BRUNSWICK COUNTY — Almost 600 acres of what used to be a lumber site around the farming community of Ash is slated to become the site of 1,500 single-family homes.
The Brunswick County Planning Board approved in a 5-1 vote, with board member Jim Board dissenting, to make way for Carolina Strand planned development. It will be located on Whiteville Road (N.C. Highway 130), constructed by Stillwater Engineers.
READ MORE: 1,450-home Green Hill planned development rejected in Brunswick County
The development will be built out in phases on 592 acres of land zoned Rural Residential. The zoning allows 2.9 dwelling units per acre, but the developer is building just under that amount at 2.53. Residential build-out will take up around 362 acres, while 100 will be preserved as natural areas, 3.3 acres will be reserved for commercial use, yet to be decided, and Stillwater is giving 4 acres for public use.
Vice Chair Jason Gaver asked for clarification on the public use.
“We had conversations with Brunswick schools and the developer was prepared to dedicate 30 or 35 acres to a new school, but they said they didn’t need it, so we thought: What else can we do?” Peter Day, senior design lead at Stillwater, said.
Brunswick County Deputy Planning Director Marc Pages added it’s become commonplace for the town staff to suggest large developments reach out to the schools district and “entertain” the idea of building a new school.
Pages said both Waccamaw K-8 school and West Brunswick High are under capacity currently. However, last year a report indicated that every facility in the district is expected to reach or surpass capacity in the next 10 years; the Brunswick County School Board and county commissioners have agreed to put a $349.6-million school bond referendum on the ballot in 2026 to address some of the capacity issues.
“I live 3 miles from Waccamaw School,” Ash resident Belinda Benz said during the meeting, noting the line of cars backed up behind school buses daily. “I can’t believe they said we wouldn’t need a middle school or primary school out there.”
She was against the development, noting it wasn’t harmonious with the community and would present safety concerns due to growing populations outpacing service needs like fire and police, sewer and water.
“There are no gas stations, no banks, no ATMS, no jobs,” she added. “Most of us have never left the farming community that it was; it’s just a loss of community.”
Day and Pages said the developer is gifting the acreage to help with some concerns, such as a fire or EMS station that may be needed in the future.
Pages added the site plan met exceptional design standards in the unified development ordinance, such as dedicating 202 acres to open space — more than double the 88-acre requirement of the county. Also there will be 15 acres of recreational space — 2 acres more than what’s mandated — and the opacity buffer exceeds the 30-foot limit, going to 50 feet facing Whiteville Road and along the western boundary of the property.
Lifelong resident Gaffney Marlowe owns 100 acres nearby. His family has owned and maintained farmland dating back to the 1890s when Marlowe’s great grandfather and then grandfather began purchasing parcels near Ash. Some land abuts the Carolina Strand acreage on one side and another incoming development on the other, leaving his property “landlocked.”
“Until Carolina Strand brought that land, we didn’t have an access issue,” Gaffney said. “That’s my main concern today; I won’t battle that they’re building out there. But I have the right to access my land. Unfortunately in older towns, people didn’t have easements; they had handshakes. We all farmed that land.”
Gaffney said he already discussed with the developers over Zoom about accessing his property. He was before the board at the Nov. 10 meeting to put it on the record: “I want to make sure promises are kept.”
Pages informed the board a stub-out connecting to Gaffney’s property is, in fact, planned and Gaver wanted to solidify it in writing as one of the board’s conditions should they vote in favor.
Day of Stillwater confirmed Carolina Strand won’t be a gated community and the group has spoken with Marlowe and the Stanley families about continuous entry onto the families’ land.
“We are absolutely willing to work with them on the public right of way when built out,” he said. “Our attorney will come up with their attorney for some type of agreement to also have access during construction too.”
The site is made up of varied dirt roads and ditches, some of which the developer plans to keep. Day said the goal is to maintain the area’s natural beauty by incorporating pines already on the site and wetlands into the design.
For instance, near the wetland areas will be a 5-acre stormwater pond, which Day explained like a recreational lake. It will have a dock so folks can access kayaks and there will possibly be fishing.
“But we haven’t confirmed stocking it,” he said, adding trails will be dispersed throughout the site, transforming some of the dirt logging roads into multi-use paths — “over 2 miles worth.”
Other amenities could include sitting areas, dog parks and pocket parks.
There are 26 acres of wetlands on the site, which will be preserved and protected by a 30-foot vegetative buffer.
According to Pages, Stillwater is also awaiting results from N.C. Flood for a flood study, as existing A flood zone is present, requiring it to be conducted in order to determine base
flood elevations of the special flood hazard areas for a 100-year storm — meaning there is a 1% chance annually of a storm of great magnitude to affect an area.
Small portions of land are located in the AE flood zone, but lots will be built outside of these areas. Stormwater ponds will be constructed to handle a 100-year storm event, according to Day.
Planning board member Board stated the project would come with “a lot of water to control” and asked about discharge from the ponds. Day said there will be outlay structures to help with its control.
“We will decrease flooding a little at least,” he added, noting 88 acres will be dedicated to a stormwater management area with 5 miles of farm ditches continued to be utilized. “The rule of thumb is 10 to 15 percent of a project and this is more than 20 percent to give us flexibility to properly drain the site. … The site drains poorly now.”
Resident Christy Merrick, who lives in Ash, said the farm ditches weren’t created to hold stormwater runoff for all the concrete to be poured when constructing 1,500 homes: “So that will flood. Timberland has kept that from flooding for so many years.”
Day countered that the site waxes and wanes in its tree canopy currently, as timber is cleared every five to 10 years and regrows: “Over time the canopy will grow up more, and ditches will hidden by trees on the sides.”
However, Merrick also pointed to the other surrounding developments coming into play nearby: 1,800-home King Tract — also from Stillwater, which will connect to Carolina Strand — 2,950 in Ashton Farms, 383 in Carolina Bay area and 250-home in the new Magnolia development.
“That’s 5,000 homes right there on [N.C. Highway] 130,” she said, “which is already at capacity now — and you’re going to throw in those and it’s an evacuation route? I don’t know how this is even possible.”
She added it already takes upward of one hour to travel 9 miles to take her kids to school daily, explaining the road in front of Waccamaw School has already sustained damage and needs to be fixed.
A traffic impact analysis was conducted for the project, which indicated Carolina Strand would bring in almost 19,500 vehicles in a 24-hour volume. However, Day said a TIA doesn’t account for how the commercial project plays into those numbers.
The added volume of traffic onto the site is actually 12,000 residential, according to Day, as 6,000 vehicles generated from commercial don’t account for motorists coming from inside the development or ones that would normally be traveling on the highway but pull into the commercial area unplanned.
“That’s interesting I wasn’t aware of that so when you add a commercial node, some of the vehicle trips within the community actually count toward that total TIA,” Chair Clif Cheek reiterated.
There are numerous road improvements to be made as the site is along N.C. Highway 130. To be completed in stages, they include everything from extending the eastbound left turn lane and constructing an additional one in the same direction on N.C. 130, as well as extending the northbound turn lane on Main Street.
Developers also will install either a traffic circle or signalized light at Whiteville Road NW near connecting to the King Tract for both development’s residents to share. Entrances into the development will be 20-feet wide as well to account for emergency access.
All roads in Carolina Strand will be private with parking to remain offstreet and lots having a minimum of two spaces each.
The motion to approve the development passed with little comment or feedback otherwise.
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