While residents call for development to stop in Brunswick, advocates say it’s crucial

Amid community calls to end development in Brunswick County, a nonprofit advocacy group says the county needs to continue to invest in housing, jobs and infrastructure in order to benefit the entire region.

Tyler Newman, president and chief executive officer at Business Alliance for a Sound Economy (BASE), presented some thoughts and data with the Brunswick County Planning Board at its December meeting. BASE is a Wilmington-based nonprofit organization that advocates for business and industry in New Hanover, Pender, Brunswick and Onslow counties.

In recent months, calls from the community to stop the “overdevelopment” in the county have been constant in the form of public comments at local meetings and even online petitions garnering thousands of signatures.

Despite those calls, Newman says the region relies on Brunswick County to facilitate and enable the growth the entire Cape Fear is seeing. Here are some takeaways.

There is a need for more housing stock.

Citing The Atlantic, Newman said there is a nationwide need for more housing stock. Fifteen years ago, some 2.2 million housing units were vacant and available for purchase. Now, that number has reduced by more than half and sits at roughly 732,000 – with an additional 30 million more people in the country.

After eclipsing New Hanover County around 2003, Brunswick County has largely reported the highest number of building permits in the four-county region in the past 20 years, with Pender County only briefly reporting higher than Brunswick around 2009 to 2013, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

“In spite of the fact that we’ve seen a significant number of building permits, we don’t have a flood of houses up on the market,” Newman said. “They’re being purchased basically [at the same rate] that they’re being put on the market.”

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The new residents the county is attracting is fueling the economy of the entire region, but it also provides its own set of challenges, Newman said.

Affordable housing is lacking.

One challenge the county is facing, Newman said, is housing affordability.

The average sales price for homes in the county is over $400,000. According to the North Carolina Housing Coalition, 49% of Brunswick renters and 23% of Brunswick homeowners have difficulty affording their homes.

“My contention is we need more houses across the [economic] spectrum, both rental units and for sale units,” Newman said.

Many in Brunswick County work elsewhere to afford to live here.

Average annual salaries in Brunswick County for industries such as healthcare, childcare and farming labor are less than $30,000, according to the North Carolina Housing Coalition. The average police officer salary is less than $50,000 in the county.

With low salaries and high home prices, many in the county work elsewhere to afford to live here.

Of the county’s 140,000 residents, less than half are in the work force (49%). Many of them commute to work, Newman said,

“If you can’t live and work in close proximity, then part of the traffic challenges that we have are people going elsewhere,” Newman said.

Just under 30% of those working residents commute to New Hanover County for work, while 5.7% go to Bladen, Columbus, Duplin, Onslow, Pender or Robeson. Over 5% commute to Wake County (Raleigh) and Mecklenburg (Charlotte) and Horry (South Carolina) counties see 3% of those commuters, according to Cape Fear Collective data.

“In an ideal world, more people would be able to work and live and play in the same area,” Newman said.

Infrastructure must meet demands.

Newman said with this growth comes more strain on current infrastructure.

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Roads, bridges, ports, airports, schools, water and sewer, and housing are some of several infrastructure categories that have seen challenges with the county and region’s growth in recent years.

People are coming to the area, Newman said. It’s how that growth is facilitated and managed that becomes the question. The answer, according to Newman, is a collective investment in jobs, infrastructure and housing.

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

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Brunswick’s development is crucial for region’s growth, advocates say