NEW HANOVER COUNTY — The county manager has directed the county’s technical review committee to reconsider its March approval of site plans for the 1,800-home Hilton Bluffs development, even after the board of adjustment chose not to do the same thing earlier this month.
In a letter dated Sept. 24, County Manager Chris Coudriet said he was asking the TRC to review the conditional approval in light of questions raised by a number of hearing participants during the Sept. 22 board of adjustment hearing.
“The TRC must determine whether the original conditional approval remains valid as it relates to the access roads in the site plan,” Coudriet wrote. “This review should begin as soon as practicable and the applicant should be notified that the TRC is undertaking this review.”
READ MORE: Hilton Bluffs hearing delayed again, Copper Builders alludes to mystery path for approval
The site plan the Hilton Bluffs developer, Copper Builders, submitted in March included three access points — one off Sledge Road, and two connections into the nearby Wooden Shoe and Marathon Colony neighborhoods.
Based on this site plan, two appeals were filed by residents; one of them was resolved right before the board of adjustment was set to hear it in July. Copper Builders agreed to remove the two neighborhood connections as a result.
The other appeal, filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center, was scheduled to be heard on Sept. 22. However, the SELC argued the appeal could not continue because the site plans being appealed were no longer able to be constructed; the two access points were no longer on the table.
Additionally, Copper Builders had submitted another plan with only one access point on Sledge Road. Before this could be approved or denied by the TRC, the county manager rejected the site plans himself. Coudriet cited public safety concerns associated with a singular roadway in and out of the 1,800-home development, which is surrounded by wetlands and located near the Cape Fear River.
However, the Sept. 22 hearing was to hear the appeals related to the original three-access plan, not the one-access plan rejected by Coudriet.
Deputy County Attorney Karen Richardsstaff explained multiple site plans for one development could go through the TRC — and thus appeals could be filed and decided on multiple plans — but suggested the best path forward would be for Copper Builders to submit a new plan it could build.
She also said the board adjustment could reconsider its approval of the March 10 plan with new information about the two neighborhood connections now off the table.
The board of adjustment chose against that option.
Chair Caleb Rash said: “As of March 10, Copper Builders had essentially a right in that conditional approval; whatever happens after the fact can’t really take that away. I think there’s still an open question about whether that plan could proceed in any practical sense.”
Now that the plan is returning to the TRC for review anyway, the TRC could uphold its conditional approval or deny the plans.
The county manager wrote the TRC “should consider whether the applicant’s inability to utilize two of the three access points originally identified on the site plan constitutes a material deviation or substantial departure from the plan upon which its conditional approval was based.”
Coudriet added that no development approval or county permits should proceed until the TRC’s second review.
On Tuesday, Save Sledge Forest, the nonprofit of Castle Hayne residents opposing Hilton Bluffs, provided a statement on the county manager’s letter:
“We strongly support County Manager Chris Coudriet’s decision to step in and require a formal review of the March 10 Hilton Bluffs conditional approval. This is what responsible leadership looks like. When significant questions arise about an approval of this magnitude—particularly after two of the three access points upon which that approval was based are no longer available—the right response is not to look the other way or simply allow the process to continue. It is to stop, examine the facts, and make sure the County gets it right. We appreciate Chris Coudriet’s continued commitment to ensuring that this process moves forward with transparency, integrity and careful scrutiny, and with the safety and best interests of our community at the forefront. That is what this community has been asking for all along.”
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