Developers want to build an 88-unit apartment complex off North College Road near Laney High School, according to a letter sent recently to adjacent property owners.

North College Apartments would include one two-story building and three, three-story structures, according to a site plan (shown at right) included with the letter from Cindee Wolf, owner of Design Solutions. 

A previous, more intensive plan for 120 units in a four-story building that included commercial space was proposed in 2012, but the project never got off the ground, Wolf said. Since then, Wolf wrote, commercial development in the form of a Taco Bell and a Dollar General has come to the area, along with a traffic signal at Long Ridge Drive.

The current proposal for 88 apartments is less intensive and requires conditional zoning district and special use permit approvals from New Hanover County, she said.

The land, located in the 2600 block of North College Road, is owned by College Road Development Partners, according to New Hanover County tax records. It includes three parcels, a portion of which could potentially hold a large passive recreational area, a new pond and a buffer between the apartment property and other parcels. 

The county-required community meeting to inform neighboring owners about the project and answer their questions will be held from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Jan. 28 at Murrayville Fire Station No. 17, 5901 Murrayville Road.