In 2021, Chatham County launched “Recode Chatham”, the development of a Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) that seeks to modernize and unify all the county’s development regulations. The UDO will incorporate the goals outlined in the Comprehensive Plan and therefore has potential to make big strides in conservation efforts through land use planning. The UDO is expected to be finalized and voted on in 2023. Explore the Recode Chatham webpage to see updates on the process and read the UDO Audit Report, which includes components on land conservation, sustainable development standards, and environmental justice. Contact Chance Mullis at chance.mullis@chathamcountync.gov with questions. 

To learn more, visit the UDO webpage.

When a developer wants to separate a large tract of land into smaller plots for housing, they must design this subdivision to be in compliance of various regulations, one of which being the maximum allowed density, or the number of homes allowed on the land. In Chatham, developers can take an alternative route and design a “conservation subdivision.” Conservation subdivisions require that 40% of the land be retained as conservation space, and in exchange, the developer receives an additional 10% density allowance. To learn more about the conservation subdivision requirements, read the Subdivision Regulation Ordinance and go to “Section 7.7 Conservation Subdivision.” To explore the guidelines and requirements developers must use when selecting land as “conservation space,” read the guidance document. If you have more questions about conservation subdivisions and their use in Chatham County, contact Rachael Thorn, at rachael.thorn@chathamcountync.gov or Hunter Glenn at hunter.glenn@chathamcountync.gov. 

The Chatham County Watershed Protection Ordinance regulates the environmental impact on our local water systems and is enforced and interpreted by the Watershed Protection Department. This enforcement focuses on issues such as soil erosion and sedimentation control, stormwater management, flood damage prevention, and riparian buffers. Read the Watershed Protection Ordinance or explore the Watershed Protection Department webpage to learn more about their efforts.

Land along water systems in Chatham is protected from development through riparian buffers, required in the Watershed Protection Ordinance. Riparian buffers are a significant contributor to surface water quality. They help filter stormwater runoff before it reaches streams, remove pollutants, and slow floodwaters, allowing groundwater to recharge and building stream banks.

Learn more about the county’s enforcement of riparian buffers in development on the Watershed Protection webpage.

The Chatham County Board of Commissioners has expressed its interest in passing a Tree Protection Ordinance that would regulate which trees can be cut down. The BOC has formed a Tree Protection Ordinance Working Group to draft the ordinance language. The working group is comprised of representatives from the Planning Board, Environmental Review Advisory Committee, Climate change Advisory Committee, and Grand Trees of Chatham.

Visit the CCAC webpage to learn more and sign up for upcoming meetings.

The University of Mount Olive, in coordination with the Chatham Soil & Water Conservation District and the NC Cooperative Extension Chatham County Center, is working to update our 2009 Farmland Preservation Plan. This plan is expected to be finalized by the end of 2023. Throughout this process, University of Mount Olive staff will work alongside agriculture related entities and other interested parties to gather input and data. A committee related to our farmland preservation planning is being established and a survey will be sent out to agricultural operators in early 2023. For more information, please contact Ginger Cunningham at ginger.cunningham@chathamcountync.gov.

The Chatham County Comprehensive Plan is a long range document adopted in 2017 establishing policy that sets forth goals and feasible implementation steps for the next 25 years. The plan includes numerous conservation-related components and details specific recommendations for topics related to land use, transportation, resiliency, parks and recreation, and energy use. Learn more about the plan’s development and download the full report at the Comprehensive Plan webpage. 

Contact Chance Mullis at chance.mullis@chathamcountync.gov or Brandon Dawson at brandon.dawson@chathamcountync.gov with questions. 

During the development of the Comprehensive Plan, the NC Wildlife Resources Commission funded the development of an addition to the plan that would identify, analyze and make recommendations for an area of the county with a high conservation value and a high likelihood of development pressure as a way of demonstrating the benefits and opportunities of adhering to conservation design principles. The Big Woods area was identified as the study area. The result was the Big Woods Conservation Design Guide, which offers detailed inventories of the county’s natural resources and recommended steps the county could take to conserve them. 

