By Mark Pavao
Pittsboro, NC – This is an open letter of gratitude to:
Town of Pittsboro and Chatham CountyPittsboro Commissioners Baldwin, Bonitz, Farrell, Fiocco and Shipp
Since January, the North Woods neighborhood has been highlighting our struggle with NCDOT. To recap, NCDOT has proposed to build North Chatham Park Way through North Woods. The road could be built around North Woods on undeveloped land owned by Chatham Park. Following extensive research, we have found that NCDOT’s proposed alignment was actually first suggested by Chatham Park in 2015, three years before NCDOT started working on the project. In 2018, NCDOT hired Chatham Park’s engineering consultant to support North Chatham Park Way and the rest is history.
North Woods neighbors have written letters, sponsored petitions, met with NCDOT, presented to Pittsboro and Chatham County leaders, anything and everything we could think of to draw attention to our situation. Two weeks ago, we hosted an informational booth at the Pittsboro Town Fair.
Through all of our efforts, one thing is clear. The Pittsboro community strongly supports North Woods. And the Pittsboro Board of Commissioners (BOC) also support North Woods and asked NCDOT to evaluate an option that would largely save North Woods. Thank you, we are very grateful!
Now, after two months of NCDOT and Chatham Park lobbying against North Woods, NCDOT is forcing the Pittsboro Commissioners to reconfirm their prior request to evaluate an option that could save North Woods. The discussion and vote by the Pittsboro BOC is scheduled for November 22, 2021.
NCDOT and Chatham Park are lobbying for Pittsboro to stand down and turn away from North Woods. Their perspective appears to be that if it’s good for Chatham Park, it’s good for Pittsboro.
North Woods believes that everyone is well served by a modest shift in the road. Chatham Park gets their Park Way, Pittsboro gets a road that will take trucks out of the downtown area, NCDOT gets to show that it can be flexible, and North Woods will survive and continue to be part of the special fabric of the Pittsboro and Chatham County community for another four decades.
We are very grateful for the support of the greater Pittsboro community and ask one last time… stay firm and please STAND WITH NORTH WOODS.
Mark Pavao and the North Woods neighborhood