BURGAW — A major developer and the Town of Burgaw have settled a lawsuit over the denial of a preliminary plat request.
Though the almost 200-single-family home development, Weldon Village, was allowed by-right, sectioning off its 1-acre lots needed the town’s approval via a quasi-judicial hearing. National developer D.R. Horton followed all processes and met the unified development ordinance, as agreed by staff last August. However, leaders sided with residents on concerns over traffic, flooding and wastewater connection; William Rivenbark, Michael Pearsall, and Bill George dissented on the project moving forward in a 3-2 vote at the time.
READ MORE: D.R. Horton development denied subdivision of 191 lots in Burgaw
The developers appealed the decision to the Superior Court to push through the platting. Upon the lawsuit being filed, the board reversed course with commissioners voting unanimously in its favor at their January 2026 meeting.
The Jan. 13 unanimous vote consisted of very little discussion, as it was addressed toward the end of the meeting after the board exited from closed session. Mayor Olivia Dawson said D.R. Horton agreed to dismiss the lawsuit once commissioners’ signed off on the preliminary plat.
Port City Daily reached out to Burgaw Town Manager James Gantt to ask when the lawsuit was filed and to learn how much the town paid in attorney fees toward it; a response was not received by press.
The development team still has to receive permitting before it breaks ground on the project.
Weldon Village has attempted its entrance into Burgaw for quite some time and first faced denial as 500 units in a rezoning request went before the town in the summer 2024. The now-scaled-down version is slated to bring 191 single-family detached homes on 285 acres to 2630 N.C. Highway 53 west, near Henry Brown Road.
A rezoning wasn’t needed for fewer units, as the development fits into the rural agricultural zoning, allowing 1 unit per acre. D.R. Horton is proposing to build less, at 0.67 per acre, and provide 18% of open space, more than the 15% required. The developer also agreed to 20-foot buffers along the perimeter, with 30-foot buffers in some areas.
Beth Blackmon, an engineer consultant with Timmons Group representing D.R. Horton, said at last August’s meeting their plans fit within the town’s UDO, as concurred by Burgaw’s planning director Ron Meredith. But residential pushback was fierce, with almost 20 people speaking out during the two-hour-or-so hearing.
A quasi-judicial hearing only allows people with “standing” to voice concerns — meaning they would have to show evidence of how the drawing of the 1-acre plats would negatively affect them. Neighbors, instead, spoke to broader issues the development could bring, such as clear cutting trees and increasing the potential for flooding, particularly strained by current drainage issues.
Traffic also was broached, as the development is slated to bring 141 AM and 189 PM trips, with 1,914 overall added to the area daily. Some wanted deceleration lanes added into the development from NC Highway 53 and residents took issue over the traffic impact analysis being conducted based on 2023 volumes.
Burgaw’s attorneys Brian Edes and Norwood Blanchard attempted to educate the audience on what was being discussed and voted on. Edes reminded one resident that his concern over drainage was not in accordance with mapping plats: “We’re talking about, on paper, subdividing land only.”
Commissioners who voted to deny the platting echoed worries of the public but also over potential ex-parte communication, the latter of which is disallowed during a quasi-judicial process. Pearsall called out D.R. Horton’s entitlement manager, Grayson Morgan, for sending an email to the board ahead of the meeting, noting it was out of sync with the rules of the hearing. Though attorney Edes clarified the communication just had to be made known and asked the board if they thought the email influenced their votes, to which they said no.
Mayor Dawson confirmed at the Jan. 13 meeting as commissioners reversed course on the vote that the “developer will revisit us for annexation,” adding the town will benefit from the increased tax base.
The development is located in the extraterritorial jurisdiction of Burgaw. D.R. Horton put forth a voluntary annexation agreement during its plan review, in order to bring the project into the town corporate limits and connect to wastewater, as paid for by the developer.
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