WILMINGTON — A recent series of plans and requests for rezoning and new developments continues in New Hanover County and its municipalities – this time, the New Hanover Board of Commissioners will decide the fate of a proposed 85-acre development on Gordon Road. The development, The Landing at Lewis Creek Estates, would consist of 236 single-family lots and 192 apartment units.
The property is currently zoned as office and institutional; Lee Law Firm, on behalf of the property owner, The Lewis Family Tract, is requesting the property be rezoned to a conditional use residential district and a special use permit to develop the high-density development, according to county documents. The land is located at the 4700 block of Gordon Road adjacent to I-40. The area is almost exclusively zoned for residential purposes.
In July, the New Hanover County Planning Commission voted 4-3 to recommend the denial of the application, citing an already extensive residential area, and a lack of commercial properties in that particular region.
“I am a big proponent for workforce housing, as everyone knows we desperately need it … I agree wholeheartedly with everyone having the right to develop their property, that’s not in question here. My concern is with the existing residential that’s already out there and this adding to it, and no commercial, forcing people to drive to get to their needed services,” Planning Commission Chair Donna Girardot said during the meeting.
The proposal only provides one access point, which would be located on Gordon Road, and a traffic impact analysis study was conducted. According to county staff, the proposal would generate 275 trips during the morning peak times and 359 trips during the afternoon peak.
The 2016 Comprehensive Land Use Plan lays out the course for development and the future of New Hanover County. Much like the City of Wilmington’s Comprehensive Plan the county’s plan encourages the mixed use of land to encourage residents to live, shop, work and eat where they live. According to a staff report on the development, the proposed use of the land is not in line with the land use plan.
The report reads in part: “The 2016 Comprehensive Land Use Plan classifies the subject property as Urban Mixed Use. The proposed residential development is not consistent with the 2016 Comprehensive Land Use Plan because it is moving the County’s development pattern away from the direction outlined in the Future Land Use Map.
“It proposes a residential development on the only portion of the Urban Mixed Use place type off Gordon Rd. that is not already zoned for residential, and design features do not conform with the recommendations for this place type,” according to county documents.
On Aug. 21, the county will hold public hearings for several rezoning requests — including the Gordon Road development. The meeting, held at the New Hanover County Historic Courthouse, will start at 4 p.m.
Michael Praats can be reached at [email protected].
