Pittsboro Place is not for me

By Scotty Young
Posted Monday, August 6, 2007

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Pittsboro, NC - I am Scotty Young. I have lived in Chatham County since October 2006 when my partner Diane Swan and I moved to Bynum to live. I have lived in various places in Orange County since 1979. This is my home andI love this part of the world.

I was at the zoning meeting on Monday last concerning the rezoning of land off of 64 and Industrial Park Drive. I learned much listening to Developers and Citizens presenting their thoughts, feelings, ideas and plans about the idea of having the proposed Pittsboro Place become a reality on the outskirts of Pittsboro.

I learned that Pittsboro has a town use plan that is apparently a plan in process, and not yet complete. I really like that, having a land use plan sounds like an incredibly smart idea to me, what also sounds smart is for the town of Pittsboro to finish the land use plan before even thinking of considering any rezoning, especially for a project on the scale of Pittsboro Place.

I feel that PP as the developers presented it on Monday last is much too big and out of scale for the town of Pittsboro. Bringing a minimal amount (if any) of locally owned and operated businesses, and a plenty of large corporately owned companies that breed greed, excess consumerism, and attract huge throngs of people in cars.

I am not against growth, I am interested in seeing the growth that we are experiencing and likely to keep experiencing consciously managed so as to reflect the practical and aesthetic hopes, dreams, and passions of the residents of this area. I know that we have caring careful people in Pittsboro and Chatham County who have the wisdom and energy to act in these and all matters as a community with values that each of us aspire to. We do not need to let others, especially huge corporations that bribe or lure us into creating community in Pittsboro that serves their need for power and money. They will tell us that we need what they have to offer.

I feel that a movie theater and various shops are a good idea for this area. There are several if not many places in the down/uptown 64 corridor that would provide a location for such ventures, some places already have structures on them that could be potentially reused and or renovated. If there are other big box corporately owned businesses that we decide to place in this area, there is the 64 Bypass, 15-501 area that I believe is already zoned for this kind of development that I feel is so much more appropriate than overwhelming the downtown area of Pittsboro.

This is the one and only Pittsboro, North Carolina that we have. Let’s not rush into a plan that we have not carefully considered and approved as the caring community we are.