earns Gold LEED star

PITTSBORO Chatham County Schools celebrated Margaret B. Pollard Middle School’s becoming the first LEED Gold middle school in the state of North Carolina last month.

The school earned the distinction for its green building features as well as ways teachers and students have incorporated aspects into curricular study. Pollard opened in January.

Superintendent Robert Logan opened a ceremony in the main gallery. Randy Drumheller, the construction manager and maintenance director for the district, discussed features of the building. Dan Robinson of SFL+a, spoke for the school architectural firm.

LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building was designed and built using strategies with the goals of achieving high performance in key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

The Pollard school size is 120,000 square feet on a site of approximately 31 acres. The school is built for 650 students.

Daylighting is an important feature of the school. Classrooms have large windows. Solatubes are also used to bring in exterior light. Classrooms have motion detectors to sense the need for lighting. Pollard is an entirely geo-thermal building. Heating and air-conditioning systems use ground-sourced water from 170 wells located 400 feet below the soccer field. Rooms in the school have HVAC units that act as condensing units.

Opportunity Chatham

to showcase Siler City

SILER CITY The Chatham Economic Development Corporation will hold its fourth annual Opportunity Chatham meeting from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Oct. 19 at Central Carolina Business Campus (Campus Drive) in Siler City.

This year’s event will showcase Siler City, now entering its third year as an N.C. Small Town Economic Prosperity (STEP) town.

Featured speakers include Mark Bensen, president and CEO of the Triangle Community Foundation; Jason Gray, director of Research and Innovation for the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center; and Dan Gerlach, president of the Golden LEAF Foundation.

Tickets are $15 per person and are available online at www.bit.ly/opportunity2012. Tickets also can be purchased by calling 919-542-8274 or mailing checks made out to the EDC to PO Box 1627, Pittsboro NC 27312.

The event will be held in the cul-de-sac on Campus Drive in the Central Carolina Business Campus. From Highway 64 West, turn left onto Progress Boulevard. Campus Drive is the first left. Parking is available along Campus Drive, with handicap parking available upon request.

County agriculture board

needs additional members

PITTSBORO The Chatham County’s Board of Commissioners has recently filled several vacancies on its Agriculture Advisory Committee, but a few openings across the county remain. The county especially needs applicants in the southeastern part of Chatham County, but residents of all areas are welcome.

The Agriculture Advisory Committee advises the Board of Commissioners on agricultural issues and reviews and approves all property that owners requested to be a Voluntary Agriculture District. The VAD Program encourages preservation and protection of farmland from non-farm development.

The committee also manages the county’s Agriculture Hall of Fame Awards Program.

“We looking for members who make their living in agriculture production, agribusinesses and other agricultural activities,” said Sam Groce, director of the Chatham County Center of the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service.

Groce said they hope to find members with a diverse representation of the county’s key agricultural commodities or activities: livestock production (beef, dairy, small ruminants); contract poultry growers, nursery and landscape operations, equine, forestry, market growers (produce and local meats), agricultural education, agricultural finance and product suppliers.

The committee typically meets every other month on the second Tuesday in Pittsboro.

A committee application form can be found at: http://bit.ly/PdBKTa or Lindsay Ray at 919-542-8200 to have a form sent to you.

If you have questions, call Sam Groce at 919-542-8202.