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The current Chatham County Board of Commissioners has not lain down on the railroad tracks to stop any of this.
Why do you think that is?
I lived in Chatham County for 2 years and worked there for the better part of a decade. I have many friends there, both transplants and natives. I don't know any people who are excited about the development except for a few people who bought there speculatively and have no long term ties to the land.
North Chatham, which is basically Chapel Hill, tells Siler City how it will develop. Its where the bulk of the county's population and money is, and most of those people are transplants.
The corporate welfare in this state is sickening. It won't stop until every square mile is developed.
Money talks, and there are a lot of people who make money from growth. It's not just the landowners, the developers, the construction companies, and the real estate agents. It's the people who own Subway shops and lawn care businesses, the CPAs and the insurance agents, the veterinarians and the dentists and the auto mechanics, and on and on. Take a long look at https://www.ccucc.net/directory.
If a true majority of voters in Chatham County is opposed to development, they should organize and seek victory at the ballot box.
Money talks, and there are a lot of people who make money from growth. It's not just the landowners, the developers, the construction companies, and the real estate agents. It's the people who own Subway shops and lawn care businesses, the CPAs and the insurance agents, the veterinarians and the dentists and the auto mechanics, and on and on. Take a long look at https://www.ccucc.net/directory.
If a true majority of voters in Chatham County is opposed to development, they should organize and seek victory at the ballot box.
They've done that repeated over the years (anyone remember Bunkey Morgan?), but once the developers get permission, its tough to pull it back.
Even during the great recession, as soon as Republicans got control of the general assembly they passed legislation permits from expiring on developers that could not get financing for project completion...alot of the development seen now in Chatham was on stuff put in motion in the mid 2000's. See this old article from 2010...many the fallow projects it talks about then are part of the explosion of the last few years.
And then, there’s Chatham Park, which alone could increase the County’s population by over 50,000 people by 2050. The county could be the nation’s next Loudoun County.
I think everyone, regardless of political leaning, agrees that Morgan went too far -- and that popping the residential mortgage bubble in 2008-2009 made the miscalculation more profound. It could be worse. See Las Vegas.
But what's happening now in Chatham is different. Thousands of jobs are being created specifically in the county. That's not the same as Morgan's build-it-and-they-will-come philosophy.
Is it fair to say that at the level of the State (if not Triangle J itself), some powerful people are willing to drive what they see as economic development for the greater good regardless of what Chatham residents think? I suspect so.
I think everyone, regardless of political leaning, agrees that Morgan went too far -- and that popping the residential mortgage bubble in 2008-2009 made the miscalculation more profound. It could be worse. See Las Vegas.
But what's happening now in Chatham is different. Thousands of jobs are being created specifically in the county. That's not the same as Morgan's build-it-and-they-will-come philosophy.
Is it fair to say that at the level of the State (if not Triangle J itself), some powerful people are willing to drive what they see as economic development for the greater good regardless of what Chatham residents think? I suspect so.
Chatham seems to have always attracted the attention of large Triangle investors and leaders. Its not so much of a vision for Chatham county by the people of Chatham as much of it is a vision for Chatham by the people of Raleigh and the state of NC.
And then, there’s Chatham Park, which alone could increase the County’s population by over 50,000 people by 2050. The county could be the nation’s next Loudoun County.
Next Loudon? Doubtful, just because of the incredibly high concentration of wealth there, which isn't matched anywhere in NC. However... Chatham Park is a TERRIBLE development for the Greater Triangle area and for Chatham County residents in particular.
Pittsboro will be a locus for workers in the area. Expect total gridlock on 15-501 between Chapel Hill and PBO. That stretch of road is already very dangerous with seniors from Fearrington mixed with speed demons and Briar Chapel teenagers. I'm sure a good bit of traffic will commute from south of Pittsboro, which cannot be accommodated by the current routing of 15-501 downtown through the traffic circle.
As for Siler City....Wolfspeed's average salary is twice the median income in Siler. What will that do for the community? Create income inequality and gentrify the town, obviously! Wolfspeed won't be hiring from the large Hispanic population that works at the chicken plant, but those folks will feel the pinch of rapidly rising living costs driven by the out-of-towners who take the specialized jobs.
With a large employment center like Chatham Park located on the far periphery of the Triangle, we can rest assured that the clear cutting and development will spread into even further flung counties like Lee, Harnett, and Randolph.
None of the politicians approving these projects are asking what they will do for the quality of life of those living here. They're focused on the revenues and nothing else.
Getting pretty far out there to be convenient for Triangle residents...an hour from my house near downtown Cary, 45 minutes from Apex. Could help drive the Pittsboro growth though.
Hate to see it. I've been out there as an Amazon-Flex driver (I use my own car). Lots of woods and deer...which will be demolished. It will be like Holly Springs, Faquey Varina (however that's spelled), where swaths of forest have been bulldozed and destroyed for cookie cutter McMansions.
Sad.
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