BRUNSWICK COUNTY — Homes in Brunswick County are being proposed in droves, with five subdivision applications on the docket of an upcoming planning board meeting.
Part 2: [A frontier still untapped: Brunswick County has 5 subdivisions gunning for approval]
The current housing proposal blitz includes predominantly single family homes, but with offerings of townhomes and multifamily units too. As a sustained population injection defines southeast N.C., developers are keying into Brunswick County, where vacant space abounds.
According to home building experts, Brunswick County attractiveness stems largely from its available sewer and water infrastructure. New Hanover County’s utility infrastructure is still barren in parts of the unbuilt territories in the northeast, and in Wilmington, builders must conform to the dwindling land supply. Meanwhile, in Pender County, two projects were recently stymied at the planning board level, according to Tyler Newman, president of Business Alliance for a Sound Economy.
“That leaves Brunswick County,” Newman said. “They have land, major infrastructure in place and have made strategic water and sewer investments to be ahead of the curve.”
The most gargantuan subdivision is planned for a spot in western Brunswick along Highway 17, a few miles north of Sandpiper Bay Club. Timber Farms, as it’s called, would comprise thousands of lots on 800 acres of land. Specifically, the developer proposed 1,600 single family lots, 450 townhomes and 950 multifamily units.
Timber Farms, LLC — which owns part of the land in question — was incorporated more than a decade ago. Other swaths of land included in the project are owned in a trust associated with Calabash developer Gregory Gore. Planning staff noted in the application this area of the county is “highly susceptible to flooding.” According to Brunswick County planning documents, the area is hoped to be low density residential housing in the future.
Demarest Park, a subdivision near Leland, was given approvals to move forward last November, but its developer will return to the planning board next week to seek approvals for a total 90 acres.
Last year the developer of Demarest Park secured the ability to construct 90 single family lots on 38 acres, and now wishes to expand that reach by another 239 lots and 52 acres — brining the total size of the project, if approved, to 329 lots on 90 acres. A traffic study indicates the development would generate 3,148 vehicle trips per weekday upon buildout; planning staff made note in the submittals that the developer needed to mark and acknowledge a family cemetery apparently within its bounds.
Demarest Park is in the process of being annexed into the Town of Leland.
The three other subdivisions set to be considered in Brunswick County are clustered relatively close to one another near the Highway 211 corridor. For all three, former Brunswick County Commissioner Phil Norris is representing the developers’ interest before public channels. Check back tomorrow for a full rundown.
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