Developers want to bring 4,500 new homes to an area north of Lake Waccamaw.
The plan by Advance Land and Timber LLC received a positive endorsement from the planning board last week. The Planned Unit Development still requires final approval by county commissioners before work can begin.
Developers will hold a public meeting June 10 at 6:30 p.m. at East Columbus High School to discuss the project. Paperwork filed by the developers can be found here : https://www.columbusco.org/sites/default/files/uploads/planning/3584-old-lake-rd-planned-district.pdf
The 1,000 acre property at 3584 Old Lake Road is roughly two miles north of East Columbus High School, according to the plan filed by Advance Timber. It backs up to the Wannanish Game Lands on three sides and fronts Old Lake Road. The property would roughly stretch from the fire tower to Union Baptist Church at Pocosin Road. Only stick built homes of approved design would be allowed.
Developers hope to bring 4,531 homes as well as “commercial development” to the property, the plan said, “to include a variety of single family residential lot sizes and … commercial uses along the Old Lake Road frontage.” It is currently timber and wetlands.
If approved by the county commissioners, water and sewer will be provided by the county via the Whiteville Regional Wastewater plant and the town of Lake Waccamaw. The plan filed wit the county says that stormwater would be captured in containment ponds, then directed toward the surrounding wetlands that flow into tributaries of Lake Waccamaw and the Waccamaw River.
The project is expected to take up to ten years to complete.
Residents of the surrounding area are sounding the alarm over the proposed project. More than 650 people have joined the “Say No to 4500 Homes on Old Lake Rd.” Facebook page since its founding May 29.
Among the concerns voiced by members of the group are the presence of at least one cemetery dating to the 1800s; possible Waccamaw Siouan burial mounds; stormwater contamination of the lake and Waccamaw River basin; increased traffic; and whether the current schools and infrastructure can support potentially a potential population explosion of nine to 11 thousand people.
Chad Smith, a Lake Waccamaw resident who lived in Raleigh for decades, cautioned County commissioners Monday not to let Columbus go the way of Brunswick County.
“We’ve got to start being proactive …about controlled growth,” he said. “It’s coming. We’re already overrun with traffic and traffic issues. Our (polie, fire and rescue) are overtaxed. Think about the next 20 years, adding the potential for 10,000 homes, and we’ll just be getting little property tax. They won’t be spending much of their money here. Ones in the south will go to Brunswick and Horry, the ones in the east to Brunswick. We need all we can to do to make that 4,500 homes go to 700 homes.
“If this thing gets built out here, it will overtake Whiteville,” Smith said. “I remember when they were talking about building homes in the Green Swamp, Now St. James (outside Southport) is bigger than Whiteville.”
County Manager Eddie Madden noted that the proposed development is being handled differently than the large subdivisions in the south end of the county.
“Unlike the projects presented in the southern end,” he said, “all those projects were at the planning stage months before they came to the planning board and later this board. We haven’t been invited to that table yet.
“We’re very early in the process. At this point we don’t even know how water and sewer will be provided. If we’re going to be asked, there is a lot of consideration. There’s got to be planning, engineering, and a lot more. We are nowhere near the point where the board would be voting on this.”
“Normally I get more calls out of my district than in my district,” said commissioner Giles “Buddy” Byrd, “but since (the news) came out about those 4,500 homes, I’ve just about had to hire someone to answer my emails.
“I keep telling people that if they (the developers) cross every T and dot every I we’ve got a problem.
“We have got to do what we can do to protect Lake Waccamaw, the largest natural between Florida and Maine,” Byrd said. “This proposed development sits right in the middle of two main arteries of the lake. Without the water and sewer in place, seems like they have an uphill battle.”
