Six speakers from the ‘Save Sledge Forest’ group voiced their opposition to proposed Hilton Bluffs development, which conservationists are calling Sledge Forest after the original landowner. Other members of the group showed up in support; many have also emailed county commissioners.
The proposed development would bring 4,000 single-family homes to Castle Hayne on a previously undeveloped section of a 4,000-acre property.
It’s zoned as rural agricultural, which allows for 1 unit per acre. Under that zoning, another development style called performance residential zoning is permitted, which may allow the developers to compress all 4,000 units onto 1,000 acres of the land, leaving the 3,000 acres of wetland largely untouched, except for a proposed horse ranch and golf course. Some of that land is already protect by federal, state, and county regulations, according to New Hanover County.
Wilmington resident Logan Secord says he thinks approving that number of units is a misuse of performance residential zoning, since they’d never be able to build on wetlands regardless.
“So they are trying to take credit for something that they're not actually doing. Performance. Zoning is not a bad thing. It's that they're misapplying performance zoning,” Secord said.
Others in opposition fear the golf course could do severe harm to coastal waterways because of pesticide and fertilizer runoff; the property is bordered by roughly eight miles of the Northeast Cape Fear River.
At the county commission meeting, speakers voiced concerns for the health and biodiversity of the region if this land is redeveloped.
Kayne Darrell is one of the leaders of the Save Sledge Forest movement, and used her three minutes of public comment to express concerns over traffic and ecological impact.
“We need to know that you as our elected officials, are going to look out for our our best interests,” Darrell said. “We need to be assured that those rights are protected, because we, your constituents, deserve nothing less.”
Other speakers associated with the movement said conservation groups stand at the ready to buy the land; they did not discuss specific groups or funding mechanisms. Another concern was underground toxic waste seepage into the groundwater from the adjacent GE property, the legacy of nuclear fuel production. Some members, including environmentalist Andy Wood, encouraged the county to get data on a potential ‘plume’ of pollution that may be moving underneath the Hilton Bluffs property.
According to public emails, county staff have not completed their Technical Review process on this development, nor has NCDOT completed its traffic impact analysis. Save Sledge Forest has cited a figure of roughly 30,000 daily trips through the property’s sole road access point; that number appears to be based on upper-end estimates of similar-sized projects. The county has noted the project is still early in the process, and the developers don’t have permission to build just yet.
County Commissioner LeAnn Pierce acknowledged the concerns at the end of the public comment period, asking staff to provide more information about the property.
“It doesn't come before us. So we need to better understand what's going on at Sledge Forest,” she said.
The developers did not need to seek a rezoning to begin the development process, starting with the traffic impact analysis and technical review committee. That means elected officials are unlikely to have any direct say in the process, although staff have not officially approved anything yet.
In an email shared with WHQR, Planning Director Rebekah Roth wrote, “While there are limitations on staff’s ability to deny projects that comply with our local standards, no approvals have been provided for the project discussed at the October Technical Review Committee meeting, and the work of other review agencies is not complete. The proposed development is still in its early stages, and it is still unclear whether what has been proposed is viable. While the review process continues, we will be providing updated information on the project to the Commissioners, so please be on the lookout for that.”
The developer has formally applied for a preliminary subdivision plat of 230 residential lots on a portion of the parcel currently used for forestry purposes, and nothing has been approved so far.
It is unclear to what degree public pressure could impact those approvals. Some members of Save Sledge Forest have suggestion county commissioners could actually appeal a staff decision to the County’s Board of Adjustment (which is usually the venue for property owners to appeal county decisions).
WHQR asked New Hanover County if this is a possibility, and a spokesperson wrote: "The North Carolina General Statutes does allow for elected boards to appeal staff determinations to the Board of Adjustment. To our knowledge, there is no precedent for this occurring, and the standards that a member of the public suggested should be appealed were standards directly stated in the ordinance."
Editor's note: This article has been updated to include recent statements from New Hanover County.
