Developers of Sledge Forest meets with Castle Hayne residents

"I don't understand how a developer from Charlotte can come here and change the character of our town."

NEW HANOVER COUNTY (WWAY)–For months, we’ve been following a proposed development in New Hanover County along the banks of the northeast Cape Fear River. Many nearby residents and environmentalists oppose it. Tuesday night, the developer was in Wilmington to answer questions.

“I don’t understand how a developer from Charlotte can come here and change the character of our town,” said Castle Hayne resident Carrie Bogart.

It’s the moment many residents have been waiting for.

Residents from Castle Hayne finally got the chance to ask developers Copper Builders anything they wanted about plans for Sledge Forest, which is set to bring 4,000 homes onto 1,000 acres of land.
Folks brought out their pen and paper social media lives to record the occasion.

Bogart feels residents’ questions were not answered.

“It was sort of like, ‘We’ll get back to you on that.’ ‘Yes. This is under consideration.’ ‘Yes. It’s real important that you hear from us,'” Bogart explained.

Others feel the same. So much so that things got a little heated.

“You’re going to ruin it, and you don’t give a *expletive*! All of yall are some punks,” screamed one resident.

A few concerns that come to mind for these residents are quality of life aspects, including impacts on the groundwater from chemical plumes giving off pollution and higher traffic concerns.

“The DOT requires that you evaluate traffic conditions, and they require that you pump private dollars into significant improvements into those public roads. So, we don’t know what the dot will require us to do yet,” explained one developer.

Another concern is tax dollars. Residents worry the projected thousands to come will overwhelm schools and hospitals even more and force them to expand, which folks worry costs for expansion may come from taxpayers.

The purchase of the land has not been finalized. This development is still in its proposal stages. However, WWAY went to extreme lengths by asking three times for a comment from the developers, but they declined.