By Everette Pitts
Pittsboro, NC — Pittsboro commissioners took several steps Monday that could reshape the town’s commercial landscape, parks and pedestrian network, approving the rezoning of a former industrial site, formalizing a volunteer restoration program at the proposed Roberson Creek Park and authorizing negotiations for a greenway easement connecting downtown with emerging neighborhoods.
The August 10 meeting also exposed tensions surrounding Pittsboro’s rapid growth. Environmental advocates criticized the town’s conduct in litigation over Chatham Park’s South Village Small Area Plan, while representatives of builders and the local business community urged commissioners to slow down proposed changes to the Unified Development Ordinance and provide clearer policy goals.
In other action, the board adopted an amended development-fee schedule, received an update on delayed on-demand transit service and heard plans for road, sidewalk and downtown infrastructure work. The meeting was held at the Chatham County Agriculture and Conference Center. The town’s official agenda confirms each of the major items considered.
Together, the decisions reflected Pittsboro’s central governing challenge: how to accommodate growth and economic activity while protecting environmental resources, maintaining public oversight and connecting older parts of town with new development.
Former Hydrotube property rezoned for commercial use
The board unanimously approved general-use rezoning case PB-26-225, commonly called the Hydrotube rezoning, changing approximately 5.98 acres near U.S. 15-501 from heavy industrial, or M-2, to highway commercial, or C-2.
The property lies southeast of the Powell Place subdivision and contains remnants of a former industrial manufacturing operation, including pavement and concrete pads. The industrial building was demolished around 2008, according to information presented by the applicant.
Planning staff said the highway-commercial designation is consistent with Pittsboro’s land-use map, which classifies the property as employment mixed use within a mixed-use activity center. The Planning Board had unanimously recommended approval July 20, and town planning staff also supported the request.
Highway-commercial zoning allows a range of retail, office, restaurant, entertainment, medical and vehicle-related businesses intended to serve townwide or regional needs. Because the vote was for a general-use rezoning rather than a site-specific development plan, commissioners did not approve a particular store, building layout or commercial project.
Future development will require additional review under the town’s development regulations.
The property’s history complicated an otherwise straightforward land-use decision. Environmental testing identified chlorinated solvents in soil and groundwater and possible petroleum-related vapor-intrusion concerns, representatives of the property ownership told the board. The site is being considered through the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s brownfields process.
The applicant representative Jody Leidolf said the ownership group had submitted a redevelopment proposal to DEQ and was seeking expedited brownfields review. He said the state had not completed its determination.
“The site’s been vacant for 18 years,” Leidolf told commissioners. “This opportunity to clean this site up and get it back into an economic driver for the town of Pittsboro is really what we’re all about here.”
He described the rezoning as a way to bring the property into alignment with surrounding development and create better connections with Powell Place.
Because the same ownership controls the former industrial tract and adjacent Powell Place property, LeDoux said a future plan could connect commercial areas, housing, trails, sidewalks, protected wetlands and open space more cohesively. He characterized Powell Place Lane as a potential “main street,” with commercial activity closer to the major highway and residential development farther into the property.
Leidolf said the ownership remains interested in neighborhood-scale destinations such as a coffee shop or beer garden, particularly as additional housing increases the number of potential customers. Those concepts, however, were not part of the rezoning approval and remain prospective.
Brownfields designation does not mean unrestricted cleanup
Commissioners repeatedly questioned what the brownfields process would mean for public health, municipal liability and future land uses.
A brownfields agreement is not necessarily a declaration that every contaminant has been removed. North Carolina’s program is designed primarily to make contaminated or potentially contaminated property usable again by giving qualified prospective developers liability protections in return for complying with state-approved land-use restrictions and environmental safeguards.
State guidance distinguishes the Brownfields Program, which emphasizes redevelopment, from the Voluntary Cleanup Program, which is designed primarily to remediate contamination. The state may require such measures as vapor barriers, ventilation systems, environmental management plans, soil-disturbance controls, monitoring or restrictions on sensitive uses. DEQ’s brownfields guidance explains that distinction, while its property-management guidance addresses redevelopment where vapor intrusion may be a concern.
Property owner Edward Holmes told the board that the designation would protect a qualified future owner from liability tied to contamination created before the property was acquired. He said it could also make the land more marketable to prospective commercial occupants.
“Brownfields is really a protection for the property owner to buy the property,” Holmes said. “It has nothing to do with the previous contamination.”
