BRUNSWICK COUNTY — The resignation of Brunswick County Planning Board chair was brought to the forefront of discussion on Monday evening, after a commissioner expressed concern about a disregard to carefully assess development in the county.
Commissioner Randy Thompson suggested Clif Cheek should step down from the planning board and the commissioners issue a letter to request his removal. Though the discussion wasn’t on Monday’s agenda, the board approved Thompson’s request to add time to discuss “planning matters.”
“I honestly believe that the leadership on the planning board needs to change,” Thompson said.
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His motion to send a letter failed in a 3-2 vote, with Chair Mike Forte, Vice Chair Marty Cooke, and commissioner Frank Williams in opposition.
Thompson took issue over an 829-unit development approved by the planning board on Oct. 12, against planning staff wishes. He thought there was enough concern there for the board to table the project rather than unanimously approving it.
“I’ve had my problems with planning staff recommendations in the past,” Thompson told Port City Daily but conceded there were enough red flags here to be taken a little more seriously.
Cheek’s term on the board is set to end in June 2027, but it’s the second time Thompson has called for his resignation this year.
Two weeks after Cheek lost the primary race for the district 1 commissioner seat — facing off against Thompson — he was called out for accepting campaign donations from developers of projects the board approved. For example, during his campaign Cheek received $3,000 from Robert Wilfong Jr. — the developer of the Cherrytree Tract, approved in March in a 5-1 vote.
Cheek argued accepting campaign contributions from developers does not create a conflict of interest, and such donations are a routine and regulated part of the electoral process and do not, on their own, suggest preferential treatment.
Thompson said during a March board of commissioner meeting he sent a letter to Cheek to ask him to leave his position due to the possible conflict of interest. Constituents at the time also were decrying Cheek’s appointment to the board, even starting a petition asking for his removal.
The planning board chair responded to Port City Daily this week he had no intention of resigning.
“I have served in good faith and will continue to carry out my responsibilities fairly and in the best interest of Brunswick County,” Cheek wrote in an email Tuesday. “Mr. Thompson, in fact, was the commissioner who appointed me to the board in good faith and confidence in my ability to serve the community.”
Thompson told Port City Daily he was “strongly encouraged” to appoint Cheek to the position at the behest of the commissioners, due to his professional background. Cheek is a realtor and licensed broker, which Thompson said he was told would be an asset.
The commissioner said he asked the county if he could replace or remove Cheek, but legal advised him against doing so. This process is one Thompson wants to look at with new board member Republican Patti Hewett elected to the commissioners Tuesday evening.
Commissioner Pat Sykes concurred with Thompson at this week’s commissioner meeting and seconded his motion for the board to request Cheek resign.
“I’m really disappointed in the whole planning board,” she said, referring to their 4-0 vote to approve South Cape.
Planning staff, the Town of Leland officials, nearby neighbors in Brunswick Forest, and multiple residents opposed the project due to its lack of connection roads between the development and Brunswick Forest Phase 4 community. Staff wanted the connection roads in order to more evenly distribute traffic.
The developer had proposed restricted road access between the two communities, preventing everyday traffic from using the road.
County staff recommended leaving a connector road open to daily traffic. However, a representative for the developer told the planning board they believed the private development should not be told they need to make a private road a collector street — a road linking neighborhood streets to a highway — from N.C. 133 through the South Cape development.
But the planning board discounted staff advice — viewing the road as a recommendation and not a requirement — and approved it in a unanimous vote.
South Cape is one of the planning board’s final projects to approve, as the board was stripped in July of its authority due to the passage of House Bill 1222. The board will only recommend projects to go before county commissioners for the final say. The law is in effect for all projects applied to in Brunswick County after July 2, 2026, so in the last few months the planning board has been wrapping up final approvals of applications made to the county before the deadline.
“Our planning staff, the information that came from them and their recommendation to the board was not to approve the development,” Thompson iterated to commissioners Monday. “Our planning board chose to approve the development anyway.”
Despite Sykes’ support of Thompson’s motion, other commissioners questioned the letter’s necessity.
“I’ve seen times when there’s been a disagreement between the planning board and the administration,” Cooke said. “I don’t see that as cause for someone’s removal.”
Williams and Forte did not comment on the matter.
Cheek told Port City Daily that Monday’s motion was nothing but “baseless vitriol” from Thompson.
“[His] only solution to combat the County’s explosive growth is to call for the Planning Board Chair to resign,” Cheek said. “He’s had the opportunity for over a decade, as a Commissioner, to update our Unified Development Ordinance and to put amended rules in place to help control growth and infrastructure strains.”
Brunswick County is the fastest growing county in the state. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a population of 174,702 as of July 2025 — up 27.8% from April 2020.
Thompson has made it clear overdevelopment is the largest issue facing the county and moving forward will be his top item of concern as commissioner.
“Our unified development ordinance — or land development ordinance — needs to be changed immediately,” Thompson wrote in his candidate questionnaire to Port City Daily this year. “This can’t happen unless our state legislature removes the downzoning requirement placed on Brunswick County.”
Thompson was referencing Senate Bill 382, enacted in December 2024, which states local governments cannot downzone — or change a land’s use for lower density — without the consent of all impacted property owners.
Cheek countered: “We, the Planning Board, simply follow the rules as set forth by the Commissioners.”
As the second call for the chair’s removal comes, it follows multiple shifts in the planning board within the past year; three turnovers have taken place in about seven months. Ron Medlin was the most recent exit, leaving the board in October. Though Medlin didn’t respond to Port City Daily regarding his exit, StarNews reported a few weeks later that Cheek said Medlin left “due to personal reasons.” Medlin represented district 2 and was replaced by son-in-law Jason Helms, appointed by Cooke, last month.
Former Brunswick County planning board member Jason Gaver left in March, due to moving to New Hanover County and was replaced by Travis Cuse, and was appointed by Forte.
In district 3, Sykes had appointed James Board, but he resigned in March more than a year from when his seat expired. Board cited a lack of authority to manage the county’s growth. Board had referred to the planning board role as nothing more than a “check-mark” process.
“If the intent for the planning board was just to verify what the planning department had already done in that they say it met the county UDO, why do we even have [a planning board review]?” Board questioned. “It’s an unnecessary step in the process.”
Board has yet to be replaced and Sykes told Port City Daily Oct. 5 she wasn’t doing so until all projects that needed final approval by the planning board were complete.
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