Land Use and Development Talking Points

There are several opportunities for public input on how development happens in the Town of Pittsboro right now:

1. Pittsboro Climate Action Plan survey: Residents of Pittsboro and Chatham county are being asked to share their ideas about priorities as the Town works to address climate change in a strategic, coherent way. They are collecting information via survey until July 7th, 2025. Please share your thoughts on the survey and give particular attention to the land use section. 

2. Sign our petition: Protect Pittsboro’s Future – Say No to blanket approval of Chatham Park. And encourage others to sign before we present the petition to the Town Planning Board on July 21st (6pm at the Ag Center). 

3. Attend Town Planning Board meeting on July 21st at 6pm at the Ag Center and sign up to speak during the public comment period. 

 

One of our members put together this list of themes and talking points about climate-friendly, community friendly development: 

• Build up, not out. Compact, 4- to 10-story mixed-use blocks put homes, jobs, and shops a quick walk or bike ride apart—no endless sprawl, no 30-minute errand runs.

• Walkability is freedom. A fine-grained street grid with frequent crossings, shade trees, and active ground floors lets everyone—kids, seniors, and folks who don’t drive—move safely and independently.

• More neighbors, stronger Main Street. Real density fills cafés, barber shops, and local markets all day long, keeping money circulating close to home and protecting small business from big-box competition.

• Infrastructure that pays for itself. Stacked housing and shared walls mean fewer lane-miles, shorter pipes, and lower tax bills per household—unlike sprawl, which sticks future generations with repair costs.

• Housing choice on every block. Apartments over shops, courtyard townhomes, and duplexes give teachers, retirees, and young families options without driving prices sky-high.

• Healthy bodies, cleaner air. People who can walk to daily needs log more steps, breathe less tail-pipe exhaust, and spend less on fuel—public-health wins that sprawling cul-de-sacs can’t match.

• Climate-smart living. Multi-story buildings share walls and roofs, cutting energy use by up to 40 % compared to detached houses and slashing per-capita carbon emissions.

• Transit that works. Bus lines and future rail thrive only when riders live and work within a few blocks; true density delivers the headways sprawl can’t support.

• Streets that feel like places, not pipes. Narrow travel lanes, on-street parking, and generous sidewalks calm traffic and invite street life instead of speeding cars.

• Safer, quicker emergency response. Connected grids shorten ambulance routes; winding sprawl delays first responders and raises insurance premiums.

• Water, trees, and parks woven in. Green roofs, pocket parks, and linear greenways fit easily between multi-story buildings, delivering both recreation and storm-water control.

• Equity built in, not bolted on. By mixing incomes and housing types in the same block, true urban neighborhoods break down economic silos—something detached-housing sprawl can’t do without long car trips.

Bottom line: real, multi-story urbanism costs less, pollutes less, and stitches community life closer together—while sprawl (or its one-story impersonators) simply stretches roads, budgets, and nerves to the breaking point.