That description captures the program’s redevelopment purpose, but the property-specific agreement will ultimately determine what construction and activities are permitted. DEQ can impose restrictions that run with the land and apply to future owners.
Holmes said certain sensitive activities, potentially including a daycare center or outdoor children’s play area, could be prohibited or limited. New buildings could require testing and vapor-mitigation systems, depending on the state’s findings.
LeDoux emphasized that residential development is not contemplated on the six-acre site. Commercial uses would be planned around whatever containment, construction and monitoring conditions DEQ establishes.
Commissioner John Foley said he wanted assurance that approving future development would not expose the town to liability or compromise residents’ health and welfare. Staff indicated that environmental and site-plan review would continue before construction.
The distinction is important: Monday’s vote changed the zoning map. It did not certify the land as contamination-free, approve excavation or authorize a particular building.
Commissioner Pamela Baldwin praised the prospect of reusing the property but underscored the need for further review.
“We’d certainly need more commercial in town,” she said. “The prospect of reusing this land in a way that is safe is very enticing, and I look forward to learning more about it.”
Volunteer restoration agreement approved for Roberson Creek Park
Commissioners also approved a memorandum of understanding with Rewild Within LLC, authorizing the organization to lead cleanup, invasive-plant removal and native-habitat restoration at the town’s approximately 72-acre Roberson Creek Park property.
The agreement allows Rewild Within to organize volunteers, remove litter, target Chinese privet and other invasive species, spread native seed, apply mulch and free native canopy trees from invasive vegetation. The work will be performed voluntarily, without compensation from Pittsboro’s general operating budget.
The approved memorandum of understanding requires at least $1 million in general liability insurance, signed volunteer waivers, safety supervision and monthly reports documenting hours, acreage, litter removal and project results.
The agreement does not give volunteers unrestricted authority. Herbicides, pesticides, power tools, soil disturbance, excavation, trail construction and work involving hazardous materials require separate authorization from Pittsboro’s parks and recreation director. Rewild Within also must coordinate its work with the park’s broader planning process.
Amy Allen, Rewild Within’s founder and director, told commissioners that eight volunteer projects conducted from February through April drew 79 individual attendances and produced more than 200 hours of work. She valued that contribution at approximately $6,000, using an outside estimate for the economic value of volunteer labor.
Allen said volunteers had manually cleared roughly two acres of Chinese privet and autumn olive. Photographs showed a dense wall of invasive shrubs replaced by a more open landscape where eastern red cedar, black walnut and other native vegetation were visible.
“What is so flipping cool is there are natives coming up that were in the seed bank, ready to go,” Allen said.
Allen said she hopes to expand the work through partnerships with the New Hope Bird Alliance, Grand Trees of Chatham and other conservation organizations. The program could eventually serve as a model for projects at Town Lake Park, along Roberson Creek and elsewhere in Pittsboro, but the agreement approved Monday applies to the Roberson Creek property.
Bird advocates connect habitat work to broader policies
The restoration agreement followed a presentation by Barbara Driscoll of the New Hope Bird Alliance, the local Audubon chapter serving Chatham, Durham and Orange counties.
Driscoll offered to help evaluate Roberson Creek Park for native plants, invasive species and bird habitat. She encouraged the town to preserve a layered landscape that includes canopy, midstory and understory vegetation because different bird species feed, nest and shelter at different heights.
She also urged Pittsboro to consider bird-friendly construction standards, participate in a “lights out” initiative during migration, reduce pesticide use and encourage residents to keep cats indoors, plant native species and leave fallen leaves around trees and shrubs.
The broader science supports her warning about bird declines. Research highlighted by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology found that the United States and Canada lost an estimated 2.9 billion breeding birds — nearly 30% of the total population — between 1970 and 2019. Habitat loss, building collisions, pesticides, outdoor cats and insect declines are among the pressures identified by researchers. Cornell’s summary of the research describes losses across forests, grasslands and other major habitats.
Driscoll said native plants are particularly valuable because local insects evolved alongside them. Caterpillars and other insects, in turn, provide protein for nesting birds.
Her recommendation on bird-safe windows also has a national scientific basis. Cornell reports that as many as 1 billion birds may die annually after colliding with windows in the United States and Canada. Contrary to the common assumption that skyscrapers cause most collisions, low-rise buildings and homes represent a substantial share of the risk. Cornell’s bird-protection recommendations include exterior window treatments, reduced nighttime lighting and native landscaping.
Driscoll said leaving leaves in appropriate areas can preserve insects that overwinter in leaf litter, improve soil and slow stormwater runoff. She recommended keeping leaves beneath trees and shrubs rather than necessarily leaving every lawn entirely covered.
