NEW HANOVER COUNTY — After a project was withdrawn from the county’s board of commissioners last summer, a rezoning request will be resubmitted with new plans to bring townhomes to a highly trafficked corridor. It’s the fourth time the project has come to the county since 2023.
READ MORE: Apartment complex rejected by commissioners back on the table, residents start petition
ALSO: Rezoning request for CB Road development withdrawn
Cindee Wolf of Design Solutions, on behalf of Giovanni Ippolito and Tanya Vlacancich, put out a public notice on Monday regarding the intent to bring a 36-home development to Carolina Beach Road, known as Medici Townhomes. A community meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 25, at 6 p.m., at the River Road Picnic Shelter (6500 River Road).
The project is not new to county officials. It first came before the planning board in December 2023 as Palm Grove Apartments, with Wolf presenting the property owners’ intent to rezone 4.65 acres of land at 6634 Carolina Beach Road, next to the Lords Creek neighborhood off Glenarthur Drive.
Originally, the property owners wanted to build 78 one- and two-bedroom units, to be housed in a four-story building, pitched to be 50-feet tall. They also had plans for 10% of the units to go to workforce housing.
“The area is designed for families, maybe patio homes or townhomes, but an apartment building with four stories? That’s not compatible with what I want to look at when I walk out my front door,” nearby neighbor Nancy Steel told the planning board at the time.
The project’s height and density for such a small amount of acreage along Carolina Beach Road concerned the planning board, which recommended denial to commissioners. As well, the 17 dwelling units per acre exceeded the maximum for the community mixed-use placetype the development fell under, according to planning staff.
In January 2024, Wolf withdrew the application before it went before the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners but resubmitted it to the planning board as a 72-unit development that March. More buildings were added to the footprint, totaling six — to be three stories and 40-feet tall. The planning board agreed to recommend it but only with changes, including bringing the units down to 64, with the condition two buildings would be two stories instead of three.
Located a half-mile north from the Carolina Beach and Myrtle Grove roads intersection, the project’s traffic impact and density concerned commissioners still, the majority voting to deny it in May 2023.
Then it came back before the board last July. Some changes were made, including a 26-foot building height instead of 40, with a 15-foot buffer yard to measure more than 30 feet to create better opacity between the development and single family homes. Wolf also suggested officials reach out to the North Carolina Department of Transportation to request the speed limit change from 55 to 45 miles per hour in that area. It welcomes around 35,000 vehicles daily, which nearby resident Tom Toby said last year is one of the narrowest corridors in the county to evacuate and should be considered.
Neighbors of Lords Creek, Wood Lake and Ocean Forests Lakes still took issue with apartments coming to a single-family neighborhood, increased traffic and improper turning lanes of the development, and they started a petition against the project. Commissioner Rob Zapple confirmed the development had garnered roughly 100 comments to the board as well and traffic impacts were still there.
Despite Wolf saying the project would bring different housing types to also address the housing crisis and workforce needs in the community, commissioners indicated they would vote to deny the development, though Wolf withdrew the application again.
According to the recent public notice — also sent to nearby neighbors within 500 feet of the boundary lines — the new 36-unit development will consist of townhomes. Site plans show the units sectioned into groups of four, located in nine areas on the 4 acres. The current zoning is residential R-15, but is requested to be changed to conditional district moderate to high density R-5.
Conditional zoning means specific items can be requested and added to the development from staff and planning board members. It also means only the specific uses and proposed site plans can be developed on that tract of land.
The county has yet to receive an application packet on the project revision; however, the first step in the development process for a conditional rezoning is to host the community meeting. The June meeting gives those affected by the potential development a chance to ask questions and provide feedback.
“As a note, holding a community meeting does not obligate someone to apply. Applicants may decide to change their plans and hold another meeting or not pursue a project at all,” according to county planning and zoning.
The next application deadline for a rezoning is July 1, which put the development on the planning board schedule for Aug. 7, followed by a September commissioner meeting.
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