The Hillsborough Town Board is upset that the proposed Buckhorn Village shopping complex in western Orange County is — gulp! — moving too fast. Of course what’s really making board members mad is that they’re facing competition. If Hillsborough hadn’t puttered around for years on the Waterstone project, this wouldn’t be an issue. From the Herald-Sun:
“We worked so hard on economic development,” board member Evelyn Lloyd said. “We worked years, and to slap us in the face is not good.”
After considerable discussion last month during a joint public hearing regarding the time crunch before the commissioners break for the summer, the county officials approved a motion requiring the planning board to present its recommendation on Buckhorn Village by June 3.
“The county is really pushing this Buckhorn project through, and the concern is we have our own projects in the economic development district, our own projects that will stop the sales tax leakage, yet we seem to be left out in all this discussion,” said town board member Eric Hallman. “I’m afraid it’s going to damage what we’ve already established at Waterstone. I think we need to craft a response to the county that this is a concern.”
The town of Hillsborough has for years been honing its plans for Waterstone — a 337-acre residential and commercial site between Interstates 40 and 85 and Old N.C. 86 and N.C. 86.
