Cheery shopping versus shopping sprawl in Pittsboro

New shopping centers in the area don't have to be all asphalt parking spaces and concrete box stores. Most development now comes with a predictable sequence of construction steps - clearcut the land, remove all signs of trees and vegetation, build long lines of strip shopping stores or scatter big box stores all around a huge expanse of land, then at the end of the proccess come back and pave any remaining soil in the area with asphalt and concrete. To top it off, put up lots of signs, a few stoplights and a tower of store names on signs by the road and call it progress.

It's all about greed and profit. Builders make every effort to cut costs and maximize profits on any construction project and shopping centers are a showplace for the lack of interest in how the community and shopping should blend. If town planners and Boards of Commissioners don't require that trees be left or added back after construction, new areas end up with no greenery at all.

Look around at every new major construction project and you will find one or more builders that control the design and construction to carve out every penny of profit, then heads home every night to live in a mega-mansion and drives to the coast on weekends to a mega-mansion multi-floor beach home.

Read the commentary by Dan Cahoon published in the Chatham County Journal Weekly about development trends in the area and what happens when new development comes in...

Chatham Journal Weekly
August 6, 2007
Dan Cahoon

Shop till you drop at cheery shopping centers

Pittsboro, NC - There are many reasons why a shopping center or large paved area may be a bad idea for the area in question. Any development creates change in the landscape and what we see around us. Trees get downed, meadows and wetland plowed under. That would happen with any kind of development.

A shopping center would require the kinds of parking areas that concentrate runoff with other byproducts of current automobile use. Retail establishments require large amounts of water use and little of it is released in a pure state back into the environment. These types of effects upon our local environment and overburdened waste water treatment facilities are unacceptable to me and to many others.

I also like clean, well maintained buildings in which to purchase needs and luxuries, however, I do not care for over lighted, over air conditioned, over priced, understaffed discount and full priced retail establishments. They do not serve my needs and in the long run lead to urban and rural blight. They stop being cheery and wonderful after a few years and start looking seedy and useless.

I have shopped in these sorts of stores before and found many excellent customer
service representatives along with affordable products. I am not wealthy and so
pinch a few pennies occasionally. At my age though, I find quality to be worth higher prices. Junk is junk n0 matter what price.

I have also had many unpleasant experiences in those types of retail establishments both as an employee and as a customer. Outside interests rarely invest in local communities in a sustainable manner. Workers do earn standard minimum wages but the profits from these businesses leave the community and hurt local merchants.

Industry does not have to look like a factory or something like RTP. I actually find the park like atmosphere of some factories to resemble a campus. The industry the area in question is zoned for is not just for plants and big trucks. It could also be quiet research based industries that use green building and innovative facilities to save water and energy. These places can be managed in a way that helps people live the way they want and need, with less stress and more understanding.

We already have wonderful businesses in Pittsboro that are like this. We don't see them as an eyesore because they don't stand out like a sore thumb, or a Wal-mart, Marshall's, Dollar Tree, or giant hulking movie theater. The people who work there make sustainable wages and so stay in the area instead of moving away to get a "real" job.

Industry is a broad term that should be considered in context. The issue surrounding Pittsboro Plunder....um Place is one of zoning. Many people are alarmed at how fast zoning changes are being enacted. If the area is rezoned then there might not necessarily be a charming business and residential center built there. Some other developer might use the rezoning to outbid Pittsboro Place and come up with a different and not so charming "place".

This type of situation is about profit. The developers and land owners are hoping to cash in on investment. We understand. We like money. We need money, for living and the support of community. We want those local people who have invested to cash in, hang around and spend locally.

I hope we see some good sustainable development of the industrial area off of 64 East, soon! We are a great town for families and intelligent kind people to make home. They won't come here and settle and help us grow into the community we want to be if there is a failed shopping center and urban chaos like we see in Siler City, Ramseur, Cary and now Apex.

We also have large scale energy industry already in that area that needs room to grow. If you haven't seen the organic farm and
greenhouses at Piedmont Biofuels then you should go take a look. It is amazing and will change your outlook on Pittsboro Place. The bio farm and other facilities are the kind of industry we need, want and have. Original article...

Preserving disappearing farmland

Time is short to preserve farmland in North Carolina. Open land is disappearing quickly and by the 2025 time frame driving through the scenic countryside will be a thing of the past unless something is done soon to save farms from the onslaught of developers greedy to turn fields into homes and shops.

