NEW HANOVER COUNTY — An influx of single-family homes could be on the way to the Ogden area in the Heron Cove subdivision following planning board approval.
READ MORE: Wilmington planning board, city attorney debate public’s place in development decisions
Developer Craig Johnson of Herrington Homes wants to develop 10.8 acres along Gordon Acres Drive and Gordon Road. His goal is to bring 67 single-family homes to the area, but it must be rezoned from R-15 to a conditional zoning R-5, moderate-high density. Current zoning allows around 27 units.
The project had planning board members discussing on Thursday, June 5, the importance of affordable and workforce housing in the area, despite residents speaking against the development. The planning board is an advisory committee only, so New Hanover County commissioners will have final say.
During the meeting, planning board member Hansen Matthews offered insight from his own life, stating he has three children, all middle income in their 30s, who were not homeowners. That is until last week, when one of his daughters called to inform him she and her husband saved enough money after six years to purchase a home in the same price point as Heron Cove.
“But to do so, they had to move 17 miles from where they were in Garner,” he said. “This isn’t a Wilmington problem, this is a problem all over the state. And the rezoning we do and within central New Hanover County is going to be adjacent to somebody when you’ve had a nice piece of undeveloped land next door.”
The county’s average home price is valued at $581,187 and the median is $411,000, according to the county’s 2025 revaluation. Heron Cove will be priced in mid-$300,000s, up from the low $300,000s due to modifications and decreased density.
The board was privy to the project already, as it was before them last month; however, the developer rescinded the plan to address concerns, including increased parking, reduced density and more open space. The new plan includes 67 two-story homes, instead of 81.
“I feel we’ve done about everything we can do,” Johnson told the board last week.
A few planning board members had to recuse themselves from the hearing. Vice chair Cameron Moore was excused, due to developer Johnson serving on the board of the Wilmington-Cape Fear Home Builders Association, of which Moore is the executive director. Chair Colin Tarrant also had to recuse himself due to a client connection with his employer, Block, Crouch, Keeter, Behm & Sayed law firm. Board member Pete Avery took over chair duties during the hearing.
Amy Schaefer of Lee Kaess represented Johnson and noted there are multiple residences clustered in the area. Heron Cove would allot 6.2 dwelling units per acre instead of the originally suggested 7.5, with 3.19 acres of open space and an average lot size of 3,280 square feet — up from 2,900.
Staff recommended the development move forward with conditions:
- Adding an emergency access near Daniel Boone Trail
- Building a minimum one-car garage, with the ability to also park an additional car in the driveway
- Providing 6-foot fence at rear of each lot of the development
- Planting 2 trees per lot, to be maintained by HOA
- Preserving 18-inch live oak in middle of internal road
- Building two 10-foot bike and pedestrian access easements to reach Daniel Boone Trail and Gordon Acres Drive
- Saving trees in open space areas, not in conflict with easements or required utilities
The traffic impact of the development has slightly decreased, to bring 52 morning and 68 evening trips, down from 61 and 82 respectively. As the North Carolina Department of Transportation undergoes widening of Gordon Road nearby, from two to four lanes, it will include a multi-use path as well to help connect pedestrian travelers to nearby parks. Sidewalks will be installed throughout Heron Cove to also connect to the multi-use path.
“Another concern and question that came up last time was parking,” Schaefer said, noting the developer decided to save an 18-foot live oak tree, which will be near two parking spaces, with an additional eight to 10 spots located near open space and elsewhere for visitors. “Which does a couple things: It helps as traffic-calming and it also provides us a place to add some additional offstreet parking. We are trying to add additional parking not in the driveways.”
The homes will include a one-car garage and a driveway to park an additional vehicle. Though homeowners have the option to pay for upgrades as well, including a two-car garage.
Additional concerns regarding the tree canopy and clearing of trees has compelled the developer to plant 134 additional trees — two on each lot — to be in a protected easement.
Three neighbors signed up to speak during the hearing in opposition, including Sarah DeVries, representing Gordon Acres Drive.
“Responsible growth doesn’t mean stopping development, it means shaping it, and I urge the board to deny the rezoning and insist on a more integrative plan,” she said.
DeVries took issue with the design’s lack of integration with the natural environment and its small imprint fitting too many units on the land.
“This parcel is only 200 feet wide,” DeVries said. “This plan fits two rows of homes and a road in that narrow space … By comparison a successful R-5, like one of the oldest ones, Carolina Place, has multiple connected streets, sidewalks and alleyways, supported by major roads, Market Street and Wrightsville Avenue. These are dense but thoughtfully designed. The Heron Cove layout lacks those fundamentals and pushes high density on a site that it isn’t suited for.”
