Front Page: Enough Is Enough

Area residents speak out about the detrimental rapid growth in our communities.

Lindsay Logan Allen states it best in her opinion piece in The News & Observer:

“We want transparent, ethical development, free of conflicts of interest. We want growth that is responsible and backed by proper environmental and safety planning, so the burden does not fall to taxpayers. We want to protect our already strained infrastructure from further collapse. We care about our first responders and our teachers. We need more grocery stores, medical facilities and schools.”

“Citizens voices are excluded from decisions that will shape our town for decades. Elected and appointed officials align themselves with developers whose profits hinge on favorable approvals.”

“Ethics and transparency are treated as optional, not foundational. Silence has become the default response to legitimate public concern.”

“The danger is not only in developments approved without scrutiny. It is in what this behavior normalizes: the public engagement is unwelcome, that questioning is adversarial, and that loyalty to private interests outweighs service to the public.”

“Accountability is not hostility. It is an act of love for the place you live, for the people who share it, and for the generations who will inherit it. What we tolerate today will shape our future tomorrow.”

• Pender County residents presented a petition with over 1,100 signatures of Hampstead area residents requesting a moratorium on new residential construction at the August Pender County meeting. Like many other communities the complaints are the same: Overwhelming traffic, poor infrastructure and a lack of school space for new students.

• At the August 18th Brunswick County Board of Commissioners meeting, concerns about rapid development, local infrastructure, flooding issues and poor emergency planning were the focus on the community asking for a moratorium on residential construction. Concerns were raised about builders filling in wetlands and raising building heights. Residents are calling for improved infrastructure, hospitals, better roads, and schools, rather than more housing.

• Holly Ridge community members attended the August 12th regular town meeting and spoke out with the same concerns. When an item on the agenda appeared a few days before the meeting calling for consideration of the voluntary satellite annexation of 1226.62 acres located outside the current city limits and outside the current ETJ (extra territorial jurisdiction) citizens had a lot of concerns and questions. The 4 parcels, currently owned by ONWASA (Onslow County Water and Sewer Authority) span from Hwy 50 all the way into Pender County. The parcels are located behind the current industrial park. The only access point is through Hwy 50 in Onslow County, which is a 2-lane road. The application submitted by a party interested in purchasing the large tracts of land with plans of future development of possibly 2500 homes. One of the large tracts of land is currently in Pender County. To date, Holly Ridge has no properties in Pender County. Concerns that citizens brought up at the meeting included: no maps, plot plans, water run-off, wet land delineations, traffic studies or environmental impact studies have been provided regarding this property. Area schools are overburdened and without new schools, the addition of possibly thousands of new students would not be feasible. The question regarding where the students in the Pender County portion would go to school was also raised. A public “Town Hall Meeting” is scheduled for September 10th, the day after the next town meeting.