Villages at Battleship Point proposal to go before Leland Town Council in April

LELAND, N.C. (WECT) - The Villages at Battleship Point overcame a major obstacle Tuesday night at the Leland Planning Board meeting, winning their recommendation to apply a new zoning district to the property on which the high rise commercial development is proposed.

The request to apply new zoning and annex the property into the Town of Leland is happening at the same time the developer’s first request with New Hanover County is still active. New Hanover County commissioners tabled the issue months ago, pending the outcome of a work session next week to discuss the overall vision for the west bank of the Cape Fear River.

The developers say they plan to go with whichever option opens to them first, which is likely to be the Town of Leland, where the town council is slated to meet in April.

The economic impact of the sprawling development is expected to be $212 million a year over ten years. The Villages at Battleship Point also has the ability to create 1200 jobs, ranging from laborers to retail, to hospitality, and property management positions once construction wraps up.

Many of the economic benefits would be shared by both areas. If the annexation clears the final hurdles in Leland, both New Hanover County and the Town of Leland would reap the financial benefits because the property would be considered part of both New Hanover County and the Town of Leland.

“We will stay in New Hanover County. The property taxes would then be paid to New Hanover County and additionally there would be a municipal real property tax paid to the Town of Leland, so as an owner/occupant of a condo at Battleship Point, you’d pay the New Hanover County tax rate on the assessed value of the condo, and you’d be paying the municipal tax rate in Leland which I think is $.25 for $100 in valuation currently in Leland,” said Kirk Pugh of KFJ Development.

It’s a bigger tax burden on the people that would live there, but it allows the developer to move to the next step of design and put in the next round of proposals to come into regulatory compliance.

WECT reached out to Leland town leaders to see how they felt about the proposal ahead of the meeting next month, and has yet to hear back.

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