The Perry family has taken a small step to preserve 50 acres of their farm and he is trying to get other area farmers to do the same. This is a small step that could help save at least a small portion of open land that farmers and land owners could easily take.

News and Observer
July 24, 2007
Peggy Lin, Staff Writer

Time short for farmland preservation
Development puts a premium on land in Wake, other urban counties

Larry Perry and his brother never want to see subdivisions on farmland that has been in their family since before the Civil War.

Last year, they gave up the right to put houses on 50 acres of their farm in exchange for $475,000 from Wake County and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Perry tries to persuade other farmers to do something similar. He gives talks in Wake and Johnston counties and welcomes visitors to his farm near Zebulon.

"People say I wish we would have done this or that," Perry said. "But it's too late after it's got asphalt on it."

As farming has ebbed following the 2004 tobacco buyout, conservationists hope to catch the wave of aging or retiring farmers looking for other uses for their land. It's a race against developers who are swooping into previously rural areas, such as eastern Wake County. Read more...

Undeveloped land losses rising quickly

Like driving along rural roads and seeing farms and open land? Like having space between developments and shopping areas? If action is not taken soon much of what you see will disappear forever in the state.

At the current rate of development in North Carolina a substantial percentage of existing open space will disappear by 2027 according to the report:

• The Triangle will lose 37 percent of its open space and farmland will disappear altogether.

• The Charlotte area will lose 30 percent of its forests and farmland, including nearly a quarter of its woodlands, the highest rate of forest loss in the state, the report says.

An initiative has begun to encourage lawmakers to ask for a bond referendum to provide funding to procure open space and preserve it for the future. Unfortunately this competes for requests for funds for housing, schools and other needs that will likely win out. Read the article...

News and Observer
April 25, 2007
Wade Rawlins, Staff Writer

Report: undeveloped land
losses rising

If current development rates continue, at least 2
million acres of forest and farmland in North Carolina will disappear over the
next 20 years, says a report released today by Environment North Carolina, a
conservation advocacy group.

The report examines federal data about development rates in the past two
decades and uses that to project loss of farmland and forests in the next 20
years.

Since 1987, the amount of developed land in North Carolina increased by 1.86
million acres, including 327,000 acres in the Triangle, the report says. Read more...

This is really going green !

Going green is a hot topic these days but this gives a whole new meaning to the topic and may be a bit "over the top". The complete article from the Connecticut news report has been included here...

The Middletown Press
March 26, 2007
Jeff Mill, Press Staff

Green top suggested for Lowe's building

CROWMELL - An environmental analysis of the proposed Lowe's store has suggested the store have a "green" roof - have grass, plants, and/or flowers growing on the roof.

Lowe's is preparing to resubmit its application to build a 152,000 square-foot store on the north side of Route 372. The North Carolina-based home improvement company is scheduled to go before the Inland Wetlands Commission Wednesday as it renews its request for approval.

A similar proposal last year fell just short of approval.
As part of the preparation for the submission to Inland Wetlands, a copy of the Lowe's proposal was submitted to the Connecticut River Coastal Conservation District for review and comment.

The district responded with a four-page analysis of the proposal, and included a series of recommendations intended to reduce the amount of storm water runoff that is discharged into surrounding water courses.

Included in the analysis, near the top of page 3, is a suggestion that "serious consideration should be given for a vegetated roof...for at least a portion of the building."

The analysis notes the roof of the proposed building is equal to 3.3 acres.
"Vegetation on a roof captures a significant amount (of) rainfall, thereby reducing runoff."

A "green roof" can mean just that a roof painted green. Or, it can mean what is in essence a lawn or a garden growing on the roof.

There is even a Web site - greenroof.com - that explains the concept.

There are two types of green roofs: intensive or extensive, the Web sites explains.
There are also potential real economic values to such a concept: covering a roof with grass or a mix of flowers and grass can serve as natural insulation. It can prevent the breaking down of a standard roof membrane through prolonged exposure to the sunlight and serve as an acoustic barrier to dampen noise.

There are also psychological and aesthetic considerations mentioned which can be achieved through the use of a green roof. But perhaps the greatest benefit comes in tempering the rainfall runoff, the web site suggests.

While the most exotic, the green roof proposal is by no means the only suggestion from the council about how Lowe's - and the town - can minimize the impact of storm water runoff.

