NEW HANOVER COUNTY — Affordable housing was one of many issues tackled at a community meeting hosted Tuesday regarding a new development planned for Castle Hayne Road, but whether it will include affordable pricing is still unclear.
READ MORE: Public meeting: 27-acre mixed-use development proposed for Castle Hayne
“Wilmington has a housing shortage of roughly 30,000 houses and million-dollar houses aren’t going to fix anything, and they’re not going to help this community,” audience member Logan Secord told developers.
Moore’s Crossing Master Planned Development is being pitched to the county by River Bluffs Development Corporation, and is slated for completion by 2026. The company is behind the nearby River Bluffs community, featuring homes and townhomes in the $200,000 to $600,000 price range about a mile away from Moore’s Crossing.
The new development is located roughly a mile away from River Bluffs and will include 120 single-family units on 8.24 acres — one-, two- and three-bedrooms — as well as 7.75 acres of retail, and 10.23 acres of commercial and grocery.
John Lennon and Burrows Smith from River Bluffs Development Corporation hosted the meeting at St. James AME Church, across the street from the site. It’s to be located near the intersections of Castle Hayne Road, Chair Road and Highway I-140.
Roughly 50 people showed up to ask questions and voice concerns.
Secord asked the developers how much they have evaluated carving out a portion of the residences for affordable housing.
“The honest answer is none,” Lennon said, “because we can’t do anything until we get a rezone.”
Smith noted: “An entry level house is close to $400,000 now in this county, it’s crazy. But I’m not trying to cure the world here.”
Lennon said he heard the concern for affordable housing “loud and clear.”
“For those of you who know me, there is no bigger proponent for affordable housing, that being said, I’m also a huge property rights proponent,” he said. “We’re not planning a development here, we are requesting a rezoning to be allowed to go out and determine what the market says needs to go here.”
Secord, who is a developer, said the community’s input will have less weight if the rezoning is approved, and that now is the time to ask questions before the application goes to the New Hanover County Planning Board.
Currently, the 27.55-acre parcel is zoned as R-20, low-density residential, meaning lots must be 20,000 square feet and 1.9 units per acre. The development cannot disturb the “quiet residential and recreational nature of the district,” according to the county’s unified development ordinance.
Developers want to rezone the site to planned development (PD), to allow for a mix of uses. The zone type is intended to reduce the inflexibility of other zoning district standards and to encourage smaller street networks and pedestrian connections.
If the rezoning is signed off on by the planning board, developers will have conversations about what to put in the development. Lennon said community needs will dictate uses; this could include a grocery store, bank, convenience store or restaurant.
A survey was suggested by one audience member to see what kind of development should be placed in Moore’s Crossing.
“R-20 would let us build houses here if we wanted to. But I think this area needs a grocery store a lot more than it needs more houses, because there’s not a good grocery store nearby here,” he said.
The closest grocery story is Food Lion on Castle Hayne Road, located just under two miles away.
Aside from affordable housing, concerns were raised about traffic implications and how the neighboring church property will be affected. That area of the county has experienced increased developments, in turn also congesting the roadways.
Moore’s Creek did a traffic impact analysis of Castle Hayne Road and surrounding areas, which suggested traffic and infrastructure changes.
The development proposed adding a stoplight at the intersections of Chair and Castle Hayne roads, widening Castle Hayne Road at the intersection to allow for southbound U-turns, adding more turn lanes on Castle Hayne and Chair roads and adding a median on Chair Road.
One resident pointed out adding traffic lights may make it more congested and that more turning lanes and lanes on Castle Hayne Road would be a better solution. Another questioned how infrastructure changes could be made if it was unknown what would be constructed in Moore’s Crossing.
Lennon’s response was that the light at Chair and Castle Hayne roads would allow cars to make left turns safely toward I-140, and that the addition of the second light on Chair Road allows for less backup on the ramp to I-140.
The infrastructure changes will also allow for an additional 250 feet of room for cars at the Chair and Castle Hayne roads’ intersection and the intersection between the I-140 east ramp and Castle Hayne Road.
Community members questioned what the proposed traffic changes would mean for St. James AME Church, and whether or not the church’s nearby graveyard would be reduced. While church driveways will not be affected and no property will be taken from St. James AME, some parking will be reduced across the street from the church where the undeveloped land of Moore’s Crossing is located.
Lennon said that River’s Bluff will try to accommodate this parking and that a 20 foot vegetative buffer will protect the graveyard.
While some residents were hesitant about the new development, others expressed support.
“I like the idea of breaking traffic flow, job opportunities and some improvements in this area, I hope it goes forward,” Craig Dorsey, a lifetime resident of the Castle Hayne area, said.
As the land sits just below the highway, the site — 13 different properties assembled by the developers over the past 10 years — was considered a special highway overlay district (SHOD), designed by the city to keep development at least 100 feet away from the interstate.
Lennon said the county suggested the developers request removal of this district for the project because the district was originally put in place with the intention of expanding I-140, but since the highway will not be expanding, there is now room to build.
A 10-inch Cape Fear Public Utility Authority waterline was put in place three years ago for the project, and six miles of force main was built from Chair Road to 23rd Street for sewage. These two additions were paid for by developers.
Lennon and Smith submitted the development plan to the planning board on Wednesday. The next planning board meeting will be Thursday, though Moore’s Crossing is not on the agenda. The planning board will meet again on Sept. 5.
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