400+ apartments given green light by Belville commissioners
The Town of Belville is making room for 800+ potential new residents after the commissioners approved a special use permit for a large apartment complex on Thursday night.
BELVILLE, NC (WWAY) — The Town of Belville is making room for 800+ potential new residents after the commissioners approved a special use permit for a large apartment complex on Thursday night.
Evolve at Waterford will be a 408 unit apartment complex located along Poole Road that includes a pool, pickleball court, fitness building, and garages. It was given the first sign of approval by the town’s planning board at a special meeting in November.
The complex will be located directly adjacent to the Waterford subdivision in Leland. In one case, this would mean one of the three-story apartment buildings would be less than 30 feet from one resident’s backyard. Several members of the Waterford community have expressed concerns about the development.
During Thursday night’s quasi-judicial meeting, the developers as well as the opposing sides were allowed to present evidence on the matter. It’s a similar process to a court hearing, but in order to be heard speakers must have standing, which could mean your property is directly adjacent to the proposed development, or be an expert on the issues they are speaking about.
Experts hired by the developers presented on land planning, property values, and traffic impacts. According to their studies, the impact on property values would be neutral and traffic would not be significantly impacted by the development.
The Waterford residents quickly became frustrated because without standing their questions were objected or if they weren’t an expert their questions were deemed hearsay, leading several of them to walk out of the meeting before it was over.
The board ultimately approved the special use permit with conditions, including exterior lighting from the complex will not shine into adjacent yards and a six-foot fence would be installed along with rows of vegetation to create a buffer between the two properties.
