Instead of completely shutting down all development, we need to find a better way to manage growth.

You hear it everywhere around Wilmington– from Carolina Beach to Southport, even up in Hampstead – people are saying, “We need to stop building!” They’re frustrated. Traffic’s a nightmare, the roads are crumbling, schools are bursting at the seams, green spaces are disappearing, and property taxes are sky-high. It’s a long list of complaints.

Just last week, dozens of people showed up at the New Hanover County Commissioner meeting to fight against a proposed development in Sledge Forest. They’re talking about building up to 4,000 homes on this huge piece of land in Castle Hayne. Their biggest worries are flooding, hurting the wetlands, the possibility of groundwater pollution from the GE plant, and even more traffic on Castle Hayne Road.

And this isn’t the first time, right? We’ve seen this fight play out again and again. People keep bringing up the same concerns. A lot of residents are just saying, “Enough is enough! We need to stop all this building and development.” But is that the answer?

Think about it. Wilmington has always been a popular place – for tourists, businesses, and people looking to settle down. It’s one of the most populated counties in North Carolina, even though it’s the second smallest county in the state. Recently, Wilmington was ranked as the top place people are moving to. Why? Well, compared to other coastal areas, like those on the west coast or up north, it’s still relatively affordable. And then, when the pandemic hit, a lot of companies let their employees work from home. People started leaving the big cities and looking for bigger houses in places like Wilmington. On top of that, building pretty much came to a standstill for a couple of years during the pandemic. So, now we’re seeing a surge in construction as builders try to catch up with the demand.

A 2022 study showed that we need to build over 12,000 new rental units and another 16,000 homes for sale just to keep up with the expected growth in the next ten years. What happens if we suddenly stop building? The demand won’t disappear. It’s basic economics: when demand is high and supply is low, prices go up. Right now, our vacancy rate for housing is super low, somewhere between 1% and 2%. This means that wealthy people and retirees will still be able to move here, but younger families, teachers, first responders – they’ll get priced out of the market. We’re already seeing this happen. And let’s not forget businesses. They need places for their employees to live, so if there aren’t enough homes available, they might think twice about coming here. We’re talking about an aging community with fewer young people and a struggling economy in the future.

Instead of completely shutting down all development, we need to find a better way to manage growth.

We need a plan – a real plan – worked out between New Hanover, Pender, and Brunswick counties. This plan should allow for different types of housing. We need more apartments and condos in the city and denser areas, while still having space for single-family homes in the suburbs and rural areas. We also need to plan for more mixed-use walkable communities with grocery stores, parks, and sidewalks. And we have to consider how we’ll improve things like roads, water and sewer systems, and other essential services.

Here’s the thing: more single-family homes mean lower taxes for everyone, but it also brings in more tax revenue for the things we need.

We need to work together. Government agencies, non-profits, and developers need to team up to create more affordable housing options. We can offer incentives to developers, like tax breaks or allowing them to build more units if they include affordable housing in their projects. We need to take a good look at our zoning rules to allow for more diverse housing options, like duplexes and triplexes. And we need to invest in infrastructure that supports affordable housing – things like public transportation and better access to essential services.

Wilmington and New Hanover County need more areas where you can live, work, and play all in one place. We need better public transportation so people don’t have to rely on cars all the time. There is no reason why someone living in Wilmington’s city limits should not be able to walk or access a bus to get groceries or access essential services. 

We need to encourage the building of more rental units. This will increase the supply of housing and bring down costs, especially rent. Look at Austin, Texas – they allowed for more apartment construction, and their rents went down by 4% year over year.

We need to understand what truly makes housing “affordable.” It’s not just about government-subsidized housing. Affordable housing means that you’re spending less than 30% of your income on rent or your mortgage. In Wilmington, someone making $100,000 a year might still struggle to find an affordable place to live if the average home price is $450,000. We need to incentivize more affordable housing options in both new and existing communities so that teachers, first responders, and other essential workers can afford to live near where they work. But we need to make sure that a significant portion of every new development, more than just 10%, is dedicated to workforce housing.

For too long, Wilmington’s economy has relied heavily on tourism and service jobs. These jobs don’t pay enough to keep up with the rising cost of living. We need to attract more high-paying jobs in areas like finance and technology. We also need to support good-paying skilled trades like HVAC, electrical, and plumbing. Having more housing options will also help small businesses grow and hire more people.

The bottom line is, we don’t need to completely stop all growth. We need to focus on smart growth using laissez-faire policies. This means things like:

• Reducing restrictions on development: We need to make it easier to get permits issued promptly and not let bureaucratic red tape slow things down.
• Respecting property rights: Property owners should have more freedom to decide what to do with their land.
• Keeping a free market economy for housing: While the government shouldn’t interfere too much in the housing market, we need to prevent things like price-fixing and limit the amount of housing that large corporations can buy up. This will help more middle-class individuals afford their first home. 

Finally, we need to make sure that our local governments are using our tax dollars wisely. We must invest in things that truly matter – infrastructure, public safety, and our schools. The solution isn’t to stop building but to work together to make a plan that provides sensible, sustainable growth in the Cape Fear Region for years to come. 

Originally published in The Wilmington Conservative.