Development Stopped On Topsail Beach (for sale, homes, to buy)

[goldenage1]

Finally a win for conservation, even if it was unintended, and possibly temporary.

https://tinyurl.com/ys9m4jhm

By Zach Solon and WECT Staff
Published: Nov. 28, 2023 at 4:49 PM EST|Updated: Nov. 29, 2023 at 6:20 PM EST
TOPSAIL BEACH, N.C. (WECT) - Todd Olson has pulled his family’s application for a proposed housing development on the southern end of Topsail Beach, according to Olson on Tuesday, Nov. 28.

The proposal included plans to build a development including single-family homes on 24 acres of a 150-acre area. The family said in a statement that they are also suspending their plans for The Point.

Conserve The Point-Topsail, an organization that has long opposed the development, voiced its satisfaction with the application being withdrawn.

“It’s an exciting opportunity to conserve one of the last undeveloped tracts of land on a North Carolina coastal barrier island and protect the wildlife habitat for the endangered birds and species who call this island their home,” said Roy Costa, president of the Conserve The Point-Topsail Board of Directors.

Previous efforts to conserve the point have fallen through, but Conserve the Point Vice President Michele Rivest remains confident.

“We think now is the right time to make this happen because of the community excitement and momentum to do this,” said Rivest.

At a workshop earlier this month, Mayor Steven George Smith urged the Olson family to work with town staff to nail down some of the finer details after months of back-and-forth discussion.

Laura and Todd Olson provided a statement saying that they worked “diligently” through the process to establish conditional zoning in the area that they entered into a contract to buy over two years ago. But since then, they say that the process is nowhere near completed.

They place blame on the commissioners refusing to meet with them one on one and telling them to talk to town staff instead, claiming that the commissioners “directly conversed with members of the community who opposed our plans.”

They also cite frustration regarding the commissioners’ requests.

“Second were the mixed messages we received from the Commissioners, who asked for both fast decisions to very complicated requests while also regularly reminding us of the generational nature of those decisions. For example, suggesting a two-week deadline to determine the 50-year impact of our plan on the surrounding wetlands was unrealistic. While the intent of conditional zoning is to provide guardrails for development, we often felt pulled between making these decisions quickly and alone or ceding full control to a group of elected officials. Neither of these options is good for the Town,” the Olson family said in the statement.

Town Manager Doug Shipley says staff had several concerns with the proposal.

“The biggest issue, I should say, had to do with the potential donation of the 130 of the 150 acres of land and the concern there was with that being a condition or not.”

Shipley says the future of the point remains uncertain.

“The town has tried to purchase that property in the past, they just haven’t been able to come to an agreement with the sellers,” Shipley said. “I don’t have the crystal ball on that, you know, for sure. But I mean, I’ve heard a variety of different possibilities that could occur with the point going forward, but who knows?”

In the statement, the Olson family says that they maintain a belief that their proposal was the best for the area when compared to a larger scale development or a permanent conservancy.

“This property has spent the better part of 18 years for sale - plenty of time for the Town or community to develop a conservation plan. That hasn’t happened. It seems increasingly likely that a developer with deeper pockets and more experience will successfully develop this land, and in doing so, permanently alter the state of The Point,” the statement reads.