Back-to-back community meetings set for controversial Porters Neck development

NEW HANOVER COUNTY, N.C. (WECT) - After roughly 500 people showed up at a community meeting in September to discuss Logan Homes’ proposal to rezone approximately 50 acres of land in the Porters Neck area, a second community meeting will be held in two separate sessions to accommodate what is expected to be another large turnout.

The developer wants to build a large housing development on a 51-acre tract of land located near where Market Street and I-140 meet.

The latest plans for the project call for 66 single-family lots, 17 duplex buildings (34 total units), and 12 apartment buildings (288 total units). The original proposal called for 312 apartments.

Hundreds of people spoke out against the rezoning request during a community meeting on Sept. 30. Many said the development would lead to more traffic, lower home values, flooding issues, and add more students to already overcrowded schools.

Paramounte Engineering Inc. and Logan Developers Inc. will host the second community meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 12, at the Hampstead Annex Building Auditorium.

To accommodate as many attendees as possible, organizers are asking residents who live north of the project to attend the session being held from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Those who live east or south of the project are asked to go to the 7-8 p.m. session.

“Please understand that the auditorium’s doors will be closed if we reach capacity,” said Paramounte Engineering in a letter announcing the meeting. “We recommend that homeowners’ associations and large common-interest groups appoint representatives to attend their respective meeting so those people can get the information out to the larger community in the event we reach the venue’s fire safety capacity.”

Organizers say the venue only can hold no more than 250 at a time.

The development would be bordered by Old Market Street, Tibbys Drive, and Shiraz Way.

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