Brunswick overwhelmingly approves development, but not always. What's been denied in 2023?

As Brunswick County continues to grow, more of its land is being filled with homes or commercial space.

As developers look to develop vacant land in the county to accommodate its newest residents, the county's planning staff and board are tasked with considering development and rezoning requests to make way for such projects.

In most cases, those requests are approved. To date in 2023, the county's planning board has approved over 92% of the development and rezoning requests it received.

In Brunswick County, the planning board approves or denies requests for planned developments, rezonings and major site plans. In the rare occurrence a planning board decision is appealed by the requestee, the item would go before the commissioners.

This process differs from county to county. In Pender County, developments are not considered by the county commissioners; the planning board approves those requests. The board also considers special use permits and rezonings, but then send those items to the commissioners with a recommendation for approval or denial.

In New Hanover County, the planning board can deny rezoning requests outright or recommend the request to the commissioners for approval.

From January to November of this year, the Brunswick County Planning Board considered 22 planned developments, including modifications to or expansions of previously approved planned developments. Of those, all but two were approved.

One proposal – dubbed “Trest Tract,” which looked to bring 205 townhomes to bring 205 townhomes to western Brunswick County near U.S. 17 and Hickman Road – was tabled in May when the board wanted more information before moving forward.

In November, the planning board handed down its first, and only, denial of a project for the year. Ashton Farms was proposed as a mixed-use planned development looking to bring 2,750 single-family homes, 200 townhome units and 20.5 acres of commercial development to a 1,257-acre site near Russtown, Longwood and Whiteville roads in Ash.

Past coverage: Massive proposed housing, commercial development in Brunswick County denied

Several residents showed up to the planning board’s November meeting and spoke in opposition to the massive project, which alone proposed more single-family homes (2,750) than the 20 that had been approved by the board had combined (2,631).

A motion to deny the development based on several concerns, including that the site plan and development intensity was not “appropriate” for the site.

Of those approved by the planning board, all but one were approved by unanimous vote. (A modification to the Groves at Olde Georgetown planned development looking to bring 250 single-family cottages was approved in August by a vote of five to one.)

The 20 approved developments totaled 4,599 total residential units. By type, the board approved 2,631 single-family homes, 1,824 townhomes, 56 semi-attached units and 88 multi-family units.

Property owners' rights in North Carolina are heavily protected by statutes, and as long as a proposal meets the requirements and limitations of the assigned zoning, individual municipalities have little agency to deny a project. Rezonings, therefore, often signal a development proposal is coming.

The board considered 16 rezoning requests to date in 2023 regarding a total of nearly 2,105 acres of land. Of those rezoning requests, all but one was approved unanimously by the planning board.

Largely, the rezoning requests considered by the planning board this year looked to change the designated zoning of a parcel to allow for more dense residential development. Other requests looked to change split-zoned parcels to one consistent zoning.

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The only denied rezoning request asked to decrease the zoning of a parcel zoned for medium density residential development to the less-dense rural residential district. The request was denied after the board found it was “inconsistent” with its Blueprint Brunswick 2040 land use plan.

In December, the board will consider a major subdivision request and two rezonings.

Jamey Cross covers Brunswick County for the StarNews. Reach her at jbcross@gannett.com or message her on X/Twitter @jameybcross.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Why developments are largely approved in Brunswick County