What Pittsboro approved
Pittsboro’s Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 in 2025 to approve a South Village small-area plan covering nearly 5,000 acres within Chatham Park. The decision allowed Cary-based Preston Development to combine 16 smaller South Village areas into one planning framework. Later Section Design Plans will be reviewed as the project advances, with town staff coordinating the process and the Planning Board and Board of Commissioners considering those detailed plans, according to the Raleigh News & Observer and Chatham Journal Newspaper.
The approval followed a 7-0 recommendation from the Pittsboro Planning Board against the plan. The board cited incomplete submissions and unclear oversight procedures, the Chatham Journal Newspaper reported.
What the court decision changes
Judge John Morris dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. That means the plaintiffs cannot bring the same case again in Chatham County, though they may appeal. Morris also rejected arguments from Pittsboro and the developers that the organizations lacked standing to sue.
The News & Observer reported that Morris heard arguments on Aug. 31. The ruling allows the town and Preston Development to proceed under the approved South Village framework unless an appeal changes the outcome.
The dispute behind the lawsuit
SELC filed the case in January 2026 for the Chatham Climate Action Network, the Haw River Assembly, and 7 Directions of Service. The groups alleged that Pittsboro had not followed the 2015 development agreement governing Chatham Park, according to the Raleigh News & Observer.
SELC attorney Megan Kimball said the organizations were concerned about how later details, including street networks and the placement of land uses, would be decided. Attorney Gavin Parsons, representing the opposing side, argued that the plaintiffs were attempting to stop private-property development after losing through the public approval process. The Raleigh News & Observer reported those arguments; no independent interview is implied here.
The development’s scale
Chatham Park covers more than 8,500 acres along U.S. 15-501 and U.S. 64. Its South Village section is south of U.S. 64, while the roughly 2,000-acre North Village includes the Asteria Disney Storyliving community, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. At full buildout, the project could include more than 22,000 residences, 22 million square feet of business, medical, and commercial space, and about 60,000 people.
Infrastructure planning context
A 2014 Town of Pittsboro water-supply application sought a 3% (3 million gallons per day) Level I allocation and a 3% (3 million gallons per day) Level II allocation from Jordan Lake, according to the Town of Pittsboro. The same application said Pittsboro’s future service area, including the entire extraterritorial jurisdiction, had ten times more land available for development than was then developed. The verified material provides this broader water-planning context but does not specify South Village’s project-specific sewer or transportation requirements.
The South Village case follows an earlier legal challenge. Pittsboro Matters sued in 2014 over Chatham Park’s original master plan and rezoning, and the matter reached the state Court of Appeals in 2016, according to the published appellate decision.
