The Brunswick County Planning Board on Feb. 9 voted unanimously to approve a revision to a previously approved planned development near Southport that decreases the project’s unit count and project area.
The Long Beach Road Planned Development was originally approved in May 2025 for 49 single-family homes and 84 townhomes to be located on 152.77 acres off Long Beach Road (N.C. Highway 133) near its intersection with N.C. Highway 87 outside Southport. It located directly across Long Beach Road from the under construction, 245-home Southport Meadows project.
The planned development last week was brought back to the planning board, with the developer seeking a reduction in the number of units and acreage to be included in the previously approved project. The revised PD will contain 97 single-family homes on roughly 76.8 acres — a 36-unit and 74.17-acre reduction. The revised plans create an overall density of 1.23 units per acre, compared to .87 units per acre originally.
“They are removing about 74 roughly acres that was previously open space for the previous approval. … Even though they’re reducing, because now the project is this many units, 97, on this amount of acreage, the density is increased,” Brunswick County Deputy Planning Director Marc Pages said. “Per the ordinance, anytime there’s an increase in density, we come to the planning board.”
Pages also noted that if the planning board voted down the modification, the prior approval is still valid.
The planned development application for the project was submitted by Bolton and Menk out of Wilmington on behalf of property owner Cameron Group Timber LLC, also out of Wilmington.
The subject property is in the CLD (Commercial Low Density) zoning district that allows for development at a density of up to 13.6 unit per acres, significantly more than proposed.
Surrounding zoning includes other CLD, R-7500 (Medium Density Residential) and CI (Commercial Intensive) zoning and surrounding land uses include single-family residential and vacant land uses.
The planned development is set to be connected to Brunswick County water and sewer and its internal roads will be private. The development will have one point of entry and exit and it will be connected to Long Beach Road.
The developer originally planned to contain an emergency access to Long Beach Road, in addition to the main entrance. But Pages explained that although county planning staff also advocated for the additional access, the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) vetoed it.
Planning Board Member Jim Board expressed strong concerns about the single access point. “That’s a busy road,” he said. “If something happens at that entrance, they’re all trapped.”
A Driveway Warrant Analysis has been completed for the project. The proposed project, per the planning staff report, will generate approximately 981 vehicle trips per 24-hour weekday volume.Road improvements proposed for this development include: a southbound right turn lane off Long Beach Road with 50 feet of storage, and a northbound left turn lane off Long Beach Road with 50 feet of storage.
Portions of the project site are located in a flood hazard zone, the planning staff report explained, but not are permitted to be constructed in any on-site AE (100-year) Flood Zones. Additionally, the project’s stormwater system will be constructed to the 100-year storm standard, the staff report notes.
When the project was initially approved last spring, much of its proposed open space, which is primarily wetlands, was located in the back side of the project property, away from Long Beach Road. This area is where the roughly 74 acres were removed from the project under the modification.
With the modification, the Long Beach Road PD will have 55.88 acres of open space (compared to 131.48 acres under the original plan), of which 19.65 acres are required, with an additional open space buffer provided adjacent to Long Beach Road. The developer will also provide the required 2.95 acres of recreation space.
The Long Beach Road PD developer will be required have a 30-foot, 0.6 opacity peripheral buffer using existing vegetation and install supplemental landscaping where deemed necessary. Additionally, the development must include a 20-foot wide street buffer along Long Beach Road.
As a condition of approval, the project will also be required to maintain a 10-foot-wide access easement to be included within the Long Beach Road street buffer for a future pedestrian path or greenway.
Vice Chair Jason Gaver made a motion to approve the modification request. “I think this is pretty straightforward,” he said. “It’s actually a reduction in rooftops, which is a positive at this moment, and it allows the developer to release the back half of this portion as they indicated that is their desire.”
The motion passed unanimously. The planning board’s approvals are conceptual, and all applicable federal, state and county approvals and permits, including stormwater, utilities and fire marshal requirements, will need to be obtained prior to final plat approvals and building permits issuance.