On Friday, several readers sent WHQR photos of trucks hauling logs out of the Sledge Forest property where Copper Builders has been pursuing a development known as Hilton Bluffs. The proposed 1,800-unit project has faced strong public opposition and pushback from the county, which recently revoked plans that had been conditionally approved.
The short version is that this is not clear-cutting or forward progress on the development — which is currently in litigation after Copper Builders sued the county. As of right now, there’s been no reversal of the county’s decision to reject the project.
The trees are being removed as part of a “selective tree thinning” on parts of the property outside of the proposed Hilton Bluffs project, according to the county. It is allowed as part of the forestry management plan of the property owners (an LLC known as SJM HILTON LLC ETAL) rather than Copper Builders.
The state doesn’t allow the county to regulate this type of forestry activity, and the county’s rules require the planning director to issue a tree removal exemption letter if the owner shows they meet specific qualifications. The owners did that, so the county issued an exemption letter a month ago.
Here’s what the county told us:
"New Hanover County issued a tree removal exemption letter on October 14 to the owners of the Hilton Properties parcel on Castle Hayne Road for selective tree thinning on a portion of the property, as part of their forestry management plan. The request came from the property owners, not Copper Builders, and the thinning area is separate from the areas previously proposed for the Hilton Bluffs development and its conservation area. State law does not allow the county to regulate forestry activity that meets specific qualifications, and county ordinance requires the Planning Director to issue an exemption letter when an owner documents that the activity meets those requirements. The exemption covers only the thinning described in the request and does not approve or vest any development plan for the property."
