Web Run

Proposed change to watershed ordinance generating waves
[Nov. 16, 2004] The county's watershed protection ordinance won't allow a developer to build 59 homes along the Haw River near Bynum. Bynum Ridge LLC, which hopes to construct 185 homes on 650 acres, calls the ordinance too conservative. But the official who oversaw the drafting of the regulation says it was intended to be stringent and shouldn't be modified. By Herald Sun - WEB RUN

Two more E. coli cases in Chatham
[Nov. 7, 2004] The tally of local confirmed victims of the E. coli outbreak increased Saturday when state health officials added two more Chatham County people to the growing count identified by laboratory analysis, bringing the Chatham total to three. As of 4 p.m. Saturday, the statewide total included 31 people testing positive for the bacterial infection, including the three in Chatham County, two in Durham County and one in Person County. By Herald Sun - WEB RUN

Development, water figure in race for Chatham board of commissioners seat
[Nov. 1, 2004] In a county split on growth and infrastructure needs, the candidates vying for a seat on the county commission don't seem so different. Both are former military men who own family farms in Chatham County, and both support development and county-owned water lines. And both see Democratic votes as essential to their win.

Chatham dump site plan goes to commissioners
[Oct. 18, 2004] The Chatham County Commissioners tonight will consider a land-use plan that inn owner Kim Oglesby says could ruin her business. The Windy Oaks Inn off Old Lystra Road is a quiet haven where couples take their marriage vows and parents relax in an old-fashioned atmosphere. Eight of 10 planning board members say the plan for a pipeline utility company to use 11 acres nearby as a dump site for the next five years is a productive use for the land. By Herald Sun - WEB RUN

Grant 'exciting' for county
[Sep. 23, 2004] Thanks to the N.C. General Assembly, Chatham County is in a position to hire nine additional child protective services workers. That compares to the eight social workers who provide child protective services at this time. The additional employees will allow Chatham to move from double the state standard of 1 worker per 20 child protective cases to the standard of 1 to 10. By Sanford Herald: WEB RUN

Planned Chatham development piques interest of local residents
[Sep. 22, 2004] A packed audience was on hand for a public hearing on a conditional use permit for a proposed Planned Residential Development during Monday evening's Chatham County Board of Commissioners meeting. The development is referred to as Booth Mountain, and the conditional use permit was requested by MacGregor Development Co. The plan calls for 180 lots on 294 acres, off Lystra Church Road and Jack Bennett Road in Williams Township, located in northern Chatham County.

County stands pat on date of Briar Chapel hearing
[Sep. 20, 2004] Despite pleas from a watchdog citizen's group, the Board of Commissioners decided Monday to keep an Oct. 7 public hearing date for the proposed Briar Chapel development. During a commissioners' work session meeting Monday, the lawyer for Chatham Citizens for Effective Communities said the Oct. 7 public hearing date on the massive development five miles south of Chapel Hill is premature. The date conflicts with a statute that says commissioners can receive public comments at a hearing at the last regular meetings in September and November, among other months, asserted Jeff Starkweather, CCEC's attorney. October is not one of those months, he said. By Herald Sun - WEB RUN

Chatham postpones hearing on project
[Sep. 20, 2004] More than 100 people attended the Chatham County Commissioners meeting Monday night, and at least half of them anxiously awaited their chance to object to the latest of a long list of development proposals in the growing county, this one at Booth Mountain. But they never got the chance. Facing a list of 50 speakers from the community, the board decided at 8:30 p.m. to postpone that part of the public hearing until Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. By Herald Sun - WEB RUN

Critics hope to slow project
[Sep. 19, 2004] A group of Briar Chapel critics plans to ask Chatham County commissioners Monday night to slow down the review process for the giant mixed-use development that would be the largest in county history. Chatham Citizens for Effective Communities members said they think the county's zoning ordinance rules out an Oct. 7 public hearing. They say November should be the earliest date for the quasi-judicial session to consider the proposal. By N&O - WEB RUN

Briar Chapel impact debated
[Sep. 17, 2004] Siler City - A citizens group raised doubts Thursday about whether Briar Chapel, the biggest development ever proposed in Chatham County, would indeed pay for itself as developers promise. At buildout, its approximately 6,000 residents would add an additional 31,000 car trips a day and at least $900,000 to the county's coffers, developers' consultants said. Representatives of Chatham Citizens also questioned Newland's assumptions that the housing market would support average home prices of $317,000 in the development. If valuations decrease, that means property taxes collected by the county would decrease, said retired engineer David Stallard. By N&O - WEB RUN

Briar Chapel gets cool response at forum
[Sep. 17, 2004] Walton Haywood lives near Bennett Mountain, on the outskirts of what soon may be the Briar Chapel compact community. For years, he's trekked the natural area, which the plan shows as the future site of 16 housing lots. "There's a lot of wildlife back there," he told Briar Chapel developers at a public meeting Thursday. "My concern is it's a corrider, it's a wildlife corridor. These critters can't pack a suitcase and move out of town." At the second public meeting on the 1,589-acre compact community -- this one in Siler City -- the issue of Bennett Mountain arose once again. By Herald Sun - WEB RUN

Briar Chapel impact debated
[Sep. 17, 2004] A citizens group raised doubts Thursday about whether Briar Chapel, the biggest development ever proposed in Chatham County, would indeed pay for itself as developers promise. Representatives of Chatham Citizens also questioned Newland's assumptions that the housing market would support average home prices of $317,000 in the development. By N&O - WEB RUN

Briar Chapel triggers queries
[Sep. 16, 2004] Briar Chapel's consultants left a public question-and-answer session Wednesday night with a little homework. Experts and lay people alike asked a battery of questions about how developers of the 1,589-acre, 2,389-home mixed proposal would help reduce the development's effects on traffic, the environment and the economy. "Nobody said there won't be any impacts," said Robert Goldstein, an environmental consultant hired by the county to review the proposal. About 160 people attended the forum at the Superior Court room in the county courthouse Wednesday, including about 30 paid consultants on hand to answer citizen questions, and a dozen advisers of the community group Chatham Citizens for Effective Communities. By N&O - WEB RUN

Briar Chapel leaders get loads of questions
[Sep. 16, 2004] Chatham County residents hammered questions at leaders of the proposed Briar Chapel development Wednesday night, pointing out what they said were mistakes in studies looking at the effects of the massive mixed-use community. For more than three hours, those involved with the development defended their plans as area residents voiced their concerns, which spanned from economic impact numbers to library space. By Herald Sun - WEB RUN