The Dive: New Developments

As much as many folks would like to enclose the region in a barricade, there’s no stopping growth. The tri-county Cape Fear region has added 105,000 people since 2010, a swarm transforming many aspects of the local culture and economy, for better and worse. 

The anti-overdevelopment and -growth movement isn’t new. (Any old-timers remember the ‘80s and ‘90s bumper stickers seen around Wrightsville Beach: “Welcome to our beach. Now, go home”?)

But the latest iteration of the movement has gotten more organized with social media and gained momentum, making it harder for local politicians and planners to ignore. 

Project-specific anti-overdevelopment organizing has sprouted up to fight most large-scale developments, and sometimes, it works—even if only as a public pressure campaign. 

Grassroots organizing has helped stall or alter plenty of projects over the years, nearly too many to revisit here, but the wins are often short-lived. 

• In 2020, New Hanover County denied the nearly 300-unit Middle Sound West based on stormwater and traffic concerns, a decision the state Court of Appeals later reversed. The apartments are now available to rent. 
• Citing neighborhood friction, a developer nixed plans for a townhome and apartment project on the corner of Oleander Drive and Independence Boulevard, only to reintroduce a scaled-down version this year, which city council approved over the objection of a raucous crowd. 
• The county ultimately denied plans for a much-decried sand mine in Castle Hayne in 2019, but now a portion of that property is back on the table for redevelopment as Hilton Bluffs, a single-family project.

No matter the organizers’ technical expertise, the more bodies they can get in the door and the louder they are, the more an anti-overdevelopment outcry can make an impact, even if the outcome isn’t exactly what they requested. 

Nearly 4,300 petitioners oppose the 4,000-unit Hilton Bluffs, mainly on environmental grounds. The project is by-right, meaning it requires no public input before developers can move ahead with their plans. The group’s organizer, Kayne Darrell, told Port City Daily the community feels elected officials and decision-makers are tone-deaf to residents’ legitimate concerns: “The clear-cutting, the destruction of our last vestiges of natural woodlands, the infilling of wetlands, the displacement of wildlife, all just seems so reckless and shortsighted.”​​

Across the river, the anti-overdevelopment movement in Brunswick County has even more momentum. It’s also coalesced on more populist grounds, opposing excessive growth outright rather than a focus on particular projects. “Stop overdevelopment” signs proliferate in Brunswick as residents continue to organize. 

“I think you can attribute it to new communication methods/social media as well as interest in how our community and region continues to grow,” said Tyler Newman, CEO of Business Alliance for a Sound Economy, a business advocacy group. 

The Facebook group STOP OVER-DEVELOPING BRUNSWICK COUNTY emerged last year, initially to fight a 3,000-unit project in Ash near the state border. Though the county’s planning board initially denied it (and a tense community meeting devolved into a shouting match), the board approved a revised version this spring.

Before the November election, the incumbents on the county commission worried it could be their closest match-up to date, citing the strength of this growing coalition. While the slate of challengers (including one independent) was embraced by the county’s Democratic party—with green trees featured in official party campaign materials—the issue has become more bipartisan.

“I’ve had a couple of hundred people that have supported me for a dozen years say, ‘Mike, I can’t vote for you. This development is out of control,’” then-incumbent Mike Forte said while campaigning during early voting. “It’s going to be tight because of the crazies that have been screaming for a year.”

Forte was named chair, and though the incumbents still won by a double-digit lead, the anti-overdevelopment movement seems to have made at least some impact. The last time Forte had a challenger, he swept with a 29-point lead in 2016. After running unopposed in 2020, this year his opponent trimmed his lead to 19 points. 

“The bulk of the people doing all the complaining have been here two and three years … You’re part of the problem! And you’re going to complain? Oh you’re here, now stop?”

In the lead-up to the election and after devastating flooding from Tropical Cyclone 8, frustrated residents–including the mayor of Shallotte–insisted on a dramatic request of a countywide a voluntary development moratorium. Then-County Chairman Randy Thompson and Commissioner Pat Sykes were in favor of a halt. But the full board struck the idea down on the advice of their attorney, who cited the potential for expensive litigation. 

Forte said most folks making noise about overdevelopment are among the 23,000 new residents the county has added in the last few years. “The bulk of the people doing all the complaining have been here two and three years,” he said. “You’re part of the problem! And you’re going to complain? Oh you’re here, now stop?”

But even Forte could empathize with residents’ often helpless grievances. On land zoned as forestry, corporations have more leeway to clear-cut in preparing for a sister company’s residential plans. Big national businesses have dozens of subsidiaries they use to skirt around existing local rules, Forte said. “They’re protected 12 ways to Sunday,” he said. “Nothing we can do.”

Newman said the conflicts are often rooted in a misunderstanding of the process. “I understand the frustration from the public,” he said. “The development process is opaque and complex.”

Earlier this month, Newman attended a housing affordability symposium at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, where he said the keynote speaker’s presentation was titled, “Overcoming the limits of localism: how can policy reform make it easier to build housing.”

“The issue is that to build more housing, in many cases, a developer has to go through a public process,” Newman said. “Few other commodities have this sort of public discretionary approval process where existing residents feel like they have veto power.”

While the anti-overdevelopment group didn’t secure a politician this cycle, they aren’t going away anytime soon. And if a similar coalition solidifies in New Hanover County, they’ll surely be a force to reckon with. 

– Johanna F. Still

Read this newsletter online or contact The Dive team with tips and feedback a johanna@theassemblync.com.

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Around the Region

Years Late, Millions Short: Brunswick County has once again delayed the estimated completion date and increased its budget for its long-awaited reverse osmosis project, Port City Daily reports.

Sunset in Myrtle: Our neighbors in Myrtle Beach are home to the fastest-growing population of adults over 65, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

Unplugged: Brunswick leaders say their phone-free pilot experiment in two schools is working, the Brunswick Beacon reports. 

Delayed Investigation: A woman recently organized a protest and petition to call attention to the Wilmington Police Department’s delayed and dead-end investigation of her alleged rape. Port City Daily talked with detectives who addressed the difficulties in proving sexual assault cases. 

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Around the State

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