Pender County planning team moves comprehensive land use plan toward public hearing after second engagement round

Pender County officials said July 14 they will move the county's comprehensive land use plan into the public hearing stage after two rounds of public engagement and technical review.

Consultant Leanne King and county planning director Daniel Adams briefed the Board of Commissioners on the outreach outcomes and next steps for Imagine Pender 2050, the county's comprehensive land use plan update. King said the project is nearing the adoption phase of a 20-month process. “We are moving through our 20-month process and are about at month 14 or 15,” King said.

The presentation said the second engagement window included five community meetings and an online survey conducted April 28–June 6. The team reported 271 online survey responses for that window and roughly 128 in-person attendees; cumulatively the planning team said it has received more than 1,600 survey responses across both engagement rounds, compared with about 1,300 for the previous plan adopted in 2018.

King reviewed summary findings from the public review draft. Respondents strongly supported the plan's first vision theme—coordinating growth, preservation and infrastructure—(about 81% combining “support” and “strongly support”). Support for the fiscal-health theme was roughly 70% (with 14% neutral and about 17% opposed). On the future land use map, about 45% of respondents said they supported or strongly supported the planning guidance, 29% were neutral and about 26% did not support it to some degree, the consultant reported.

King said the engagement produced specific, mappable feedback the team is using to refine the future land use map. “We were lucky to get a fair amount of detailed information from folks so that we can make adjustments to that map moving into the public hearing draft,” she said. County staff also highlighted recurring community requests for conservation and agricultural preservation, more parks and recreational facilities, and attention to transportation and public-safety infrastructure as growth continues.

Adams told commissioners the planning team is coordinating with the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management for preliminary review under the Coastal Area Management Act certification process. Once the division issues its preliminary comments and the planning board provides an endorsement, the county will publish a public hearing draft and schedule hearings for formal adoption.

Commissioner Groves complimented staff and the steering committee for the outreach, saying the results show community alignment on priorities. Commissioner Tate asked for the county's population figure to provide context for participation rates; staff said the county population is about 70,000 and that the second-round participation represented roughly 2% of the population, a figure the consultant characterized as typical for long-range comprehensive plans in larger municipalities.

The planning team provided a timeline to finalize edits to the public hearing draft, brief the planning board and return to the commissioners for a public hearing and adoption vote. Staff said the public engagement documentation and revised draft will be posted on the county website for review before public hearings are scheduled.