Pender County planning board approves revision to Lanes Ferry Landing master plan with commercial cap

The Pender County Planning Board on Wednesday approved an administrative revision to the Lanes Ferry Landing master development plan, preserving the project’s previously approved total of 2,695 dwelling units while changing the mix of unit types and attaching a condition limiting future commercial area.

Chair Damian Buchanan presided over the hearing. County staff recommended approval after clarifying several packet discrepancies and density calculations. Staff told the board the revision shifts unit types to 2,365 single‑family detached units, 125 attached units and 205 multifamily units while maintaining the 2,695 unit cap and slightly reducing net density to roughly 4.12 units per acre.

Mr. Brantley, a county planning staff member, summarized the project’s history and conditions from the original approvals and emphasized that the proposal is an administrative review to determine whether the revised plan complies with the Pender County Unified Development Ordinance and the county’s comprehensive plan. He said the applicant proposes about 10 acres of neighborhood commercial (approximately 15,000 square feet) in the revised plan, down from a prior conceptual total of about 27 acres that had been associated with about 75,000 square feet in earlier iterations.

Residents raised concerns about flooding, traffic and environmental impacts. Eileen Schoiber, who lives adjacent to the southern portion of the site on Rebecca Kennedy Road, asked why the county would approve thousands of homes in an area that flooded during the 2018 hurricane: “If we had that hurricane again, if we had 2,000 homes under 3 feet of water, what will we do?” she asked. Donald Inslee, a Rocky Point resident, warned the board that NC‑210 is a rural road and said the corridor may not accommodate the traffic generated by the larger community.

The applicant’s engineering team responded point‑by‑point. Tim Clinch Kales, a registered engineer with Paramount Engineering, said the proposed private wastewater treatment system is infiltration‑based and ‘‘there will not be direct discharge to the river’’; he added the design relies on a conditional letter of map revision (CLOMR) from FEMA and raises lots roughly two feet above the new base‑flood elevations the county adopted after Hurricane Florence. Ronald Stevenson, the project traffic engineer, said the updated master plan generates fewer peak trips than earlier estimates and that off‑site improvements required by NCDOT and the original traffic impact analysis remain applicable.

Board members and staff debated whether to require more commercial development to serve a future population and whether staff should be given delegated flexibility to allow commercial expansion without returning to the board. After negotiating language with county staff and the applicant, the board adopted a condition tying the Phase 5 parcel and the future commercial area together: they will allow upper‑story residential and multifamily up to a maximum of 205 units while limiting combined commercial space for the entire project to no more than 70,000 square feet. Staff read the final condition into the record before a vote.

A motion to approve the administrative revision with that condition was made and seconded; the board approved the project by voice vote with no opposition recorded.

What happens next: the approval preserves the original 2,695‑unit cap and allows the developer to proceed with phasing and permitting under the revised allocation of unit types. The planning board instructed staff to work with the applicant on implementation details and emphasized coordination with NCDOT, FEMA and relevant state permitting agencies as phases move forward.