The Chatham County Board of Commissioners on Nov. 3 approved a negotiated amendment to the Vickers Village compact community agreement that waives the development’s on-site affordable-housing requirement in exchange for a fee in lieu of $52,600 per unit for 10 lots (total $526,000).

Community Development Officer Jamie Andrews told the board the change reflects four years of negotiation and market shifts since the project’s original 2021 approval. Staff provided an updated cost assessment showing that building the 10 originally intended owner-occupied affordable units would require an estimated county subsidy on the order of roughly $155,000 per unit — about $1.7 million total — substantially higher than previously expected.

Under the amendment approved by the board, the developer (Vickers Bennett Group LLC) will convey $52,600 per unit (an inflation-adjusted increase from the original $47,000 figure) at the time lots are sold to a residential builder, and the county will accept those payments in lieu and dissolve the development’s affordable-housing element. Andrews said staff and partners could use the funds in multiple ways, including building a revolving loan fund for scattered-site homeownership, leveraging low-income housing tax credit projects, partnering with Habitat for Humanity, or other affordable-housing investments.

The board debated the change. Commissioner Delaney argued the county should honor the original commitment in the 2021 approval and expressed concern about setting a precedent of taking cash instead of affordable units. Other commissioners said the negotiated fee would allow the county to leverage funds where they can have greater reach (for example, through projects like Oakview in Siler City) and that the county should focus on getting the best outcome for affordability with limited resources.

After discussion the board voted to accept the amended agreement and the fee in lieu. The vote passed; at least one commissioner recorded a ‘‘no’’ vote on the record. The board also approved related items for the same development: an ordinance amending conditions in the approved compact community (to revise phasing schedule and conditions 5, 6, 7, 8 and 22) and a plat-extension request that moves first-plat and subsequent deadlines. Staff said the fee in lieu is expected to be conveyed when the developer sells lots to a builder and that the county will move the funds into an affordable housing pool for subsequent programmatic use.

Actions recorded in the meeting packet: the board accepted an amendment to the development agreement to waive the affordable-housing element and accept a fee in lieu totaling $526,000; the board approved a consistency statement and ordinance amendments to the compact conditional district; and the board approved a 24‑month extension to first-plat and phasing deadlines for the Vickers Village project.

The board and staff stressed that fiscal and programmatic details of how any fee-in-lieu funds will be used will be developed through policy and program steps after the payment is received.