Mayor Kyle Shipp and commissioners expressed interest in a formal ecological assessment of Roberson Creek Park. Commissioner Baldwin said the property, which includes a pond, beavers and a notable black walnut tree, is a special piece of land.
The combined presentations framed ecological restoration as both a conservation project and a community-building effort: trained volunteers provide labor, residents gain firsthand knowledge of public land, and the town receives measurable improvements without committing substantial operating money.
Easement could close a missing greenway link
In a separate unanimous vote, commissioners authorized Town Manager Jonathan Franklin to negotiate a $25,000 greenway easement with the Chatham County Agricultural and Industrial Fair Association.
The town wants to add public greenway rights to two existing 20-foot sewer easements crossing fair association property on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Existing documents allow sewer infrastructure but do not expressly authorize a recreational trail.
Town attorney Paul Messick wrote that Pittsboro and the fair association had discussed the easement since at least August 2025. The fair board was generally supportive but had not formally accepted all terms when the meeting packet was prepared.
The draft easement and authorizing resolution would give the town a permanent right to construct, use and maintain a public greenway while preserving access to the sewer lines. It would allow trail bridges, boardwalks, benches, signs, exercise stations, gates and related amenities, subject to the agreement’s conditions.
Commissioners also approved a budget amendment allocating the money for the potential acquisition.
The easement is small in geographic scale but strategically important. Town officials described it as the missing link between downtown Pittsboro and Roberson Creek Park. From the park, a future trail could continue toward Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and connect with a greenway that Chatham Park has agreed to construct near the Roberts Run Habitat for Humanity development.
That connection could eventually lead to Small Street and the existing Roberson Creek Greenway, producing a more continuous pedestrian and bicycle route through parts of town now divided by property boundaries and incomplete trail segments.
Franklin cautioned that remaining details, including gate locations, still must be negotiated. The authorization gives him the ability to finalize the agreement within the board-approved price; it does not mean construction will begin immediately.
Chatham Park lawsuit brings accusations to Town Hall
Public comment focused heavily on pending litigation involving the South Village Small Area Plan in Chatham Park.
Three organizers with the Chatham Climate Action Network — Mora Dylan, Lenore Yarger and Vicky Atkinson — said their organization entered the lawsuit to preserve public participation and the Board of Commissioners’ legislative oversight as South Village moves from a conceptual plan to more detailed section design plans.
Their comments represented the plaintiffs’ account of contested litigation. The town and Chatham Park did not deliver substantive responses during the public-comment period, and the merits of the case have not been adjudicated in the meeting record.
Dylan said planning staff told commissioners before approval that the small-area plan would not diminish the board’s legislative role. She argued, however, that the written plan and other governing documents did not clearly define the section-design process or guarantee the same level of detail, public engagement and legislative discretion.
She said attorney Megan Kimmel of the Southern Environmental Law Center proposed amendments in December that the group believed would make the documents consistent. When those recommendations received no response, Dylan said, the organization filed its complaint within a statutory 60-day window.
“Our goal, which we also understood to be yours, has never been to stop development,” Dylan said. She described the objective as ensuring “transparency, public engagement and board oversight.”
Yarger alleged that discovery requests from the town mirrored those submitted by the developer and sought names, addresses, property information and internal records concerning the network’s membership. She said a judge had ordered the organization to produce membership information and argued that disclosure could discourage residents from participating in advocacy groups.
She characterized the request as constitutionally suspect and said the plaintiffs were responding through normal legal channels. Because discovery disputes turn on court filings, evidentiary needs and judicial rulings not included in the meeting transcript, those claims should be understood as the speakers’ legal position rather than an independent finding.
Atkinson said the organization wants commissioners to pursue a negotiated resolution that clarifies the town’s authority over future plans.
“We continue to hope for a collaborative resolution and would like to see your advocacy and leadership toward that end,” she said.
Under the board’s established public-comment policy, commissioners did not respond to the allegations from the dais.
Builders and Chamber seek pause on UDO changes
Representatives of the development industry and Chatham Chamber of Commerce raised a different concern: the process surrounding four proposed amendments to Pittsboro’s Unified Development Ordinance.
Ian Scott of the Home Builders Association of Durham, Orange and Chatham Counties said the amendments released publicly July 23 amount to significant policy changes, not routine technical corrections.
