[Editor’s Note: The special use permit request for the Tarin Woods addition has been withdrawn by the applicant.]
NEW HANOVER COUNTY — A contentious addition to a Myrtle Grove subdivision, after having failed to come to fruition multiple times, is back before the New Hanover County Planning Board.
READ MORE: Another addition to Tarin Woods subdivision? 300 units proposed next to Tregembo Zoo
Residents have started a petition calling for its rejection again. In the seven days it’s been live, it has received more than 600 signatures. The main areas of concern are the burden the development would put on highway infrastructure and the influx of impervious surfaces that could lead to more flooding on neighboring properties.
Property owner Hoosier Daddy LLC has applied for a rezoning multiple times to add multi-family housing to the neighborhood; the county commissioners denied the most recent iteration in May 2023.
Now the applicant is taking another approach by requesting a special use permit to increase the allowable density for 16.78 acres off Manassas Drive, connecting to Tarin Woods. If granted, the property’s density would increase from 2.5 to 10.2 units per acre.
The increase would allow for an additional 171 units to the subdivision. In the special-use permit application, Hoosier Daddy LLC states the addition will be closest to Carolina Beach Road and would serve as a buffer between the commercial properties along the busy route and the single-family homes right off it.
“‘The proposed use is consistent with the surrounding use, as both are residential in nature,’” resident Shawn Bunge said, referring to a tenet in the county’s comprehensive plan. “Sure, a dingy and a cruise line are both ships that carry people; I think we all know they’re very different and not in harmony with one another.”
Tarin Woods has faced opposition since it was first proposed several years ago. In 2022, developer Rockford Partners proposed 328 additional townhomes and 10 single-family homes to the existing neighborhood. It was denied in May 2023 by the county commissioners in a 4-1 vote after significant pushback from nearby residents.
Similar resistance was exhibited at the New Hanover County Planning Board meeting on Thursday.
“This special use permit would not only disregard the agreements that have governed this land for decades, but it would also set a dangerous, dangerous precedent for a future of the Battle Park subdivision and adjacent to it,” Batte Park resident Vivian Radecsky said. “It would erode the trust between neighbors and undermine the very essence of our community.”
According to the developer’s concept plan, 40% of the property will be impervious surface. Over 70,000 square feet of impervious concrete will be used to reach that percentage.
Neighbor Michelle O’Brien took umbrage with the traffic study completed on the project — specifically that it was over two years old and completed during winter months, when traffic eases along with tourist influxes.
According to the permit application, peak hour trips generated from the special use allowance would be 76 a.m. and 84 p.m. trips, compared to 29 a.m. and 39 p.m. trips under the current zoning.
Because the peak trips are estimated below 100, a formal traffic impact analysis is not required; O’Brien is requesting the North Carolina Department of Transportation provide updated information with seasonality of traffic patterns included before the development move forward.
Scott James, a transportation planner at the Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, said the TIA that was completed for the entire Tarin Woods development is still in good standing and there is no outstanding requirement for a new study.
The special use permit process requires a quasi-judicial hearing, therefore, Thursday’s planning board review was a preliminary form designed for residents to provide feedback ahead of commissioner review. At the hearing, the only speakers allowed to present to commissioners will be people that can provide factual evidence of how the development will be a detriment to them or prove the development does not meet requirements in the land code.
The residents that spoke on Thursday requested the planning board continue the permit request to the next meeting, giving the developer more time to provide information to them on the impact 171 units will have on their property — more relevant traffic data and assurance from the county’s stormwater engineer on the drainage impacts.
The application includes a concept plan, but has not satisfied the more detailed engineering schematics yet and did not have to provide those for Thursday’s meeting.
The board did not see it fit to continue the request, though several noted neighbors’ concerns were not unfounded.
“I think the last time the applicant was before this board, I used the term ‘it was a big ask,’” board member Kevin Hine said. “I’d love to see the developer tone down the project and get the neighborhood in a little more unity than it is, but developers are in the business of developing and he’s certainly entitled to the process that’s before us.”
Vice Chair Colin Tarrant said the applicant has already provided the information required of them, and that won’t change before the request is submitted to commissioners.
“For that reason, I’m satisfied that there’s enough there for us to move forward,” Tarrant said. “I understand that this is a different type of hearing and it does put different time restraints and restrictions on anyone who wishes to be heard in opposition — and for that I do empathize.”
[Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article attributed a quote to planning board Chair Jeffrey Petroff. The correct attribution is vice chair Colin Tarrant. PCD regrets the error.]
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