04-02-24 PB Agenda Review MinutesMinutes of the New Hanover County Planning Board Agenda Review
April 2, 2024
An agenda review of the New Hanover County Planning Board was held on March 5, 2024, at 3:00 PM
in the New Hanover County Government Center, 230 Government Center Dr., Conference Room 138
in Wilmington, North Carolina
Members Present
Jeff Petroff, Chair
Pete Avery
Kevin Hine
Clark Hipp
Hansen Matthews
Cameron Moore
Members Absent
Colin Tarrant, Vice Chair
Staff Present
Rebekah Roth, NHC Director of Planning & Land Use
Robert Farrell, NHC Development Review Supervisor
Ken Vafier, NHC Planning Operations Supervisor
Jessica Loeper, MHC Assistant County Manager
Zach Dickerson, NHC Senior Planner
Dylan McDonnell, NHC Long Range Planner
Lisa Maes, NHC Administration Coordinator
Damion Fulford, NHC Administration Specialist
The meeting started at 3:03pm
Technical Review Presentation
Tim Lowe with New Hanover County presented to the board members an overview of the Stormwater
Program projects that have taken place and projected projects that will take place around the
county. Mr. Lowe emphasized how they are working on shifting from a reactive to a proactive
approach with items such as preventative maintenance schedules, capital improvement plans and
a stream gauge program. The engineering department is working on identifying infrastructure needs
around the county and how to best prioritize them.
In response to questions from the Board, Mr. Lowe informed the board that their relationship with
DOT has improved and currently they share lists of items that they can’t move forward with until DOT
does their fixes, and vice versa. He gave an overview of what would be eligible for maintenance based
off the ordinance that has been in place since 2000.
By collecting data his team can highlight specific areas and major pinch points in the county with
more significant issues. Some of these areas are Smith Creek, Prince George Creek & Island Creek.
Mr. Lowe mentioned that there has been a positive effect since the stormwater ordinance was
adopted in 2000, and the retention ponds are working as expected to contain the water flow.
Agenda
Item 1: Supportive Housing Unified Development Ordinance Text Amendment
Mr. Vafier shared that there have not been any updates since the March 3,2024 regular Planning
Board Meeting to the Supportive Housing Text Amendment.
The board had questions around what is defined as a bedroom, how would zoning be enforced, how
many occupants would ideally be in a location, who were some of the stakeholders in this project
and if there were any concerns about amenities being used by nonresidents.
Mr. Vafier shared with the board that staff was proposing that for this use, “density” would be defined
as each individual or shared dwelling area to keep the overall number of residents generally like what
one might find in a traditional development. From the outside it could look like a typical 4-bedroom
dwelling but have 8-12 occupants. Some of the stakeholders he had discussed the amendment with
included Compass Collaborative, Good Shepherd, Trillium, and Novant.
Item 2: Bicycle and Pedestrian Priorities Plan Comprehensive Plan Amendment
Mr. McDonnell gave an update on the Bicycle and Pedestrian Priorities Plan, informing the board
members that this draft would be presented at the regular Planning Board meeting on April 4,2024.
He mentioned that on April 5, 2025, this item would be released for public comment and those
comments would be incorporated into the draft brought to the May 2, 2024, regular Planning Board
meeting for a public hearing.
The board had questions about if anything had been updated since the last agenda review on April 2,
2024, to which Mr. McDonnell indicated yes there had been updates made based on the board’s
recommendations, and they would be outlined in his presentation.
Item 3: Residential Density and Infill Guidelines
Ms. Roth shared that this item would need to be pushed to the May 2, 2024, meeting as the case
planner was unexpectedly unavailable, and the Board would need to amend the agenda at the
beginning of the regular meeting to remove this item.
Announcements
1. Eight items were scheduled for the May 2, 2024, meeting agenda, and staff anticipated it
would be longer than normal.
2. Staff reported that, in response to a recent application, the Board of Commissioners had
requested an amendment to the Unified Development Ordinance to incorporate standards
for required Agreements to Conditions. Currently, if an applicant agrees to a condition of
approval but does not provide the required written agreement within seven business days,
the rezoning approval is considered null and void and is not subject to the one year waiting
period. The proposed amendment would render applications denied if an applicant does not
provide the required written agreement within seven business days. If rendered denied, the
application would be subject to the same one year waiting period for denied applications.
3. Mr. Vafier provided an update on the Flood Study for the northern part of county. For a portion
of the study, a two-dimensional model would be used as recommended by the project
consultant as it was more accurate. This flood risk information would still be on the website,
and the public will get the best information; however, this model could not be used to update
the official Flood Insurance Rate Maps.
4. The next agenda review technical presentation would be provided by CFPUA, Ms. Roth asked
the Board Members what topics they wanted to make sure were covered. Responses
included:
- How they decide where new infrastructure would be going,
- The plan for new infrastructure in the short term and over the next 5-10 years
- An overview of the master planning process
- PFAS (what has been done, what is being done)
- Their relationship with other utility providers
Feedback
The board found the Technical Review presentation. They would like to see quarterly updates from
Stormwater around what is currently being worked on.
The meeting adjourned at 4:15pm