Monkey Junction residents voice concerns over proposed 94-home development
Another proposed development has neighbors in New Hanover County anxious about its potential impacts.
NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Another proposed development has neighbors in New Hanover County anxious about its potential impacts.
Zimmer Development Company is proposing a rezoning of 14.77 acres of land at 5304 Masonboro Loop Road between Grey Squirrel Road and Brighton Road. Right now, it’s zoned as R-15 to allow about 2.5 units per acre. They want to change it to conditional R-5 to allow about seven units per acre for a new townhome development.
The development would consist of 84 townhomes and 10 single-family homes, each with attached garages and their own driveways. It has not yet been decided if the homes would be for sale or for rent, but they would be priced at the market rate.
Residents in the surrounding neighborhoods like Debbie and Rob Potter are concerned because they say the area is already congested.
“The traffic on Masonboro Loop Road is already terrible. There are accidents along that road all the time,” Rob Potter said.
“We’ve grown so fast that the infrastructure hasn’t really caught up with what is going on in our community,” Debbie Potter said. “Of course, we want there to be growth, but we want it to be responsible.”
Traffic and safety topped the list of concerns — along with stormwater, drainage, density, and more at a community meeting hosted by Zimmer on Wednesday night.
“Those are the things we’ll go back and focus on, in addition to other points that individuals brought up,” Zimmer’s Director of Development Adam Tucker said. “So, when we come back to the next meeting and people are asking us all those technical questions, we’ll have a lot more answers next time.”
At times, the meeting became heated or tense as frustrated residents voiced their concerns. Several people at the meeting were discontented that Zimmer did not have more information about the project. Tucker says they are in the early stages of the project and use the community meetings as they take the next steps.
“We learn a lot from the citizens who live down there. It gives us a chance to refine our plans and question our engineers and get with county staff and let them understand where the concerns are so that we can meet again and work through those so everyone gets the best project they can,” Tucker said.
When the neighbors were notified about the potential development, resident Cathy Foley started a petition opposing the rezoning of the property that has since garnered more than 300 signatures.
Following the meeting, Foley and other residents said they felt like their concerns were heard, but they still oppose the rezoning. However, most said they would not oppose the development of single-family homes on the property.
The developers say they are going back to the drawing board and plan to have another community meeting in the near future.
