COPPER BUILDERS SUES NEW HANOVER COUNTY OVER HILTON BLUFFS PLAN DENIAL
We wanted to share this important update with our petition signers (all 25, 408 of you!!!). And, also ask for your help on a quick and easy -but important - action.
New Hanover County Manager Chris Coudriet, county staff and elected officials stood up for this community when it mattered most - putting public safety first. A petition of support has been started to show them the citizens recognize and appreciate their fortitude when making decisions of this magnitude that are neither simple nor without consequences.
Can you let them know we stand with them in putting public safety over developer interests by adding your name to this petition?
Last week, Copper Builders filed a lawsuit against New Hanover County. After more than two years of unprecedented community opposition, rising public safety concerns, and the denial and revocation of HIlton Bluffs development plans by the county - the builder has made the choice to sue the county for their decision to block the project from moving forward due to serious public safety concerns.
In the lawsuit, they are not only seeking the denial be reversed, but demanding damages, delay costs, and payment of legal fees— costs that may ultimately have to come from the taxpayers if the lawsuit is successful.
See below for Save Sledge Forest's full statement on Copper Builders’ lawsuit against New Hanover County.
Save Sledge Forest's Official Statement re. Copper Builders Lawsuit against NHC
For more than two years, this community has stood together demanding that public safety come before the ambitions of a developer determined to build a massive residential subdivision in one of the most environmentally sensitive and challenging locations in New Hanover County.
When County Manager Chris Coudriet recognized the serious risks associated with a single access point for this 1800+ home plan, he had the courage and conviction to act. His willingness to take action reflects the seriousness of concerns that residents have raised for more than two years. We are grateful for his leadership.
Now Copper Builders is suing New Hanover County, seeking to overturn the county’s decisions and recover damages and attorney fees—despite the unacceptable operational and life safety risks that prompted those decisions— while potentially placing an additional financial burden on the very taxpayers whose safety concerns have been at the center of this controversy.
How many more obstacles must this project encounter before its developer seriously reconsiders whether Hilton Bluffs belongs here at all?
The North Carolina Fire Code requires a second access for developments exceeding 99 homes, subject to exceptions. Hilton Bluffs proposes 1,800 homes. No legal challenge can erase the legitimate questions about what happens when a single access road becomes impassable during an emergency.
We stand with our community in demanding answers, accountability, and a future in which public safety is never treated as an obstacle to development. And, while a lawsuit may challenge the County Manager's authority, it cannot answer the question of how 1,800 homes can safely rely on a single access point, especially in this challenging location.
There comes a point when even the most determined developer must confront a difficult question: Is the problem everyone standing in the way, or is it the vision itself?
More on this latest development: