Temporary pause approved for Hilton Bluffs project amid Sledge Forest dispute
CASTLE HAYNE, N.C. (AP) — A new development in the ongoing dispute over Sledge Forest comes as New Hanover County officials have approved a temporary pause on the proposed Hilton Bluffs project.
The New Hanover County Board of Adjustment voted to approve a stay on the development, halting permitting while an appeal is reviewed. The project, planned for Castle Hayne, has drawn widespread protests from community members and environmental advocates.
The appeal was filed by the environmental group Save the Hayne, which cited concerns over flooding, stormwater runoff and tree loss.
Kayne Darrell with Save Sledge Forest said the stay allows more time to evaluate those concerns.
“When you start taking down 100-year-old trees, they’re gone forever, or at least for the next 100 years or so,” Darrell said. “When we think about the destruction of the forest, and not just where they’re building, but there are ripple effects of putting in this high-density development.”
Darrell said the decision “buys time” and described the stay as a common-sense step.
Developer Wade Miller said he does not plan to appeal the stay and does not expect it to significantly impact the project’s timeline.
“We’re continuing to move forward with our engineering and plans, and we weren’t planning to submit for any plans in the next 90 days anyway, so it really has a minimal impact on what we’re doing,” Miller said.
Miller has also argued that the areas planned for development do not hold the environmental value that opponents have raised concerns about.
Attorney Elizabeth Rasheed, who represented seven Castle Hayne-area residents in the case, said the stay was necessary to allow further review of how the project’s density was calculated.
“You have to calculate the maximum density according to the zoning,” Rasheed said. “What they did instead was they looked at the entire 1,800-acre parcel and said, ‘Okay, our density in rural agriculture is one unit per acre, so let’s do 1,800 units and then we’ll cluster them onto however many acres we actually want to clear.’ That just totally skipped the step where you’re supposed to be subtracting out the non-developable land that is required to be conserved.”
Rasheed said the issue will now return to the county’s technical review process for further consideration.
For now, the stretch of Sledge Forest at the center of the dispute remains unchanged as both sides weigh their next steps.
