After a raucous community meeting on Tuesday night, the developers of the proposed Hilton Bluffs community in Castle Hayne have published an open letter to the community.
Consultant Sam Franck, who is serving as legal counsel for Copper Builders, sent the letter to reporters. It reads in part, "This land is privately owned, is not accessible to the general public, and is actively managed timberland guided by a forestry plan. Much of the land is currently used for lawful recreational hunting. Those uses will change in connection with this development.
"Furthermore, to ask a private landowner to surrender their land for conservation in the name of the public good is unreasonable. This is akin to us asking each and every one of you to surrender your homes so that the trees could be planted, or a public park established on your property."
The letter also addressed specific concerns from residents, particularly with regard to environmental contamination near the GE plant site.
"There are a significant number of homes located closer to the understood source of contamination than the homes contemplated in our planned development, particularly in the Wooden Shoe neighborhood. Several attendees at our meeting, and several other landowners in the immediate vicinity, have conducted site work on their land since the environmental impact events that were referenced during the meeting.
"Presumably that site work was permitted and deemed safe. If you have information confirming the safety of site work activities on your land, as determined by regulators or experts, please share that information with us."
With regard to proposals that the land be turned into conservation land, Franck responded to reporters question, "Multiple parties have approached Copper Builders to express interest, and there are no serious offers on the table yet."
The entire letter is included below.