ROCKY POINT — Wilmington developer Mark Maynard has submitted plans for a 750-home development in Rocky Point called Falls Mist Garden, which would include its own wastewater treatment plant and a commercial district along NC 210.
The development is tentatively scheduled for a public hearing before the Planning Board in July, although that is subject to change.
The 301-acre property consists of three separate lots, two of which are currently bare farm fields while the third is largely made up of thick woods and wetlands to the west of Turkey Creek, which flows south into the Northeast Cape Fear River.
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The properties lie just southwest of the Highway 117 and NC 210 intersection. One of the farmland properties that fronts on Highway 210 is currently zoned Rural Agriculture, while the adjacent farm field is zoned Residential Performance, according to a project narrative submitted by Wilmington firm Stroud Engineering. The third property — which at 208 acres makes up more than two-thirds of the land — is also zoned an RA classification and consists of thick woods and vegetation, wetlands surrounding Turkey Creek, and various farm fields.
The application for the master development plan notes that the residential neighborhood is “planned around environmental constraints,” and estimates that 200 acres will be disturbed.
Turkey Creek meanders along the western property line of the largest tract before cutting between the two farmland properties closest to NC 210. A thoroughfare is planned to cut through the properties, connecting NC 210 and US 117, and the lots are proposed off interconnecting streets branching out from the thoroughfare.
“The wetlands adjacent to Turkey Creek constitute the majority of the wetlands on the properties,” according to the narrative.
The current allowed lot density for the properties is “understood to allow” for about 667 homes, according to the narrative. Maynard is requesting a conditional rezoning of the land to Planned Development, which would enable lot size flexibility. He is proposing 750 single-family detached lots.
“The commercial use [along NC 210] is intended to serve and compliment the neighborhood” while the properties are currently undeveloped and utilized for agriculture of various description,” according to the narrative.
If approved, the development would be built directly adjacent to approximately 40 to 50 low-cost homes of Kimberly Court, and further south, a larger neighborhood along Arvida Spur Road.
The thoroughfare is proposed as a public road right of way designed for North Carolina Department of Transportation acceptance and would limit access to interconnecting streets. Plans for the road include bike lanes and a sidewalk. According to the narrative, no residential driveways will connect to the thoroughfare.
The onsite wastewater treatment plant is intended to provide sewer collection and central treatment for the neighborhood.
Pender County’s interim planning director, Travis Henley, said the Planning Board hearing is contingent on a public input meeting as part of the conditional rezoning process.
“Generally, projects of this type would go to the Board of County Commissioners for a hearing the month after the Planning Board hearing,” Henley said.
Maynard’s plans were submitted under a limited liability company called Rocky Point Properties, listed as the same address of his Tribute Companies development firm in Wilmington.
Tribute Companies was behind the revitalization of Wilmington’s South Front District, turning the former Block Shirt Factory into an apartment complex that included original concrete floors, floor-to-ceiling windows, brick walls, and concrete countertops. The first phase of the development transformed a vacant public housing project called Nesbitt Courts into a more upscale apartment complex.
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