NEW HANOVER COUNTY — A new housing development on a bustling corridor took a step closer to reality with a conditional rezoning.
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The New Hanover County Planning Board unanimously signed off on rezoning 12.68 acres in regional business and low-density housing districts, to a medium-density district along Carolina Beach Road. If the county board of commissioners approve the recommendation, it will pave the way for a 200-unit development made up of a mix of 35 quadruplex townhomes and 165 apartments totaling about 15.8 units per acre.
Under the current zoning, the site would only allow 23 homes and about 25,000 square feet of retail space. County Planning Director Rebekah Roth told the planning board the conditional zoning gives the county a way to know what will be built on a property because it requires the applicant to submit a conceptual plan.
The issue dominated the planning board’s Thursday meeting, soaking up nearly two hours between developer McAdams Homes’ presentation on the project, comments from the public and discussion among board members.
County staff recommended the board approve the rezoning request. In a report submitted to the board about considerations for the rezoning, staff noted the low-density zoning in the district was established in 1971 “to ensure that housing served by private septic and wells would be developed at low densities,” but water and sewer has been made available since. Staff considered the project consistent with the county’s comprehensive plan, which pushes for higher densities in growth nodes and urbanized, mixed-use areas of the county.
The project is adjacent to already-approved multifamily units along the Carolina Beach Road corridor. The area has become a prime location for new housing developments in the booming southern section of the county. There are hundreds more units working their way through the planning process on the road and more than 400 vacant parcels in the area.
The report also commented positively on the layout of the proposed development because it would function as part of a transitional district between commercial and residential areas. The lone special condition placed on the project as part of the rezoning is to limit buildings to three stories, and the project comes in slightly below the 17-unit-per-acre maximum.
Seven residents attended the meeting to oppose the project. Their comments centered on common claims from critics to new housing projects, including concerns the development could create more traffic and stormwater than the area is equipped to handle, in turn straining public services.
Levi Huston, an attorney hired by a local homeowner, told the board the rezoning is unnecessary to develop on the property. He pointed out the R-15 and B-2 district, which the property is currently designated, allows for multifamily development with some special standards.
Notably, those developments are limited to the maximum density in the district, 10.2 units per acre, and they must be part of a mixed-use project in the business district.
Amy Schaefer, a real estate attorney representing the developer, responded the zoning change is needed, aligns with the comprehensive plan, and the current zoning of the property could create more traffic if it becomes a commercial development.
The board took note of the concerns but were not convinced.
“We often find ourselves torn because we’re in a small county and it’s growing rapidly,” planning board member Hansen Matthews said. “Everybody who has spoken tonight is very sincere and reminds me very much of my own neighbors. Everybody is working hard and just trying to go through life and enjoy the best quality you can.”
Matthews noted his own home is contiguous to a new apartment development along the Carolina Beach corridor. He said he wanted to see trees on that parcel stay, but it checked a lot of the same boxes as the McAdams’ project like its location within a growth node.
“Nobody here loves trees and open space more than I do,” Matthews said. “It’s time that this community had a dialogue, and it’s time that this community provided more open space in parks that isn’t private property, but this is private property and we’re trying to figure out the highest and best use.”
Board member Kevin Hine said density is a pathway to less-expensive housing and it is counterintuitive to think new housing projects improve stormwater drainage, but that is reality.
If the commissioners sign off on the rezoning, the project would have to go through a technical review process, to include a traffic impact analysis. Prior to comments from the public, Schaefer said the project is required to retain all the stormwater it produces, though much of the development throughout the county predates stormwater regulations.
Stormwater requirements on new developments were stepped up between 1990 and 2007, as the state expanded stormwater measures to communities of varying sizes. The state also places more requirements on new developments in coastal counties to handle intense storm conditions.
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