Scott said professionals who regularly work with development codes were confused by the proposals’ origin and timeline. He asked commissioners to review a letter submitted by development interests, identify the policy problems they are trying to solve and establish a transparent schedule for consideration.
“These are not minor cleanups,” Scott said. “These are significant policy changes.”
He offered to involve planners, engineers, architects, developers, bankers and attorneys from the association in the review.
Louis Hendricks, chairman of the Chatham Chamber of Commerce, said many chamber members had learned about the amendments only during the preceding two weeks. He said businesses remained uncertain about what prompted the proposals and how much time they would have to respond.
“Slow down, articulate your goals and outline a clear process,” Hendricks told the board.
Neither speaker took a detailed position on the substance of the four amendments. Their criticism centered on notice, timing and stakeholder involvement.
The comments place commissioners between competing demands often heard in rapidly growing communities. Residents and environmental groups want clear standards, enforceable protections and robust public oversight. Builders and businesses want predictable rules, sufficient review time and confidence that technical changes will not introduce unforeseen costs or legal conflicts.
Board amends development-fee schedule
Following a public hearing, the board adopted an amended development-fee ordinance for fiscal year 2026-27.
Town Finance Director Heather Meacham said two charges inadvertently omitted from the previously adopted schedule were restored: a $150-per-acre component for watershed and riparian-buffer authorization and a fee equal to half the original submission charge for amendments to construction drawing plans.
The full development-fee ordinance covers zoning certificates, rezonings, site plans, subdivision review, stormwater inspections and other development services. It retains an affordable-housing payment-in-lieu charge of $120,000 per unit.
Foley questioned whether the affordable-housing charge should be linked more explicitly to the difference between market-rate housing and a home affordable to a household earning 80% of area median income.
Staff said the existing $120,000 figure was not arbitrary. An earlier calculation produced a gap of approximately $156,000, but the town retained the lower charge instead of imposing the full calculated amount.
The discussion also touched on Senate Bill 445, the Regulatory Reform Act of 2026, which could affect municipal development authority. Foley noted that the Senate had approved its conference report 37-0. The House subsequently approved it 84-26, and the measure was ratified and presented to the governor Aug. 6, according to the General Assembly’s official bill history. As of the meeting, it had not yet become law.
Commissioners approved the fee schedule while leaving open the possibility of a future amendment after reviewing the legislation. Any later change to the schedule would require another public hearing.
Transit launch delayed as infrastructure work continues
Franklin told commissioners that the planned launch of Pittsboro’s transit-on-demand partnership with Chatham Transit will likely be delayed until around Sept. 1.
The service, known as TOAD, had been expected to begin in mid-August. Franklin said development of the mobile application and approval through Apple’s App Store had delayed the launch.
He also reported that the town was beginning a fire-department merger study and an economic-development strategic-planning process.
Public works projects scheduled over the coming weeks include shoulder and ditch work near Pittsboro Baptist Church, sidewalk replacement in Potterstone and Chatham Forest, pavement patching, repairs to stormwater structures and improvements on Masonic and East Salisbury streets. The Masonic Street work could create approximately eight additional on-street parking spaces.
A sidewalk trip-hazard project is planned along West, East, Salisbury, Hillsboro and Thompson streets and Sanford Road. Contractors are expected to grind down uneven concrete edges that present risks to pedestrians, particularly older residents and people with mobility limitations.
Franklin said construction drawings and exterior renderings for the new Town Hall were progressing, with a presentation expected in September. Concrete and framing work at Lewis Freeman Park was expected to begin within one or two weeks.
A meeting centered on connections — and the rules governing growth
The August 10 meeting produced no single transformative project. Instead, commissioners advanced several interlocking pieces of Pittsboro’s future.
The Hydrotube vote created an opportunity to convert a long-vacant industrial tract into commercial property, but environmental safeguards and future site planning remain essential. The Roberson Creek agreement enlisted community volunteers in restoring public land while placing safety and ecological limits on their work. The fairgrounds easement brought Pittsboro closer to a continuous greenway between downtown, the park and newer development.
At the same time, public comments showed that procedures may be as consequential as physical projects. Climate advocates want stronger guarantees of public oversight in Chatham Park. Builders and business representatives want a clearer and slower UDO amendment process. Commissioners must also navigate a changing state legislative environment that may alter local development powers.
The central takeaway from Monday’s meeting is that Pittsboro is not merely deciding whether it will grow. It is deciding how contaminated land will be reused, how natural areas will be restored, how neighborhoods will connect and how much opportunity residents and businesses will have to influence the rules along the way.