NEW HANOVER COUNTY — Beacon Townhomes must wait another month for its potential development approval after its proposal was mired in confusion over multiple site plans and HOA support.
The six-member New Hanover County Planning Board voted unanimously on Jan. 8 to table the discussion as new site plans came in the same day as the meeting and before staff could properly vet them. The applicant agreed and requested a continuance of the submission review and discussion.
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Board member Clark Hipp viewed Beacon Townhomes’ application as “incomplete.”
“I am not comfortable making a recommendation to my board of commissioners when I don’t have all the information,” he said.
Beacon Townhomes wants to build nine units on 1.16 acres off Carolina Beach Road and Red Lighthouse Lane. Cindee Wolf of Design Solutions requested on behalf of property owner Leo Nguyen a rezoning of the land from R-15 residential, which places an emphasis on single-family homes and low- to moderate-density housing, to R-5, which allows for moderate- to high-density residential development.
The new plans presented at the meeting changed unit configuration from one duplex, one triplex, and one quadruplex to two duplexes and a fiveplex. Thus staff also could not address conditions it desired — for example, limiting the number of attachment-style homes to quadruplexes and not fiveplexes.
Staff was unable to make a recommendation to the board for the new plans since they hadn’t reviewed them, though they recommended denial of the original request due to the plans not meeting sidewalk, easement and buffer conditions set out in the land code.
The proposal received some pushback, with four people speaking against it during the meeting’s public hearing and one in support. The speakers’ raised the issue of overcrowding, especially on the site’s limited acreage.
“Cramming nine houses on that one-acre piece of property is out of control,” Little Pony Trail resident Tim Brunner said. Brunner, along with his wife, sold the parcel of land to Nguyen in 2024.
In defending the new site plan and advocating for its approval, Wolf pointed to a 30-foot northernmost easement with an additional 15-foot buffer that would create space between the homes on Little Pony Trail and the development. She said this easement addressed concerns staff mentioned about how close the townhomes were to the backyards of Little Pony Trail residents during review of one draft received prior to the holidays.
In staff’s presentation, they said while the development plans were in line with the 2016 Comprehensive Land Use Plan, the Destination 2050 Comprehensive Plan discourages rezoning properties to be higher-intensity if the surrounding and adjacent properties are not zoned similarly; the end goal is to protect the integrity of surrounding neighborhoods. Currently, those neighborhoods are all single-family residential and zoned R-5. The new tenet in the upcoming land use plan will only become an issue, however, if it’s passed before the Beacon Townhomes new application and site plans are submitted to staff and the board.
The head of the Red Lighthouse Lane Homeowners’ Association, David Gross, spoke during the hearing in support of the development.
“When Cindee approached me with this project, I was in favor of it right off the bat,” Gross said, noting it would bring more money to the HOA and in turn help repave roads and cover maintenance.
He insisted the developments would only add further value to the neighborhood.
“There were people a little concerned about more traffic but being nine townhomes, I can’t imagine it being that much more traffic,” Gross said.
No traffic impact analysis has been conducted. However, one would be required by staff.
Traffic concerns from residents included whether Carolina Beach Road is suited for the additional development, due to a lack of acceleration and deceleration lanes, and the fact that adjacent neighborhoods of Lea Landing and Little Pony Trail are single lane roads, less equipped for heavier traffic flow. Some residents also expressed worry over drivers making U-turns near the intersection, running into issues with drivers turning into the residential side streets, and overcrowding on the sides of the street.
“Think about the cars alone. Two cars per house, that is 18 cars. Where are you going to put them?” resident Brunner asked during public comment.
Wolf addressed the traffic concerns, which she noted would be “downstream” of Lea Landing and Little Pony Trail and not blocking the entrances to either side street. Also, she added, Red Lighthouse Lane had a right turn lane, which she suggested helped the traffic on the street.
“It is an existing intersection that works as well as any of the intersections along Carolina Beach Road,” Wolf said. “Yes, we’ll be adding potentially more trips to Red Lighthouse Lane, but that has no impact on Little Pony or Lea Landing. That is the whole point of why we are coming forward with this plan in particular.”
In order to not worsen traffic on Carolina Beach Road, closer to the entrances to Little Pony Trail and Lea Landing, the primary access point to the property is through Red Lighthouse Lane, more appropriately equipped to handle traffic than the former two.
Hipp asked Gross if his approval was coming from the entire Red Lighthouse Lane Homeowners Association, to which Gross confirmed. He added while there has been no written contract or petition to show resident approval, those living in the neighborhood entered into a “good faith” agreement.
A member of the Little Pony Trail community, north of the property opposite of Red Lighthouse Lane, spoke to the contrary. Julie Thompson was present at the meeting alongside her husband, John Thompson, and she claimed four members of the Red Lighthouse Lane HOA voiced their disagreement to her about the development.
“This whole process has been a deceit from day one,” Brunner said. “As you can tell, there are three different plans. Nothing has been straightforward … It’s the classic: utilize the acreage as much as you can and spend as little money.”
The developers did hold, as required, a public meeting in August 2025 for community members to attend. Though presented were the first version of the site plans, which included a more crowded layout with less considerations of property easements.
Planning board member Kevin Hine defended the process.
“I just want the public to know — because this is being recorded — that it is not unusual for the site plan to change a little bit from the very first community meeting, as it gets put into the application,” he assured, adding the point of community meetings are to receive and apply feedback.
Board member Kaitlyn Rhonehouse agreed the property being developed would improve the neighborhood’s value.
“I would like to see the sidewalk,” she added. “And one of our concerns is to go back to TRC, and coming back, I would like to see a condition that there is an MOU [memorandum of understanding] voted upon by a majority of the HOA.”
Planning board chair Cameron Moore said he wanted to see an MOU as well.
The board was in agreement about tabling the discussion, and in the next month the owners and Wolf will have to discuss the TRC-approved sidewalk plans, easement, and have a formal memorandum of understanding with the Red Lighthouse Lane Homeowners Association to show the planning board.
The next planning board meeting is scheduled for Feb. 5.
[Ed. note: The article was updated to reflect that the applicant requested a continuance of the rezoning application.]
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