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A “high-intensity mining operation” proposed near Castle Hayne is the topic of a community meeting scheduled to be held Friday at 9 a.m.
Landowner Hilton Properties Limited Partnership is proposing a sand mine on 63 acres near 3901 Castle Hayne Road, just north of its interchange with Interstate 140. The parcel adjoins the General Electric property and is located about two miles off Castle Hayne Road.
The meeting will be held at 3011-B N. Kerr Ave. at 9 a.m. Friday. The purpose of the meeting, according to a notice, “is to explain the upcoming proposal and field questions about the proposal.”
The notice, sent by the Wilmington Group, lists Todd Woodard as the official applicant. Ben Andrea, a planner with New Hanover County, said the meeting is required before Woodard can submit an official application to rezone the property, currently classified rural agricultural.
The rezoning would change that to heavy industrial, with a special-use provision for high-intensity mining. Since the special-use permit would be required along with the rezoning, Andrea said the request would go through the county’s conditional-use rezoning process.
Dan Sams, a regional engineer with the N.C. Division of Energy, Mineral and Land Resources, said the sand mine would be similar to about a dozen others currently permitted in New Hanover.
“There’s a sand pit being proposed there near the GE,” Sams said. “It would provide fill for other sites—foundation and suitable material for fill.
“It’s not a quarry,” he said. “It’s a much smaller operation.”
Sams said the mine would be permitted for a depth of 25 feet. Permits are issued by the division, but zoning and other local compliance is required at the county level.
If applied for following Friday’s meeting, Andrea said the rezoning would be slated to come before the county planning board in February.
Jonathan Spiers is a reporter for Port City Daily. He can be reached at (910) 772-6313 or jonathan.s@portcitydaily.com. On Twitter: @jrspiers
