Chatham County Stakeholders Meeting

Meeting Notes

Permitting and Inspections

• Posting for two new positions in March – planning inspector and field inspector, want to be fully staffed before things get busy
• Currently in continuing education season, some staff outages, need to build skillsets to expand capacity
  • Single-family dwelling final inspections will remain within the 2-day requirement despite some delays
• 503 new permitted homes in 2025, down from 2024
  • 241 – Chatham County, $750,000 average sale price
  • 247 – Pittsboro, majority in Chatham Park, $331,000 average sale price
• Field Inspector Count = 16 full time, averaging 120 inspections per day (commercial and residential)
• Power requirement for inspection? How to pass the new 2-part HVAC inspection without power?
  • County not conducting pressurized testing, but requires mechanical contractor to be on site to open panel on HVAC system.
  • Mechanical contractor can sign a letter stating that leak detection system was installed according to manufacturer specifications.
  • For electrical inspection, most builders are doing conditional power permit.
  • 3^rd party duct leakage testing can be done without power but it is more expensive.
• Is there a standardized process for conditional power permit?
  • Yes, conditional power application specifies process and state code amendments
  • Process changes driven by safety incidents involving exposed conductors; policy aligns with other jurisdictions
  • Requirements – entire panel set and outlets in place or capped
  • Permanent power cannot be issued until building final is approved; challenges arise when builders don't complete the building final process

• Conservancy at Jordan Lake, 1,500 homes, almost ready to start land
• US 64, east of Siler City 300+ homes
• 600+ homes off Bowers
• Vickers Village, amended permit, shifting number of single family homes to increase townhouse number
• 1,100 homes permitted in Chatham County applied to be in Pittsboro’s ETJ
• Seeing shift westward
• Retreat at Haw River in preliminary concept plan review – Bynum
• Adopted UDO not in force yet because of state legislature, new timeline June 2027
• Morris Road/Andrews Store Road project with 630 homes, public hearing March 16
• County Commissioners adopted moratorium for 1 year on data processing centers
  • County working with Central Pines Regional Council and the Town of Apex on proper siting standards
  • Want them locating away from high density residential
  • Concerned about constant low level noise
  • Water and power concerns, capacity and cost
• Hacker got into planning database, sent planning applicants phishing emails requesting payment on fees via wire transfer
  • Now redacting email addresses from applicants online

• Team completed 2,100 inspections and issued 64 NOVs in 2025
• 344 total residential plans submitted, 177 new
• Average 23 days to approvals
• Revision approval in 8 days
• 5 permits revoked, 1 developer civil penalty
• Seeing decrease in tree clearing before permit
• Biggest issue is utility connection with custom large lot – trenching for power and water needs to be included in watershed protection plan
• Seeing significant increase in large development plans
• Currently have 3 residential plan reviewers, but they are also inspectors
• Plan review turn around in 15-20 days
• Department requesting to add two people in 2026 – expecting to get a stormwater inspector position
• Seeing significant increase in buffer impact
• Subcontracting development erosion control plan review but conducting a secondary review of 3^rd party work – Freese/Nicols

• County offering reimbursement of school impact fees for new homes that meet 80% AMI affordability threshold for 30 years
  • $3,500 for first unit
  • Each other unit on the same property $1,100
• Event on April 23 – How Housing Happens, community facing event at the Agricultural Center at 4pm

• Who approves fee increases by TriRiver Water? Irrigation meter fee increased 6x since last year.
  • Governance and decision-making structure of Tri-River Water Authority raised as a concern — limited transparency on policy/fee setting