Chatham County, NC Blogs

(Note: This blog entry has been corrected. Some of the percentages I had used were incorrect, based on incorrect information from the NC Association of County Commissioners. Sorry for any confusion.)

Senator Clodfelter, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Co-Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, has filed Senate Bill 1201. This Bill would increase the current deed stamp tax from 0.2 percent to 0.5 percent and would institute a 0.1 percent excise tax on mortgages.

There would be No Voter Referendum!

The proceeds (80% of the total) would go to the state to create the Capital and Infrastructure Fund (75%), Parks and Recreation Trust Fund (18.75%) and Natural Heritage Trust Fund (6.25%).The latter two trust funds already receive the state revenues from the existing county 0.1 percent deed stamp tax. Counties would continue to receive the revenues from the existing 0.1 percent deed stamp tax and would receive only 20% of the revenues generated by the 0.1% excise tax on mortgages.

This may well be a great proposal for solving many of the problems with our
state budget, but our share will not pay for what Chatham County is facing!

I attended a breakfast meeting at the Governors Club this morning, sponsored by the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber, the Chatham United Chamber, the Chapel Hill Association of Realtors and the Home Builders Association of Durham, Orange and Chatham.

Participation was cut off at 200, a full house! Keith Megginson, Chatham Planning Director, presented an overview of past, present and future Commercial and Residential Development in NE Chatham. Paul Black, Planner with TJ-COG, presented the Regional Factors of the NE Chatham area.

I was asked to respond to Land Transfer Tax questions and one item seemed to get a lot of attention! Senator Clodfelter of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, participated in a panel discussion in a Fiscal Modernization Workshop at the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners Conference last fall in Winston-Salem. He got a lot of attention there too!

I know Senator Clodfelter to be among the finest of our legislators, but I simply can’t agree with this particular proposal.

He proposed to rename the LTT as the 1% Real Estate Transfer Tax and claim the taxes as State revenue. Of course, SOME of the funds would be filtered back to the counties. The “rumor” is that he is about to file such a Bill! I have no idea if that’s true, but can you imagine, if it is? The Education Lottery percentages come to my mind. Distribution by population or Capital Improvement Plan needs would funnel the bulk of the revenue to the Metro areas. Of course, that would help Charlotte-Mecklenburg!

For the past 18 years, the NCRA and NCHBA have had a full time lobbyist at work and have prevented local governments from gaining referendum authority for Land Transfer Taxes. It certainly appears that this approach may be difficult to sustain!

If you were in the Developer/Builder/Realtor Industry or a Buyer and take pride in providing/owning quality development with all the amenities and it looks like 1% Tax is inevitable, State or Local, which option would you support:

I have requested our BOC to look at the zoning on Pea Ridge Rd. between US1 and Old US1. This area is current zoned for Heavy Industrial, and I am asking to have to rezoned to RA-40 (residential/agricultural) for the following reasons:

1. We don’t currently have Conditional Use control over what might come, based on what is allowed in Heavy Industry Zoning without BOC review or approval. We have had serious air quality issues in that area and water remains an unknown factor. Southeastern Chatham citizens would like some pre-decision voice in our community, also.
2. The Heavy Industrial Zoning was put in place in 1990 and there have been NO requests for heavy industrial uses within the HI Zoned area since.

We have had industrial use requests that were Conditional Use approved outside our designated Heavy Industrial area – McGill’s Mulch Facility (makes mulch with treated wastewater, pumpings from the chicken plants butchering rooms and wood by-products) and the infamous Woodall “Family Farm” (treated wastewater plowed and pumped into the ground with cover crops. My understanding of DENR regs. is that this land cannot be used for basically anything for 30 years after Woodall uses it for this purpose for approximately 20 years and closes!)
These two uses alone bring Air Quality, Ground Water and Foul Odor problems and concerns. I spoke heavily against both as Southeast Chatham Citizens Advisory Council President with a previous Board of Commissioners and obviously lost.

My area or any other, wouldn’t desire this process. Both of these plants are located on Christian Chapel Road, South of the US1 and Old US1 interchange and have had many odor reports filed against their operations over the past few years.
Back to the Pea Ridge zoning request. We have had a church inquire about building a parsonage on land they own beside our new fire department. We would like that. They have not pursued this due to expenses of getting a residential use in the Heavy Industrial zone:  application/requirements, lawyer fees and time consumption of Planning Department, Planning Board, and Board of Commissioners. We have had a couple of families who have endured our process in order to allow their children a parcel to build their homes. I find that a little backassward.

Now, all of this land was RA40 prior to Heavy Industrial Zoning. All remaining land on Pea Ridge, other than HI, remains zoned RA40 and much is still farmed.
This short stretch of road frontage we are talking about here (about 1 mile) already has 22 houses “grandfathered” and are “within” the HI zoned area.

Citizens here can’t use their land as desired with HI zoning without investing time and money, and they can’t even sell it – no one is looking for HI zoned land and there is no indication they will be.

Citizens here want residential development, because we will never have another school (some of our students are still riding school buses 5 hours a day), never have a shopping Center (we all shop in Sanford, Fuquay and Apex – PBO is a 40 mile round trip, the others are 24 miles). We are living a low quality of life and the county is losing a ton in sales tax!

I have flood water maps and plenty of this land appears useable without causing a problem. If siting Heavy Industrial between the Haw River and Shaddox Creek (which feeds into the Cape Fear) isn’t a problem, RA40 certainly shouldn’t be.  RA5 has its place where necessary, but should not be unnecessarily imposed.  The local residents support a change to RA40, but they would not support a change to RA5.
We’ll have to wait and see how that works out at the Planning board. I obviously support my proposal (coming up shortly) at this point and will have to be convinced otherwise with facts. I believe I am still reasonable! Proposal:

1. Maintain Heavy Industry Zoning for our existing plant sites and any adjoining property currently owned by the parent company.

2. Revert the remaining HI zoned property on Pea Ridge Rd.back to RA40. ( if there has to be hoop-jumping, it should not be directed to our citizens who already live there).

Notes: Requests by Industry can still be facilitated on a “Conditional Use” basis and our citizens don’t have to continue to jump through our hoops to use their homes as residential. Our citizens will have a voice in deciding what they desire or don’t desire in their community and make it clear before a decision is made.
If this goes well, I will also be looking at a similar proposal for Moncure – Corinth Road, to and possibly through the intersection of NC 42.