SOUTHEASTERN N.C. — A mixed-use plan from the River Bluffs developers will move forward after commissioners unanimously approved a rezoning recently. Despite praises for bringing a potential grocery store, retail and other needs to the area, flooding remained a concern to some.
READ MORE: Castle Hayne development seeks rezoning, but community still in the dark about usage
ALSO: Public meeting: 27-acre mixed-use development proposed for Castle Hayne
Called Moore’s Crossing, the project will include 7.75 acres of retail, 10.23 acres of commercial and grocery, and 8.24 acres for a 115-unit multi-family complex, with one-, two- and three-bedroom options. Developers asked the county to change the land use from low-density residential to planned development and remove the special highway overlay district.
“That part of the county has been ignored and it needs some help,” developer Burrows Smith told commissioners.
Smith is part of BDLCT LLC, which wants to build Moore’s Crossing at the intersection of I-140 and Castle Hayne Road. He was responding to concerns about flooding — and particularly ditch-clearing — as mentioned during the public hearing regarding the property’s rezoning.
“When it rains, it floods our parking lot,” Rev. Ruth Pugh said of her nearby church, St. James AME. “And so that’s an issue for us.”
Smith said ditches had not been properly cleared in areas near the Rockhill community and church, such as on Chair Road, located near where the project is planned.
Pugh and Janice Gaines, both representing St. James AME, were not speaking against the development, per se. They admitted wanting to be good neighbors and had met with developers in July.
Gaines weighed the pros and cons of the development before commissioners, recognizing economical growth, business opportunity and jobs increasing, as well as property values and modernization opportunities.
“We have no problem with the change,” Gaines said. “We want to have a voice.”
Gaines worried about increased traffic, gentrification and losing the small community vibe of that section of the county. Some of the Rockhill area residents are elderly and on fixed-income. She asked commissioners to take all their concerns into consideration and work with the community to address them appropriately.
Flooding in the church parking lot began after North Carolina Department of Transportation increased an incline nearby, according to Gaines.
“The water comes right from that hill into our parking lot,” she said. “They did that at the time of building River Bluffs.”
River Bluffs is located roughly a mile away from the proposed Moore’s Crossing.
“Well, that’s a NCDOT problem,” Chair Bill Rivenbark said, noting the development the commissioners were approving hasn’t begun so the developers couldn’t be blamed for pre-existing flooding.
“The goal is not to add any frustrations,” Commissioner Jonathan Barfield Jr. clarified, to which Rivenbark agreed.
Barfield asked what could happen to mitigate future issues. He said while the NCDOT’s I-140 project at Castle Hayne Road helped with transportation, even under the best intentions, there can be “unintended consequences.”
Smith referenced the team’s engineering work at River Bluffs kept it low-impact and said it has fared well through hurricanes. He told commissioners he would meet with the county stormwater engineer on ideas to change drainage patterns, to better divert water from affected properties to the south.
“There’s been no maintenance in that area — and that needs to happen,” Smith said. “And we’d be willing to help with the maintenance, but we can’t go on private property like the county could to get that to happen. … That part of the county has been ignored for a long time, and I’ve seen that since 2007, when I’ve been driving down Chair Road every day.”
Barfield added he and Commissioner Rob Zapple visited the area years ago when there was roughly $140,000 in the stormwater budget for the entire county — “quite inadequate to solve any problems” other than a few. Since 2021, the county has initiated stormwater fees to bulk up funding.
While clearing blockage here and there, Barfield said there are creeks that still back up in the area and stormwater utility could now address it. He mentioned alleviating the problem area wasn’t just important for Rockhill but newly built neighborhoods, including million-dollar homes in nearby Sunset Reach.
Zapple agreed but also thought NCDOT needed to re-prioritize the expansion of Castle Hayne Road to help with flooding. Community meetings were held in 2019 about NCDOT’s project proposal and Zapple said with it would come a stormwater study and conveyance of water from the area. Yet, it’s been pushed off to 2029.
“That’s code at NCDOT for it’s not funded or it’s not going to happen at this time,” Zapple said, adding it’s a disappointment. “Everything we are talking about flooding-wise could be corrected, and if we had a mission here on the board, it would be to advocate that widening of Castle Hayne Road up on the STIP to work in conjunction with your construction and would resolve the church issue and other problems.”
Smith added the BDLCT LLC team were “good partners” to the county in the past and for projects in the area, having widened Chair Road and adding a water main previously not there. He said there is an opportunity to bring sewer and water to people there who were promised it in 1984 but have been “forgotten about.”
“We love trees and try to save stuff,” Smith added. “I’m not one of these guys who likes to clear all 27.5 acres — and we are very innovative on stormwater. … We will do our part.’”
Traffic was an issue also echoed by the church community. The development team will install traffic lights, a median and add new turn lanes, including widening Castle Hayne Road at the intersection to allow for southbound U-turns. One turn lane also will be pushed to the north and away from the church to help traffic flow.
“In some cases, it will improve it,” BDLCT LLC partner John Lennon told commissioners.
A traffic impact analysis indicated rezoning the property would raise traffic by 384 morning trips and 747 evening trips
The planned development zoning allows a mixture of uses as supported by the county’s comprehensive plan. This could include townhomes and multi-family homes, though no designs have been fleshed out yet.
“We don’t know where the market will be at the time,” Lennon said.
One area will be limited to three-story buildings, between 35 to 40 feet in height, and no more than 8 units per acre.
The project also includes bringing a potential grocery store and other retail, which Ron Dick, who lives in nearby River Bluffs, advocated for. He and his wife, who moved to the area in 2019 and joined the Residents Advisory Committee, have been affected by the lack of amenities, something he called “frustrating and challenging at times.”
“Having restaurants, grocery stores, pharmacies and professional services closer to our home will enhance benefits we have already started to enjoy living in this area,” Dick said. “I fully support approval of this project by this board.”
Barfield said he considered some of Castle Hayne Road a food desert — defined by the USDA as “a low-income census tract where a large portion of residents have limited access to healthy and affordable food,” usually more than a mile away. The closest grocery store now to the intersection where Moore’s Crossing will be is almost 3 miles.
Commissioners agreed to the rezoning request with a unanimous vote.
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