Thursday, February 13, 2025

Major 601-unit residential development planned in Boiling Spring Lakes

Audubon Park is a proposed Planned Residential Development in Boiling Spring Lakes (shown in pink on the right, approximate plans within the project appear on the left). (Port City Daily photo/Courtesy Steve Barger)
Audubon Park is a proposed Planned Residential Development in Boiling Spring Lakes (shown in pink on the right, approximate plans within the project appear on the left). (Port City Daily photo/Courtesy Steve Barger)

BOILING SPRING LAKES — A major development in Boiling Spring Lakes will undergo the first step in a lengthy approval process next month, marking the largest planned residential development in the city.

Audubon Park, a proposed Planned Residential Development, could bring 601 residential units to Boiling Spring Lakes.

Related: Brunswick County to fund city-wide sewer study in Boiling Spring Lakes, expansion planned

The project is being planned on two parcels: Approximately 561 multi-family units are proposed to be developed on an undeveloped 100-acre parcel adjacent to The Lakes Country Club’s golf course; approximately 40 single-family units are proposed along a 7.7-acre parcel, each with frontage planned on Fifty Lakes Drive.

“It’s probably the last large undeveloped tract here in Boiing Spring Lakes,” the city’s Manager, Jeff Repp, said of the 100-acre parcel Monday. “We don’t have any other large parcels like that.” 

Each parcel is currently zoned R-1 residential. Boiling Spring Lakes Commissioners were set to hear a rezoning request on the project last week, but the meeting was canceled due to Hurricane Dorian. On Oct. 1, Commissioners will hold a public hearing on a request to rezone each parcel from R-1 to Planned Residential Development (PRD).

Audubon Park

Home to approximately 6,500 residents, Boiling Spring Lakes is comprised of “99.9%” single-family homes, Repp said. Audubon Park will bring a still-undetermined variety of multi-family housing options to the city.

“This will be the first development that provides that,” Repp said. 

Candice Alexander, vice president of Dominion Land Corporation, said Audubon Park will cater to a growing demand for the city’s senior population looking to downsize.

“There’s so many people that live in Boiling Spring Lakes that are aging out,” Alexander said Monday. “They’re aging out of a large single-family home and they don’t want to leave Boiling Spring Lakes but they just can’t do all the upkeep on a big house. So that’s really the market that we would hope to provide something for — for the folks who do want to stay.”

Whether it’s comprised of condos, apartments, townhomes, or a combination of options, Audubon Park’s multi-family phases will be market-driven, according to Alexander. “Unfortunately so much of Boiling Spring Lakes was done so many years ago that it’s all just big lots,” Alexander said. “So they don’t have the option for other types of housing. That’s what we’re trying to answer with this process.”

SAD, commercial also planned

Both properties are owned by Calten Company LLC, property records show. The project is being developed by Dominion Land Corporation, which also oversees properties owned by BSL Land Holdings LLC.

BSL Land Holdings LLC owns a majority of the lots — Repp estimates approximately 244 — in the city’s Special Assessment District (SAD), created last year. Comprised of 327 lots, the SAD is located east of Highway 87, between Fifty Lakes Road and Cougar Road.

In the SAD, property owners are assessed (roughly $1,100 total) each year over a three-year period to cover the cost of extending sewer service in the area. Boiling Spring Lakes is fronting the cost for the $460,000 extension project but will be entirely reimbursed through the assessments over time. In September 2017, the city entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Dominion Land Corporation (the sister company of Sanco Builders) prior to the establishment of the SAD and the company’s purchase of 159 lots.

Though both areas are managed by the same companies, Audubon Park is being developed as its own separate project, according to Alexander.

Dominion Land Corporation also hopes to coordinate attracting businesses to a 20-acre commercial tract on Highway 87. The tract could be home to a real estate office, restaurant, and grocery store — something residents have long hoped for.

“One thing that they need desperately — they would like to have a grocery store,” Alexander said. “To get that- -they’ve got to have the rooftops.” 

Tentative commercial plans in Boiling Spring Lakes are contingent upon residential plan approval, according to Alexander. “We’ve got to know that we’ve got the units to support it,” she said.

Utilities

In the 60s, Reeves Telecom developed Boiling Spring Lakes surrounding several natural and manmade lakes. Nearly all residents in Boiling Spring Lakes are served by septic systems. In 2013, Brunswick County Utilities finished a wastewater project that extended utility lines down Highway 87 reaching South Brunswick middle and high schools.

The county furnished the project in exchange for the city’s water utilities and customers and to address septic issues at the two public schools.

A lack of publically-available wastewater utilities has long hindered growth in the city. Brunswick County is funding a city-wide sewer study planned to aid in future expansion efforts in the area.

The city’s recent SAD and plans for Audubon Park could help spur growth, but Repp said the projects won’t necessarily create a domino effect.

Wastewater flow from the SAD, once completed, will pass through a lift station on Cougar Road that services the schools. Utility information is not a prerequisite for rezoning approval, and as such, no connection information was provided in Dominion Land Corporation’s PRD application.

Brunswick County Director of Engineering William Pinnix wrote in a Technical Review Committee comment form in July that the Cougar Drive lift station would likely need to be upgraded to handle the flow from the project and other proposed developments in the area.

Monday, Repp said it’s possible a new lift station could be developed to serve the project. “Most likely what will happen is the developer will be responsible for putting in a lift station.”

An 8-inch water main is already located on Fifty Lakes Drive, plans show. Brunswick County would provide water after all requirements are met.

What’s next

Boiling Spring Lakes Commissioners will hold a public hearing on the rezoning at its Oct. 1 meeting. The city’s Planning Board unanimously approved the rezoning at its Aug. 13 meeting.

After the hearing, Commissioners will likely consider approving or disapproving the item at their following Nov. 6 meeting. Once approved, developers will be required to submit PRD plans, which will then be subject to board approval before the project can move ahead.


Send tips and comments to Johanna Ferebee at johanna@localvoicemedia.com

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