The acronym EDZD in New Hanover County’s ordinances stands for Exceptional Design Zoning District.

At community meetings at the end of March, residents opposed to a potential EDZD project near their homes made it clear to the developers present that they would work to make it exceptionally hard for the residential plan to make it off the drawing board.

The aim of the zoning designation is to provide opportunities for mixed-use and high-density residential projects without the negative impacts of urban sprawl, according to the ordinance. Among its requirements are water conservation efforts, bicycle and pedestrian access and green building.

Few developers have tried to seek a rezoning to EDZD since the county adopted it in November 2009. But this year, one group is floating the idea with a subdivision called Waterstone. 

On 86 acres zoned R-20, contained by Edgewater Club Road, Porters Neck Road and Pages Creek, two local homebuilders, who already have an approved plan to build 149 single-family homes, are looking at the possibility of seeking a rezoning of the property to EDZD for a higher-density community, one that could include up to about 300 homes and townhomes. 

The higher density of the proposed Waterstone neighborhood and the addition of more traffic problems that could come with it were the subject of comments – and at times a flurry of shouts – by neighbors during a required community meeting held by the developers March 31.

“Nothing has been submitted to the county as of yet, no application. It’s basically just a sketch, a schematic drawing,” explained Josh Mihaly as he addressed the crowd at the start of the meeting, held in a fire station on Market Street. 

Mihaly, a landscape architect working on the EDZD proposal for land owners and developers Craig Stevens of Stevens Fine Homes and Dean Hardison of Hardison Building, told the residents, “It’s basically an idea at this point … because these meetings allow us to hear a lot of concerns, which I’m sure we’re going to hear, and then decide how we want to move forward with this or not.”

Stan Weinrich, a Porters Neck Plantation resident, seemed to sum up the opinions of many of those present, citing his concern over increased traffic congestion that he feels the EDZD project would bring. 

“You have a right to do it, so we’re not arguing you can’t do it,” Weinrich said about Waterstone’s older, less-dense plan. 

But the new EDZD proposal, with its additional homes and residents, is going to be a problem, Weinrich said.

“All I’m saying is, I and a hell of a lot of other people in this community are going to fight tooth and nail to not allow you to rezone it and make it even more dense, and in my mind there’s no justification for it,” he said. “And if you do [proceed with the EDZD proposal], we’re going to stretch it out. It’s just going to cost you a lot more money and delay the project.”

Residents also talked about their environmental concerns.

“Things are zoned R-20 in this area for a very good reason. We’re right on the Intracoastal Waterway, we’re right near a few of the remaining clear creeks in New Hanover County, and this is just going to increase the amount of runoff going in there,” said neighboring resident Bette Bauereis. “We already know that there’s a problem along that road because in October when we had the rainstorm, people were stranded down there for a long time because of the water problem.”

In a response to a question about how much the homes would cost, Stevens and Hardison said they expect that the homes could start in the lower $300,000s, with townhouses potentially costing around $275,000.

Stevens said he and Hardison could begin building the 149 homes this year.

“We bought this land about 10 years ago so that we would have a really good spot, good location to build homes in … In about four months, we could be rolling with this thing,” Stevens said of the original site plan, not the new EDZD sketch. “There’s a big demand for houses.”

But the EDZD could be a better, more sustainable option that would increase the choice of homes in Waterstone, Stevens and others involved in the project explained.

“The EDZD is a zoning district that was created by the county to encourage people to do environmentally designed zoning districts … so what we’ve done is something that the county has been looking for, that they worked hard to try and create,” said Charlie Cazier of Intracoastal Engineering.

Senior county planner Sam Burgess said use of the EDZD is something the planning staff will be encouraging for the next 20 years for a way to incorporate mixed-use neighborhoods that are more compact in a county where developable land is running out while more and more people want to move in.

In August 2010, county commissioners approved the rezoning of 9.93 acres from R-15 Residential to EDZD with a condition of no more than 47 units, according to New Hanover County records. Before that decision was made, residents also expressed concerns over the potential for added traffic headaches, according to news reports. Burgess said that project, Middle Sound Village, is the only viable EDZD project the county currently has on its books.

Mihaly said the development team doesn’t have a timeline on making a decision about whether they will proceed with a 149-lot Waterstone or a higher-density project. But he said he plans to let residents know what that decision eventually turns out to be.

“This is really the last large tract left in the area,” Mihaly told the crowd at the end of the evening meeting March 31. “It’s going to be developed, regardless, some day. Whether it’s this year or whether it’s in a couple of years, something will happen with that tract.”