New Hanover County officials at a meeting today will consider adopting a plan that will guide growth in the county and the rewriting of its land development rules.

Last week, business groups issued a joint statement supporting the county staff's recommendation to approve and the Planning Board's unanimous approval of the county's comprehensive plan in advance of today's 4 p.m. meeting of the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners.

The meeting's agenda includes a presentation of a final version of the comprehensive plan, a public hearing and the consideration of a motion to adopt it.  

The groups that issued the statement last week were Business Alliance for a Sound Economy and the Wilmington Regional Association of Realtors.

"We would like to take the opportunity to reiterate the broad support for this important initiative," said an email to commissioners from Tyler Newman, president and CEO of BASE. "It is important to note that BASE maintains advocacy partnerships with the Wilmington-Cape Fear Home Builders Association and also the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce. Collectively and individually, each of these groups support the plan as unanimously recommended by the Planning Board. The Comprehensive Plan is an important road map which will guide New Hanover County for several decades and inform the new land development ordinance. We support clear regulations, policies and processes which will enable job growth, economic development, protection of our natural resources and continued prosperity in the region."

The email said the groups have spent a considerable amount of time working on the plan.
 
"Most critically, we support the recent change that aligns the overarching goals of the Comprehensive Plan with the Commissioners strategic plan. Additionally, we support the Planning Board’s removal of both the Aquifer Sensitivity map and Probable Wetlands map, due to the inaccuracy of the information," the email said. "Our concern with the maps is the confusion that could be caused in the future as projects attempted to show consistency with inaccurate maps within the plan. Wetlands are delineated in the field by environmental professionals and the US Army Corps of Engineers — not by a computer model."

For the aquifers, the groups support the county embarking on a groundwater study to look at different facets of the water issue, according to the email.

"Maintaining a variety of water sources will be critical for the future of New Hanover County and a groundwater study is a good step in determining how to handle an issue which crosses state, regional and local jurisdictions," the email said.

Commissioners are scheduled to meet in the assembly room at the New Hanover County Historic Courthouse, 24 N. Third St. The city of Wilmington adopted its new comprehensive plan in March and it went into effect in May.