The  NC Coastal Land Trust recently announced an agreement with Copper Builders to purchase 3200 acres of Sledge  Forest.  We wish we could say we considered this good news. Here are the facts, as well as our official response.

• The majority of the 3200 acres in the agreement are jurisdictional wetlands and are,  logistically, unbuildable land that is not under  threat of development
• The remaining 800 acres of upland, buildable, land in Sledge Forest is still under contract with Copper Builders
• Copper Builders is still moving forward with its plan for the proposed Hilton Bluffs project of 1800 or more homes on those acres.
• The tremendous adverse impacts from that proposed massive development are still a threat to our community and this forest. That has not changed  with this agreement.
• The appeal of the New Hanover County Planning Dpet. conditional approval of the project is still ongoing and will go before the NHC Board of Adjustments on July 20-21.

While we, of course, support conservation, we wish we could be excited about this news. We hope you take a moment to read our full response below.  Certainly, if the conservation agreement were for the entire 4000+ acres - offering true protections for our community and this natural, local treasure Sledge Forest - we would be overjoyed!

Save Sledge Forest Response to the Coastal Land Trust Agreement with Copper Builders

While we appreciate the Coastal Land Trust efforts, we believe their efforts do not go far enough to protect Sledge Forest and our community. This agreement could, in fact, have unintended consequences if Coastal Land Trust is misconstrued as being in support of development of 1800 homes, which Copper Builders still intends to pursue.We believe that in this rural, agricultural community, promotion of good land stewardship requires opposition to the development proposed by Copper Builders.

We remain steadfast in our belief that no development at all on this land is what is best for our community and Sledge Forest and would support any effort by Coastal Land Trust (or other suitable conservation trust) to purchase the entire 4,000 acres.

This agreement does not in any way change Copper Builders’ proposed Hilton Bluffs development of 1800 homes as it was submitted in their application last year. That development, as conditionally approved, would have tremendous adverse impacts on our small, rural neighborhoods and the surrounding community.

Our concerns remain the same:

• The addition of hundreds, possibly thousands, of vehicles daily on our roads - narrow, rural neighborhood streets that are not designed for that volume of traffic.
• The clearcutting of hundreds of acres and the loss of over 120,000 trees
• The threat of increased flooding
• The disruption to the surrounding ecosystem caused by years of construction and human presence from such a large development
• The threat of compromising the containment measures of the toxic plume from GE’s Hazardous Waste Site.

We remain focused on the legal appeal of the county's erroneous conditional approval of the proposed Hilton Bluffs project of 1800 units. We will continue to move forward in the appeal process with confidence and determination, while also supporting all appeals and lawsuits that have been filed against Copper Builders.

We are prepared to challenge this development and will continue pursuing all available legal channels for as long as it takes.