Hampstead developers must go back to drawing board
It’s back to the drawing board – or PowerPoint presentation – for the developers of Hawksbill Cove, a large housing and commercial complex planned to be built on Country Club Road in Hampstead.
The Pender County Planning Board voted unanimously July 6 to table the adjusted master plan for the project until its September meeting. Members cited apparent errors in the plan, unanswered questions and the number of changes proposed.
The board approved the original master plan in 2007. But since then the number of residential units have been cut from 1150 to 1105, commercial footage has dropped from 250,000 square feet to 50,000 and the acreage for development has been reduced from 412 acres originally to 376.
A diagram of the Hawksbill Cove development was part of a presentation to the Pender County Planning Board.
“As I read the map, there are a huge number of things that have been changed,” said Kevin Reynolds, chairman of the board. “I think this whole thing is open to a new interpretation.”
Reynolds scolded the representatives of the development companies – GF Management Co. LLC of Durham and Hampstead Properties LLC of Hampstead – for not providing the PowerPoint presentation they gave that night to the planning staff first for a complete review.
The chairman also questioned the plans for a waste treatment plant and whether the developers would build their own water system or hook up to the public utility.
“My concern is with the public,” said Burt Millette, board member.
“This is no longer a revision since that is no longer the same project we saw before,” said County Attorney Trey Thurmon. “This is no longer the unique property previously approved.”
Several dozen residents attended the meeting. Several voiced other concerns, particularly congestion and drainage. Some testified the roads in the area already flood when a lake in Belevedere Plantation overflows its banks.
The development would be built south of Country Club Road and north of Hideaway Shores. A connector road is planned to give access to U.S. 17. The original approval of the plan required the connector be built first.
Kenneth Shanklin, attorney for the Durham developers, asked the board to postpone consideration of the master plan so the questions could be addressed.
“We will make it right,” he said.