Johnson conceded the land is “challenging” due to it being slim but also addressed DeVries’ suggestion to “serpentine” the road among the housing. The road is linear, with one connection to Gordon Acres Drive and Gordon Road, but otherwise dead-ends, which DeVries also thought presented a safety issue.
Avery asked why Johnson didn’t consider curving the road.
“Because you lose density,” he replied, noting it would be better suited to do so for multi-family but this design was for single-family homes.
In favor of the development was Wilmington Chamber of Commerce CEO Natalie English. English pressed the need for affordable housing, highlighting a “dearth” of it in the county.
Last month, commissioners and the planning board heard data from Mollie Fitzpatrick of Root Policy Research, which noted the county needs 38,697 units in the next 20 years to accommodate a population of 305,506 by 2043 (currently there are 243,333 in New Hanover). The highest need includes households making 151% or more of the area’s median income — $79,106 for a family of four. The next highest is households in the 51% to 80% AMI ($36,000 to $68,000) with 5,978 units, followed by the 0% to 30% AMI at 4,981 units.
Income of 81% to 121% AMI would be able to afford a home in the $227,000 to $340,000 range.
English said to increase this sector of housing stock also means leaning into more density, as New Hanover County has little vacant land left to build upon. According to PCD’s previous reporting from 2023, that was around 100 undeveloped or underdeveloped parcels.
Schaeffer also reminded the board most land in the county now consists of infill development.
While empathetic to neighbor concerns, English — who came before the planning board for the first time in her eight years living in town — was there on behalf of Wilmington Chamber of Commerce members to implore the planning board to look at housing gaps.
“It’s about workforce housing and you’re going to see me more often as an advocate for our employers who are watching their employees move further and further out, and in some cases leave their jobs because they can’t continue the commute to afford housing in our community,” English said.
DeVries also decried the tree canopy and replacement plans. Even though the developer doubled the number of trees to plant, DeVries said “a new tree doesn’t replace a mature growth tree.”
Kim Turner, who lives on Gordon Acres Drive with her husband, agreed.
“Planting two trees per lot doesn’t mitigate clear-clutting 10 acres,” she said, adding the nearby R-5 developments the team spoke of are actually apartments, not single-family homes. In the vicinity, Hawthorne at Smith Creek, Ellington Farms and Cape Harbor make up eight, nine and 10 units per acre.
“This is destructive to our neighborhood,” Turner said. “It can be done better.”
Tim Strickland, who lives near Daniel Boone Trail, was concerned with the tight clustering: “It’s just way too many houses crammed in back there … It’s too close, too suffocating.”
Strickland also was concerned by flooding, saying a culvert washed out numerous times at the trail.
New Hanover County engineer Tim Lowe confirmed the county was in the process of studying the culvert. It completed a rainfall analysis but still has to continue assessing it from a flood perspective, taking into account the flat nature of the land and flood plain. Lowe said it will be done in the next 18 months or so.
Schaeffer assured the development will follow state and county code and the civil engineer will properly address flood mitigation. Yet, Turner said with the addition of Heron Cove, there would be four retention ponds behind her home, which worried her.
“Who’s going to make sure they’re maintained 10 years from now?” she asked.
The HOA will continue maintenance of the ponds, according to Lowe, as conditioned by stormwater permitting.
Before the permit and stormwater utility existed, Lowe said hundreds of letters went out a year about drainage issues, but that has since subsided. Issues mostly arise from older neighborhoods before the county’s stormwater services program began in 2019. Residential property owners in the unincorporated areas of the county now pay a monthly fee for the county to clear debris and maintain drainage, which once fell on homeowners.
“These ponds are designed to prevent any exacerbation of that,” Lowe said of water runoff from area developments.
Hine pointed out a pattern of new development being labeled as flood-inducing but associated it with “legacy problems” of neighborhoods developed before the county took over stormwater management.
“The county’s stormwater management is to fix the sins of our past,” he said.
However, if a stormwater permit isn’t followed, Lowe was clear it could result in “a form of nuisance abatement,” with legal staff determining and communicating corrective measures as needed.
While Hine respected the residents who decided to speak out, he thought providing this price point of housing was more positive for the greater community and applauded the developer for making changes to the plan.
Rhonehouse echoed the sentiment and also asked about a utility easement connection for area residents that was included previously but had been removed; Johnson conceded to add it back as a condition.
“I very much respect the comments from the neighbors,” Rhonehouse said. “But we have to have a little bit of give and take.”
The rezoning passed unanimously and will be before the New Hanover County commissioners on July 21.
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