Brunswick County Planning Board approves three new developments

BRUNSWICK, N.C. (WECT) - Brunswick County is one of the fastest growing counties in the state, and is facing a housing shortage because of that growth.

“I think the housing shortage in Brunswick County was like 50,000 units, so we’re just kind of getting started in development to handle the housing need that we have,” said Chair of the Planning Board Eric Dunham.

The three developments approved Monday night could bring over 1100 homes to Brunswick County, aiming to keep up with the growth that isn’t stopping.

“Brunswick County is clearly the second fastest growing county in the state of North Carolina, but one of the fastest growing in the whole nation,” said developer Ray Covington. “So we aren’t the only developers who are looking to build some really great projects in Brunswick County.”

The projects are all in the Ocean Isle Beach and Shallotte area. Most of the developments consist of single family homes and townhomes. Developers who spoke at the meeting aimed to ease some resident’s concerns that more development would create storm water runoff issues.

“The neighbors were asking — and the planning board — if we would do a bit more. So we decided to be good neighbors and design the storm water to meet 100-year plans instead of 25 year,” said developer Mark Lyckowski.

Planning board members quickly approved all three proposals. Making sure that even though Brunswick County is growing, development doesn’t create more problems than it solves.

“We certainly don’t want to overdevelop Brunswick County, but we have a need we have to meet somehow. And the only way we can meet it is through development. Got to have a place for people to live,” said Eric Dunham.

The developments still have to go through traffic studies and address storm water issues, but according to board members and developers, those should be in the works soon.

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