VOLUME 147 ISSUE 6 | THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 2024
CHATHAMNEWSRECORD.COM
C HATHAM NEWS & R ECORD THE CHATHAM COUNTY EDITION OF NORTH STATE JOURNAL
the
BRIEF this week
Pittsboro seeks applicants for Planning Board The Pittsboro Board of Commissioners is seeking applicants for an open position on the town’s planning board. The position is open to any resident living within Pittsboro’s town limits and is for a three-year term. It is a volunteer position. Interested applicants can get more information on Pittsboro’s website at pittsboronc.gov or contact Planning Director Randall Cahoon-Tingle at rcahoontingle@pittsboronc.gov with any questions. Applications must be in by 5 p.m. on April 24.
Primary election results certified The March 5 election results are official, with a handful of key incumbents losing and a few U.S. House and statewide nominee races heading to runoffs. The State Board of Elections voted unanimously last week to certify counts for scores of ballot items from across the state, from nominations for president and governor to the legislature and judgeships. The primaries also marked the first statewide election under new voter identification and absentee ballot deadline law. About 1.8 million primary votes were counted. Around 1,200 voters cast provisional ballots, with 700 ultimately counting. The vast majority of the 477 remaining uncounted ballots were set aside because voters failed to return to their county board with ID.
Boom Supersonic makes test flight A startup plane maker with a major factory being built in Greensboro has taken the first steps towards the skies. Boom Supersonic is developing the first commercial jet that can fly faster than sound since the Concorde last flew in 2003. The company’s X-B1 prototype took its first flight last week over the Mojave Desert, a major step in the development of its Overture jet that will be built at a new “superfactory” at PTI Airport in Greensboro. That facility could employ more than 1,700 workers by 2030, further burnishing North Carolina’s aviation legacy.
PJ WARD-BROWN / CHATHAM NEWS & RECORD
Thrill of victory Seaforth junior Caitlin Erman celebrates her seventh goal of the season by leaping into the arms of sophomore Sofia Viana at home against Cummings, last Thursday in Pittsboro. The game ended in a 9-0 mercy rule victory for the Hawks with Viana scoring four goals of her own. Turn to B1 for more sports.
Car wash drain field raises concerns in Fearrington Chatham Commissioners unanimously denied the zoning request By Robert Owens For Chatham News & Record Residents of Fearrington Village raised concerns at the Chatham County Board of Commissioners meeting on March 18. The issue surrounds a proposal for new drainage field for a new Sam’s Car Wash, a development that needs a zoning modification and approval from the board because the field would exist in a buffer zone created when Fear-
rington Village was developed. “They are proposing a drain field in that buffer that is all down hill from Fearrington Village, we have potentially toxic chemicals, including forever chemicals, flowing into Fearrington Village, through Fearrington Village into Jordan Lake,” said Steve Stewart, president of the Fearrington Homeowners Association. “We aren’t opposed to Sam’s Car Wash. They did what they were supposed to do… they apparently had a verbal but not written agreement with Old North State” water company to take their effluent that, he says, fell apart. Stewart asked the board to
Growing state, shrinking farmland lieve that farmers and ranchers want to do right by their land and their businesses and that we just need to be helping to encourage and facilitate and support their work.” By Ena Sellers Coffin shared that every state Chatham News & Record in the U.S. is losing farmland. “We need to do something CARY — Last week regional and state agricultural lead- about it… let’s focus on building ers gathered for NC Ag Leads: that capacity of folks around Imagine Agriculture Day at the country to be able to save land,” said Coffin, the SAS campus in adding that this Cary, to talk about was not just about agriculture, challand protection but lenges and how to also about stabilizmove the industry ing the land base. forward. Owens shared Cris Coffin, Nathat North Carolina tional Ag Land Netis one of the states work Director and of Chatham that has not passed Courtney Owens, County’s the Uniform PartiSoutheast Regionconversion is tion Heirs’ Properal Director, both ty Act, which helps with American projected to farmers or the next Farmland Trust, occur on the generation “save were among the county’s best their farmland,” speakers who enagricultural land and “prohibits the gaged participants sale or partition of in a thought-proland.” voking conversaHe explained tion during their presentation “Growing State, that the south is the most Shrinking Farmland” about the threatened farmland in the agricultural land base in North country and North Carolina ranks number two in the group Carolina. “We are doing a lot more of states that have been identiwork in the regenerative ag- fied. “There are 3.9 million acres riculture space and keeping farmers on the land because that could be at loss if nothwe understand that there is ing is done,” said Owens. “The no farmland without farmers,” said Coffin. “We really be- See FARMLAND, page A2
American Farmland Trust experts talk agriculture
44%
deny the zoning request and have the car wash work out its original agreement with the water company. Future impact beyond Fearrington was also a concern, in particular, the impact of the septic field. “Sam’s Car Wash has stated they will not be monitoring the stream or the ground water wells. How will we know if chemicals get into the ground in the stream?” asked another speaker. “We don’t even know what chemicals will be present.” More than a half-dozen local residents spoke against the car wash’s drain field. “We’re not asking to encroach
in the riparian buffer… and the purpose of the buffer… should soften the visible impact” of other facilities, said Lydia Lavelle, an attorney representing the company behind the car wash. “The impact would be minimal and we believe you have full justification… to grant this waiver. The ability to request this respects this process.” The commission unanimously declined the zoning request. Ahead of the vote, Commissioner Katie Kenlan said it was important to show the citizenry that they’re being listened to. “I am also very deeply into the notion that North Chatham is not available for development at any cost,” declared Vice Chair Karen Howard. Commissioners made it clear that alternative proposals could be brought before the board in the future and that the denial did not impact other possible solutions.
Wolfspeed hits construction milestone at Siler City facility The $5B silicon carbide plant, backed by CHIPS Act, will create 1,800 jobs By Jordan Golson Chatham News & Record Wolfspeed celebrated a significant construction milestone at its new multi-billion dollar John Palmour Manufacturing Center for Silicon Carbide in Siler City. The topping out ceremony, held on March 26, marked the completion of the facility’s structural framework and was attended by Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), local officials, community partners and Wolfspeed employees. The 445-acre facility, named after the company’s co-founder, is expected to be operational by the end of 2024. Funding for the facility was supported by the CHIPS and Science Act, signed into law in August 2022, that provides significant support for domestic semiconductor manufacturing, research and development. The act’s provisions played
a crucial role in enabling the construction of Wolfspeed’s facility, which will produce 200mm silicon carbide wafers to meet the growing demand for semiconductors used in the energy transition and AI industries. Tillis, who voted in favor of the CHIPS and Science Act, emphasized the importance of Wolfspeed’s investment, saying in a press release, “Wolfspeed’s $5 billion investment in Chatham County underscores North Carolina’s status as a premier business location. The CHIPS and Science Act, which I supported, plays a crucial role in enhancing our national security and economSee WOLFSPEED, page A3
$2.00