Utilizing the community goals and vision established in developing the Comprehensive Plan, the Future Land Use and Conservation Map geographically depicts how development in the county should be planned. The map indicates the preferred locations for future development, as well as the type and intensity of such development. More importantly, it indicates areas that are valued for their natural and cultural assets and should therefore be the subject of future conservation efforts.

Led by the Chatham Conservation Partnership in 2011, the Chatham Comprehensive Conservation Plan developed a community vision for conservation of natural resources in Chatham County, through a collaborative process involving many partners and individuals, including the county government. Highlighting the economic importance of forests and water quality, this plan was utilized in developing the Chatham Comprehensive Plan 6 years later.

The 2019-2029 Parks and Recreation Comprehensive Master Plan was created to develop and redevelop the parks, satisfy the citizens’ recreation needs, preserve the rural character of Chatham, protect natural resources, and plan for future growth. Visit the Parks and Recreation webpage to learn more about the plans development and read the full report. 

The Chatham County Public Health Department, Environmental Health Division partnered with Emergency Management, Chatham County Public Libraries, and other local and state partners to develop a Heat Action Plan. The Heat Action Plan explains that, “Consistent with historical trends, the state of North Carolina, including Chatham County, is projected to experience warming temperatures, especially at nighttime. The likelihood of extreme heat events is also projected to increase in the state, making extreme heat an important hazard for North Carolinians to be prepared for now and into the future.” The Chatham County Heat Action plan provides information about those most vulnerable to extreme heat, as well as actions to increase community awareness about the local impacts of extreme heat and ways to reduce the number of heat related illnesses in Chatham County.

Solar panels are being installed on the roof of the Chatham County Agriculture and Conference Center. The panels are expected to be fully operational and reducing the overall energy consumption of the building by the end of March 2023. Solar panels have already been installed and are in use at the Performance Building in Pittsboro. For more information, contact Kevin Lindley at kevin.lindley@chathamcountync.gov.

In 2017, the Board of Commissioners passed the Sustainable Facilities Policy, which codified the county’s commitment to sustainability in its own development practices and establishes a set of energy use guidelines for the construction and renovation of county buildings.

Chatham County recognizes the importance of promoting the use of electric vehicles as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect our natural resources from the impacts of climate change. Through the North Carolina Volkswagen Settlement, the county has built multiple electric vehicle charging stations in Siler City and Pittsboro. The Environmental Quality, Planning, and GIS departments have developed an online viewer that highlights the location and details of all EV charging stations in the county.

Anticipating the upcoming influx of funding available for local governments to build more electric vehicle infrastructure, the county is developing a suitability analysis to identify ideal locations for the construction of new EV charging stations that promote optimal usage and equitable access.

Chatham County recognizes the importance of promoting the use of solar energy as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect our natural resources from the impacts of climate change. By updating the county’s permitting processes to incentivize and facilitate the installation of solar panels, Chatham County received the SolSmart Gold level designation.

Visit the SolSmart webpage to learn more about Chatham County’s promotion of solar energy. 

To reduce the amount of carbon emissions produced in county operations, the Board of Commissioners have begun approving the replacement of county fleet vehicles with electric vehicles. The Environmental Quality and Parks and Rec departments have been approved for EV’s and their charging infrastructure, as well as a couple of hybrid vehicles for the general county fleet. For more information on this effort, contact Kevin Lindley, Environmental Quality Director, at kevin.lindley@chathamcountync.gov. 

This study will identify short, middle, and long term opportunities for developing the proposed Haw River Trail Corridor within Chatham, as well as lay out actionable items to achieve those goals. County staff and the consultant team are currently working together to compile previous plans and studies relevant to the Haw River Trail, collect data for existing conditions of the site, and develop a base map. Staff anticipate holding community input sessions for the public, so keep an eye on this email list for those announcements. For more information, contact Ben Rippe at ben.rippe@chathamcountync.gov.

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Agricultural Conservation Easement Program provides financial and technical assistance to help conserve agricultural lands and wetlands and their related benefits. Under the Agricultural Land Easements component, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) helps American Indian tribes, state and local governments and non-governmental organizations protect working agricultural lands and limit non-agricultural uses of the land. Under the Wetlands Reserve Easements component, the Natural Resources Conservation Service helps to restore, protect and enhance enrolled wetlands.

