As cars zoom past on Independence Boulevard, Roger Shew peers into the forest before him and explains his vision for the site – one of few undeveloped tracts in the growing residential corridor.
Shew, a University of North Carolina Wilmington lecturer in geology and environmental science as well as a conservation advocate, would like to see the 60-acre property preserved as green space with gardens and other natural areas to teach students about agriculture and forestry.
Nearby residents concerned about overdevelopment and, later, members of the Wilmington City Council asked Shew to create a presentation for them about conservation on the property. In mid-March, council members approved a resolution supporting the property’s preservation as a public park.
Last fall, a developer proposed 580 apartments, townhomes and single-family homes on the site, which has sat vacant since the early 2000s. Plans for the project were later withdrawn, but it sparked a broader conversation about the future of forests and green space in the rapidly growing area.
“I think development, workforce housing and all that is really, really important, and we certainly need to do that,” Shew said. “But I think equally important is to provide, in this very densely populated area, space that people can actually enjoy.”
Shew isn’t the only one pushing for forest and green space preservation in the Cape Fear region. It’s something local officials say has increasingly become a priority. Meanwhile, other development efforts on forested properties have faced pushback from neighbors.
Residents, local officials and developers face a constant balancing act as the area’s population continues to climb. While the region’s popularity has created increasing demand for housing and new development, some existing residents see the new construction as a threat to the forests and natural areas that remain and as added stress to roadways and other important infrastructure.
Kayne Darrell remembers when she learned about plans for the Hilton Bluffs subdivision in early October. The project, which proposes just over 4,000 homes on a forested site in Castle Hayne, is by right, meaning it doesn’t require rezoning or a community meeting.
“I sat down and looked at that application, and was very alarmed by what I saw,” said Darrell, a longtime Castle Hayne resident. “Several issues, lots and lots of questions, and my first thought was, this is information that my community would want to know about, and I’m in a position to help educate and raise awareness.”
Darrell became a leader of Save Sledge Forest, a group raising concerns about Hilton Bluffs and pushing to preserve the forested property it’s planned on.
Group members (
shown right) have spoken out at local meetings, knocked on doors in Castle Hayne and circulated a petition that, as of March 17, had just over 8,900 signatures. Darrell said she and other Castle Hayne residents see the project as crossing a line.
“Anybody that has any kind of pulse on the mood of this community knows that we are frustrated and angry and concerned about over-development without the infrastructure in place,” she said.
The project is currently under review by New Hanover County’s Technical Review Committee, which includes representatives from various county departments and other agencies.
The review process helps ensure projects meet the county’s development regulations, including tree retention standards, open space requirements and conservation resource standards, according to a county spokesperson.
Darrell said Save Sledge Forest would continue to raise concerns about the project’s density and potential impacts on local roads, schools and other infrastructure. Also frustrating the group members, is the way the project was submitted, Darrell said.
Developer Copper Builders LLC submitted the project as a by-right development, with plans to use the site’s existing rural agricultural zoning. Approximately three-quarters of the site, or 3,000 acres, are made up of wetlands that plans show won’t be built upon.
Copper Builders is using New Hanover County’s performance development guidelines to cluster the number of homes it could have built on the entire tract – one home per acre or 4,000 homes on the 4,000-acre site – on the 1,000 acres of uplands without building on the rest.
Copper Builders voluntarily held a community meeting in February to discuss the project. In response to a Greater Wilmington Business Journal inquiry, the company’s founder and CEO Wade Miller, said he identified the site for potential development and went under contract in 2023.
The company was drawn to the area because of what Miller saw as a “significant housing shortage combined with continued population growth” and the proximity of developable land to the site’s natural resources.
Miller said a master plan for the community has continued to evolve, with plans to start construction on the project in 2026, delivering the first homes in 2027.
In response to criticism from Save Sledge Forest, Miller wrote that, “At times it has been difficult to discern the real issues amidst the hostility and negativity communicated by those opposed absolutely to the development of this property. The overarching objective of that opposition appears to be advocacy for a complete taking of the property for the public benefit, which is not realistic or reasonable.
“Once one gets beyond that position, it is clear that many of the objectives stated by the Save Sledge Forest group and ours are aligned,” he added. “We want to preserve the natural beauty of the old forest and swamp areas of this property.”
The company remains “open-minded and interested in a partnership to expressly conserve a portion of the land,” Miller wrote.
In March, Miller announced in a community letter his company had entered into an agreement with Unique Places to Save to sell and conserve approximately 1,160 acres on the north side of the Sledge Forest property through a funding application to the N.C. Land and Water Fund.
Unique Places to Save submitted a $10.2 million request to fund the acquisition of part of Sledge Forest, according to a list of 2025 N.C. Land and Water Fund grant applications. The conservation project’s total cost is listed as $15.2 million.
New Hanover County Commissioner Dane Scalise said he’s received around 200 letters from constituents about the Hilton Bluffs project. The stack of letters serves as a “constant reminder” of “how important this issue is to the community,” he said.
Scalise said he wants to make preservation a priority for the county by calling out specific properties that he sees as prime green spaces for the community.
“The preservation of green space will not happen by accident,” he said. “It is going to require people like me saying, ‘We’re going to make this happen and figuring out how to make the logistics of making it happen a reality.’”
Scalise and other county officials have identified the western bank of the Cape Fear River in downtown Wilmington and the midtown tract off Independence Boulevard, which Scalise refers to as Airlie 2.0, as potential public green spaces.
Due to a legal dispute, the county is a trustee for the midtown site, owning a two-thirds stake in the property while the previous owner’s heirs own the other third. Because of the county’s existing ownership, Zapple sees the property as “low-hanging fruit” for preservation.
The western bank has, for years, been the topic of preservation discussions since plans for a hotel and spa and a mixed-use skyscraper were submitted to New Hanover County in 2021.
County officials directed staff last fall to look into conserving the land. Planning staff are talking to community partners, conservation organizations and state entities to determine possible next steps for conservation, including grant research, according to county spokesperson Alex Riley.
Shew, who also was heavily involved in efforts to advocate for preservation on the western bank, said that the board of commissioners’ vote to explore conservation in the area, marked a real “sea change” for him and gives him hope for future preservation efforts.
“I’ve been heartened by their comments to me,” he said. “It’s not a done deal that any of these things are going to happen, but from five to seven years ago to what we are now, at least in recognizing the value of these natural areas, I think it’s been a real change.”
“I think development, workforce housing and all that is really, really important, and we certainly need to do that. But I think equally important is to provide, in this very densely populated area, space that people can actually enjoy.” – Roger Shew, conservation advocate and UNCW lecturer in geology and environmental science
