Thursday’s county planning board agenda is a full one, with most of the seven public hearings involving rezoning requests that could make way for more commercial development.

“I think it’s a good sign of the economy. For those of us who have been through the recession, it certainly is good,” said Donna Girardot, chairwoman of the New Hanover County Planning Board. “And the Technical Review Committee’s activity has been very strong as well for those things that don’t need to come to the Planning Board ... I think the economy is very healthy.”

First on the agenda is a rezoning request by Heath Clark, general manager of Bill Clark Homes and owner of 106 acres of land on Castle Hayne Road. On 104 of those acres, a subdivision of about 230 lots called Hanover Lakes is planned, but the rezoning request on the planning panel’s Thursday agenda is for the remaining 2 acres, located in the 2100 block of Castle Hayne Road.

Clark is asking for a change from R-15, Residential District, to a conditional office and institutional district that would allow a commercial/office building on the property. Clark said Wednesday that no specific plans are in place for what that building would house, but he feels it would be the best use of the 2 acres.

Meanwhile, construction on Hanover Lakes, a single-family residential development, could start in about three months, he said.

Those in the development industry say property owners want to take advantage of renewed interest in vacant land that could potentially hold new commercial projects.

Cindee Wolf, a land planner and owner of Design Solutions, represents property owners in several of the requests coming before the planning panel on Thursday afternoon.

"There's more money available. We're at that point where, again, people have money to spend on development, and for a couple of years, we didn't ... The economy's thriving now, and there's money to be spent," Wolf said.

Other requests related to potential commercial development include:

• 2415 Castle Hayne Road, 0.58 acres from R-15, Residential District, to (CZD) B-2, Conditional Highway Business District, to develop a mini-warehouse building;
• 2715 N. 23rd Street, 1.95 acres from R-15, Residential District, to (CZD) B-1, Conditional Business District, to allow potential development of a 5,000-square-foot commercial building;
• 5000 Block of Carolina Beach Road, 2.77 acres from R-15, Residential District, to (CZD) O&I, Conditional Office and Institutional District, to allow potential development of office buildings;
• and 5600 Holly Shelter Road, special use permit request for an asphalt mixing facility on a 10-acre site.

The full Planning Board agenda packet is available via a link on the county’s website. Thursday’s meeting will begin at 4 p.m. in Room 301 at the New Hanover County Courthouse, 24 North Third St., Wilmington.