On Monday morning, the New Hanover County Board of Adjustment was slated to hear two appeals, both asking the county to reconsider approval of the Hilton Bluffs development in northwestern New Hanover County. The board has the power to review county decisions like technical review committee approvals.
The project, located in a region known as Sledge Forest, originally included a golf course and 4,000 units, clustered on a smaller portion of the 4,000-acre property. While the property is not zoned for dense development, the county’s regulations include a “development bonus” that allows projects to leverage preserved greenspace to allow more units. Opponents have called that a ‘loophole,’ while developers argue it's a good policy that helps preserve wetlands and greenspace.
Because the development is ‘by-right,’ meaning it's being built under the existing zoning rules and doesn’t require a rezoning, county commissioners have said their hands are largely tied. Copper Builders later dropped the golf course and scaled the project down twice, first to 3,000 units, and then to 1,800 units.
But advocates, including the nonprofit Save Sledge Forest, have continued to push back against the project, citing a host of concerns.
One group, which includes residents of the Wooden Shoe and Marathon Colony, represented by attorney G. Grady Richardson, filed a lawsuit and an appeal, based on complaints about road access through their communities. Another group of residents, also from the Castle Hayne area, is being represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), which also filed an appeal, based on environmental concerns.
In April, the Board of Adjustment issued a stay on the project, leading to this week’s hearing. In late June, Copper Builders and the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust announced a potential deal that would set aside 3,200 acres of the property as a nature preserve. The deal is contingent on the existing proposal — for around 1,800 units on 600 acres on the upland, buildable portion of the property — being approved. Save Sledge Forest said they would only support the deal if it preserved all 4,000 acres, with no development.
Immediately after Monday’s hearing started, the board recessed, while one group of appellants and county legal staff reviewed a last-minute agreement between Copper Builders and neighboring residents. The agreement will require a new site plan, with road access that doesn’t go through the Wooden Shoe or Marathon Colony neighborhoods. As part of the agreement, the neighbors are dropping both their appeal and their lawsuit.
Copper Builders founder Wade Miller told WHQR, “We've reached a resolution with neighbors in Wooden Shoe and Marathon Colony that keeps our community's traffic off their streets, and those appellants, 40 of the 47 who had challenged the project, agreed that the County's approval was proper. We appreciate the good-faith work on both sides to get there.”
Miller said the agreement "gets us closer to the conservation and does not jeopardize it," adding that the SELC appeal could still put the Coastal Land Trust deal at risk.
(Note: WHQR also reached out to Coastal Land Trust to ask and will update this article with their response.)
Susan Keelin, local counsel for SELC, told WHQR on Monday morning that her clients were not aware of the agreement until the hearing. She later requested a continuance, since changes to Copper Builders’ site plan could, in theory, alter their appeal. The Board of Adjustment agreed in a 4-1 vote.
The SELC appeal is now slated for the Board of Adjustment’s September 22 meeting.
“We respect that process and are confident the County's approval was correct and properly made. We look forward to presenting the facts, and to moving ahead with a plan that focuses much-needed homes on farmed timberland while permanently conserving the majority of the property,” Miller said.
“Our legal appeal remains active, and our commitment remains unchanged. Save Sledge Forest will continue working alongside the Southern Environmental Law Center to ensure any new proposal for development of Sledge Forest receives the careful scrutiny it deserves and that the voices of this community continue to be heard,” Save Sledge Forest co-founder Kayne Darrell told WHQR. “Yesterday changed the process. It did not change our mission.”
Below: Save Sledge Forest full statement.
Yesterday’s hearing marked an important and positive procedural development for the Save
Sledge Forest cause: Copper Builders announced its intention to submit a revised plan for its proposed development. We know that the new plan will have different access routes, but that is all we currently know. Copper Builders has not said where the proposed new access points will be located or what other revisions they plan to propose. Until that information is available, it is impossible to fully evaluate the impacts of the revised proposal.
Copper Builders did not commit to a timeline for submitting its revised plan, but whenever they decide to do so, the revised plan must move back through the county’s review process, including review and approval by the Technical Review Committee, along with any additional technical analyses the county determines are necessary before our appeal returns to the Board of Adjustment. The Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC) attorneys’ request for a continuance of our appeal until the completion of that process has been approved by the Board.
Our legal appeal remains active, and our commitment remains unchanged. Save Sledge Forest will continue working alongside the Southern Environmental Law Center to ensure any new proposal for development of Sledge Forest receives the careful scrutiny it deserves and that the voices of this community continue to be heard.
For nearly two years, our thousands of supporters have shown that protecting Sledge Forest is about more than one roadway or one neighborhood. It is about protecting a nationally significant forest, properly implementing ordinances, safeguarding the health and safety of our community, and ensuring that growth is guided by transparency, sound planning, and the public interest.
Yesterday changed the process. It did not change our mission.