This program is coordinated in Chatham by the Soil and Water Conservation District. For more information, visit their webpage or contact Susannah Goldston, District Director, at susannah.goldston@chathamcountync.gov. 

The Chatham County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to establish the first-ever county-based trust fund aimed at supporting agricultural preservation and development within Chatham County. The Chatham Agricultural Preservation and Development Trust Fund is expected to be underway in 2023. 

A collective of government, community, and non-profit groups committed to connectivity conservation in the watershed for the Eno River and New Hope River have begun convening to develop the Eno-New Hope Strategic Action Plan. The plan will focus on strategies to promote the conservation of wildlife habitat through recommendations in land use planning, transportation, habitat conservation, governance, and DEIJ. The Chatham County Planning Department is a participating member in the development of the plan. For more information, please contact Brandon Dawson, Planner I – Conservation and Transportation, at brandon.dawson@chathamcountync.gov.

Parks and Recreation staff are working to catalogue the presence and quantity of native species and pollinators in county parks. From there, they can identify areas for improvement and species missing to be planted in efforts to increase the presence of native seasonal pollinators to the area. Just as important as increasing native species is removing invasive ones. The county has partnered with the Army Corps of Engineers on a major project to remove the wisteria from Northeast Park. For more information on these efforts, contact Tracy Burnett, Parks and Recreation Director, at tracy.burnett@chathamcountync.gov. 

The North Carolina Natural Heritage Program (NCNHP)collects and publishes data on rare and important species and habitats. This data is utilized in land conservation, development review, and land-use planning. The NCNHP is conducting a county-wide inventory in Chatham County and in Q1, surveys were released to solicit community participation in the prioritization of where NHP staff inventory and to allow property owners to opt into the inventory. This outreach was continued at the January Chatham Conservation Partnership meeting, with significant help from the CCP Steering Committee, including staff at Cooperative Extension and Soil & Water Conservation District. Planning Department and NCNHP staff used survey results and existing habitat data to identify parcels of interest for the upcoming inventory. The owners of these parcels were contacted via letter and NHP staff have received permission to survey 185 properties (so far) over the next year.

The Triangle J Council of Governments Watershed Protection Program and the Chatham County Watershed Protection Department are developing a Watershed Management Plan for Dry Creek. This plan will equip staff with tools and steps to sustainably manage this important water supply and its water quality. The plan is in its early stages of development and questions about the project can be directed to Rachael Thorn, Watershed Protection Director, at rachael.thorn@chathamcountync.gov. 

Chatham County Public Health Department’s Environmental Health Division initiated two projects this year to help reduce barriers to well water testing. Everyone should have access to safe drinking water and those on municipal water systems can rest a little easier knowing that their water meets Clean Water Act standards and that their water utility is held to higher standards when it comes to emerging contaminants. However, well owners are responsible for monitoring, operating, evaluating, and treating their well water to assure it is safe. Over the last few years Environmental Health has received anecdotal evidence that the two primary barriers to well owners sampling their well is lack of funding, as water sampling can be expensive, and lack of knowledge about the importance of sampling their well water. The first project, which is ongoing, was made possible through state funding that allowed Environmental Health to offer free water sampling to pregnant people or children under the age of 6 who use well water as their drinking water source. The second project is made possible by the Region IV Public Health Training Center, which is supporting a summer intern to work on developing protocols for a proposed sliding scale water sampling program as well as developing an educational campaign about the importance of sampling well water.

Chatham County Public Health Department Environmental Health Division partnered with Chatham County Planning Department and Chatham County GIS on a long-term project to develop a visual map of well depth, yield, and water quality parameters. The project grew out of a desire to be able to answer clients’ questions in an easy-to-understand format. Water quality was also the top concern of residents in the 2021 Chatham County Community Health Assessment. There are an estimated 15,000 wells in Chatham County, so far well data for 1,000 wells have been included in the map, the map will become more robust and useful for well owners, realtors, or researchers in the future. The application is on the GIS Portal and will be updated weekly.