By approving this project without incorporating either Pittsboro Matters’ recommendations or the most important recommendations of the town’s paid planning consultant, the town board essentially put the Cary-based Chatham Park Investors in the driver’s seat to control Pittsboro’s destiny,” Robertson added. “We want to use this legal action to put Pittsboro and its local residents back in the drivers’ seat.”
“We believe we have a strong legal case and are willing to litigate to the fullest extent required,” said Pittsboro Matters board member and longtime town resident Jeffrey Starkweather. “We also would be happy to sit down with representatives of the town board and Chatham Park Investors to resolve this action in a manner that revises the master plan to meet reasonable conditions set out by Pittsboro Matters, town residents, and the town’s expert consultant.
You can read the entire press release and the complaint filed Wednesday, August 6, in Superior Court in Pittsboro on our website at http://pittsboromatters.org/.
If you would like to support this citizen lawsuit you can make tax-deductible donations to Pittsboro Matters on line through our PayPal account at http://pittsboromatters.org/join-us/donate or by mailing a personal or business check made out to Pittsboro Matters, Inc., P.O. Box 1001, Pittsboro, NC 27312.