The review suggests reducing the number of required parking space and constructing a portion an outdoor display area of a "pervious material" rather than asphalt.

The report proposes that the runoff from the parking lot "will be collected in catch basins or a vegetated swale," while roof runoff will be directed into an underground system that will overflow into Cole Brook."

The council said its recommendations are "intended to help minimize potential adverse impacts such as sedimentation due to uncontrolled soil erosion, the degradation of downstream receiving areas by non-point pollution courses such as road deicers, fertilizers, pesticides and heat/thermal changes," as well as "the loss of stability or function of wetland systems."

The report is intended as an advisory document to assist the town's land-use commissions in their analysis of the plan.

©The Middletown Press 2007

Horticulture a high value business in NC

Landscaping and lawn care represents a large contribution to North Carolina's economy. A study issued this week indicates that value was $8.6 billion dollars in 2005. There is no doubt that the value will be higher for 2006 and 2007 due to the continuing boom in housing and trend for new homeowners to hire professional landscapers to dress up their property.

News and Observer
March 14, 2007
John Murawski, Staff Writer

Horticulture is worth $8.6 billion a year
Landscaping, tree farms, nurseries, lawns

North Carolina's booming horticulture sector is driven largely by landscaping and lawn care.

The total spent on such services in the state was $8.6 billion in 2005, according to a study issued Tuesday.

The General Assembly provided $150,000 for the study to help understand the horticulture industry's diversity and importance to the state economy. The study, the first to quantify the industry, could yield clues about the best ways to boost economic development, sponsors said.

The horticultural industry includes plant nurseries, florists, arborists, landscapers and irrigation that thrive amid rapid growth and development.

Golf courses and institutional clients are big customers, but residential homes account for two-thirds of the spending on these types of services. Read more...

Renovating for energy efficiency and helping the environment

The U.S. Green Building Council established the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (or LEED) Green Building Rating System to promote construction of environmentally friendly and energy efficient buildings in 2001. Many builders are incorporating these environmentally friendly practices into new construction but have also found using the practices in renovation of older structures is just as attractive.

Cherokee CEO Tom Darden says "We need to be thinking about the environmental impact of what gets built and energy use and energy waste. This is one place where we thought we could do something about it."

News and Observer
March 12, 2007
Jack Hagel, Staff Writer

Old outside, green within
Tenants renovate space with energy efficiency and the environment in mind

RALEIGH - With its waterless urinals, motion-detecting lights and formaldehyde-free-plywood recycling bins, the future headquarters of Cherokee Investment Partners has all the earmarks of a brand new "green" building -- the kind more developers are touting these days as they get in touch with Mother Earth.

But the bones of the 21,500-square-foot office are anything but new. The office is in a sprawling brick building that dates to 1870.

Cherokee is among a growing number of tenants converting leased space in old buildings to environmentally friendly offices. Read more...

Not always easy being green

Taking the high road is not always the easiest thing to do.

A news article in the February 26, 2007, News and Observer about a proposed "10-story Greenbridge condominium and retail project in downtown Chapel Hill will conserve energy and resources. It will have geothermal heating, planted rooftops and a system that uses rainwater to flush toilets."

Exerpt from the article...

February 26, 2007
News and Observer
Lisa Hoppenjans, Staff Writer

Developer: It's not easy being green
Eco-friendly condos face vote

CHAPEL HILL - In August 2002, Tim Toben found himself three hours north of Reykjavik, fishing for atlantic salmon knee-deep in a glacial stream.

Toben, a former corporate CEO, had been invited to Iceland by Bill McDonough, a green architect whom Time magazine hailed as a "Hero for the Planet." The other guests included a former chemist for Greenpeace and the head of a British solar electric company. They fished during the day. In the evening, they broke out wine and talked shop.

"What became really clear to me on that trip was that global warming is the greatest challenge and threat that humanity has ever faced," Toben said. "The next conversation was what we each could do." Read more...

Selling Green - The Chatham County Way

A January 19th news article about "Selling Green" in the Chapel Hill News and Advocate publication featured a discussion about two realtors working out of Pittsboro that strive to take their work "to the next level".

The article states that Chatham County has long been known as a community that values extra awareness of energy-efficient living, and that the two real estate brokers in Pittsboro have taken that awareness to the next level.

The two agents from Heartwood Realty have received the EcoBroker designation from EcoBroker International, becoming two of the first five Realtors in the state of North Carolina to earn the distinction. Read more...