Save Sledge Forest
SAVE SLEDGE FOREST STATEMENT
Regarding the: Revocation of Hilton Bluffs approval
Save Sledge Forest appreciates the TRC’s decision to revoke the March 10 conditional approval of the Hilton Bluffs plan.
We also want to recognize County Manager Chris Coudriet for taking the important step of sending this plan back to the TRC for re-review. When significant questions arose about whether the plan that had been approved in March still reflected what could actually be built, he made sure those questions received the careful scrutiny they deserved.
And today, the process worked.
This decision is not about celebrating the demise of a plan. It is about gratitude for a process that required decision-makers to take another look—to recognize when circumstances have changed, listen to the concerns that were raised, and make a decision based on the plan and facts before them.
For more than two years, thousands of people have asked for a few simple, but fundamental, things: protect the safety and well-being of our community, respect the extraordinary environmental value of Sledge Forest, and require any development proposed for this property to comply with the same standards and scrutiny expected of development throughout New Hanover County.
Our hope is that today’s decision can also represent an opportunity for a different path forward.
There comes a point when it is worth recognizing what the circumstances, the community, and the land itself is saying. Hilton Bluffs has encountered obstacle after obstacle—not because of the community that opposes it, the decision-makers charged with reviewing it, or the elected officials who have raised legitimate concerns, but because this is an extraordinarily difficult place to accommodate a development of this scale. The obstacles are not being created by those questioning the project; they are inherent in the project itself, the place where it is being proposed, and the choices made by the developer.
Perhaps now is the time to stop trying to make this particular project fit and begin considering a future for this land that the broader community can embrace.
We know this may not be over. We will be watching carefully to see what Copper Builders chooses to do next, and Save Sledge Forest will remain engaged every step of the way.
But today, we are grateful—to Chris Coudriet, to the members of the TRC, to our attorneys and experts, and especially to the thousands of people who have continued to stand with us and this ancient forest.
The future of Sledge Forest has not yet been decided. But today was an important step in the right direction.
Protecting our last, largest expanse of
Old Growth Forest in New Hanover County.
Sledge Forest is a local natural treasure Spread across over 4000 acres in Castle Hayne.
Recognized as harboring some of the last, best examples of this ecoregion’s globally significant habitats and biodiversity, Sledge Forest is now threatened to be destroyed forever with the plan to build 1800+ homes for developer profit at public risk.
Remaining mostly untouched through 6000 years of habitat evolution, it is a biodiverse community of plants & animals, including 350-year-old pine trees more than 60’ tall and cypress dated more than 500 years, with a vast array of rare and imperiled plants and wildlife that need Sledge Forest as their home.
It is considered by the NC Heritage Program to be of National Significance.
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR CAUSE
Get information on Sledge Forest and the proposed development and how that will affect the local community.
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More About Sledge Forest and Why It Needs Protection
Sledge Forest is a 4,000-acre piece of the Northeast Cape Fear River Significant Natural Heritage Area, located in northern New Hanover County and recognized as harboring some of the last best examples of this ecoregion’s globally significant habitats and biodiversity, and now threatened to be destroyed for developer profit at public risk.
We want policymakers to ask themselves a question: “What could possibly go wrong with packing 4,000 houses into this flood-hazard area, potentially threatened with contamination from toxic chemicals at the nearby Hazardous Waste site, and adding an estimated 30,000+ daily car trips to an already congested two-lane emergency evacuation road?
Though originally zoned for Conservation, Wetland Protection, and Aquifer Recharge, Sledge Forest’s natural importance was put aside in 2016 when policymakers arbitrarily rezoned the property to allow high-density development in flooded swamp forest that supports 500-year-old baldcypress. Developing Sledge Forest could also potentially destroy one of the world’s last intact stands of old-growth, 300-year-old Longleaf Pine, the State Tree of North Carolina.
Our petition is in keeping with the First Amendment: “…the right of the people…to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
To date, no policymaker questions have been asked or answered about risk, public safety, and environmental protections. Legal loopholes in county planning excludes county taxpayers from the opportunity to have their concerns heard by policymakers.
Again, Save Sledge Forest is calling on policymakers to pause and think about consequences of adding thousands of houses in a flood prone area that’s only served by an already traffic-congested two-lane road. We also want questions answered about nearby toxic plumes of chemical compounds
Make your voice heard while you can. Sign our petition, donate to the cause, and help Save Sledge Forest—our future generation’s by-right natural heritage.
