Developers have filed an appeal with the state after the New Hanover County Fire Marshal’s Office denied its request to reduce emergency access in the planned subdivision at Sledge Forest.
Copper Builders has submitted revised plans for Hilton Bluffs, a controversial 1,800-home development proposed on a 4,000-acre property in Castle Hayne. The modification removes a proposed access road that would have repurposed a residential lot in a neighboring subdivision.
Communication between Copper Builders and the county Fire Marshal’s office shows that the developer has claimed that it is “infeasible” to build the required roads. After the Fire Marshal's office initially permitted the exemption, the developer settled an appeal with surrounding neighbors
by removing the accesses from site plans.
Representatives for the Southern Environmental Law Center, which is heading the remaining active appeal, described Copper Builders’ effort to reduce required emergency access as an attempt at “evading” New Hanover County policies.
County fire marshal rescinds emergency access exemption
The new plan removes a secondary access road connecting to Tall Oaks Drive, as well as an emergency access road connecting to Dekker Road. The overall home count of 1,800 units has not changed.
The revised plan has a street network connectivity ratio of 1.45, just above the minimum of 1.4 outlined in the county’s Unified Development Ordinance.
On June 24, county Fire Marshal David Stone sent a letter to Copper Builders approving an exemption for the requirement of two separate fire department access roads. He noted that limitations of the site were “beyond the control of the developer” and that “a second access road would not be practical without significant impacts to adjacent properties and existing site conditions.”
On July 23, Stone rescinded the determination, stating that information shared with the office “did not fully reflect the circumstances that existed at the time the determination was requested.”
“When the developer contacted the Fire Marshal’s Office in June, it was stated that the surrounding property owners had denied any easement or access through their properties and the remaining land was impassable or wetlands, making no other access point available,” Stone stated in the recission letter. “However, at that time the developer was still representing that there were two access points as viable possibilities to other county departments, in active litigation, and as part of the conditionally approved TRC plans. This information is inconsistent with the basis upon which the determination was requested.”
In a statement, representatives for SELC said that Copper Builders voluntarily created the “infeasibility” of the roads by agreeing not to build them. The developer reached a settlement with the other appellants, represented by attorney Grady Richardson, at a Board of Adjustment hearing on July 20.
“Copper Builders once again shows that it thinks the rules don’t apply to it, by trying to evade the county planning department’s established processes and secretly pressuring the fire marshal to allow a massive development to be served by a single access route,” SELC senior attorney Liz Rasheed said in the statement. “If that one route were flooded or blocked, emergency services would be unable to reach anyone in the community and evacuations would be slowed – that’s why the state fire code requires more than one access route for communities with more than 100 houses, much less communities with hundreds or thousands of houses, like Hilton Bluffs.”
Copper Builders founder Wade Miller said that a single way in and out of a subdivision is "neither new nor reckless." He disputed SELC's claims that anything about the process was improper.
"It would be unusual and unfair to the planning staff to propose a revision to a plan without first verifying the appropriateness of that revision with the governing authority," Miller said. "With regard to access points, planning staff appropriately directed us to the Fire Marshal and the Fire Marshal issued a decision. We then relied on that approval to make commitments to others, and to propose a revision to plan accordingly."
Developer appeals decision to state
In a July 27 letter to the county fire marshal seeking to reaffirm the infeasibility status, Copper Builders cited environmental constraints, limited adjoining parcels, wetland restrictions and a lack of other viable options for secondary accesses.
The letter cited arguments made by appellants residing in the neighboring Marathon Colony and Wooden Shoe subdivisions prior to the settlement, noting that it was not legal for the developer to repurpose the residential lots for roadway connections.
A determination has not yet been made on the state appeal. Copper Builders submitted the revised plans for Hilton Bluffs to be reviewed at the Sept. 2 Technical Review Committee meeting. SELC's appeal hearing is slated for Sept. 22.
Daniel Sheehan covers New Hanover County for the StarNews. Reach him at dsheehan@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: County fire marshal denies Sledge Forest exemption, state appeal filed | Exclusive
