Board of Commissioners

TOWN OF CAROLINA SHORES Planning Board Meeting Minutes November 19, 2025 10:30 a.m. At 10:30 a.m., Chairperson Ron Johnson called the November 19, 2025, Planning Board Meeting to order. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited and there was a moment of silence. The following members attended: Ruth Ann Campbell, David Steele, Diane Baker and Alternate Member George Grant. Also present: Commissioner Debbie Watts, Board Liaison; Chad Hicks, Town Administrator and Nicole Hewett, Assistant Town Administrator/Town Clerk and Town Attorney, James Eldridge. Absent: Member Ashley McEntee Approval of Minutes: MEMBER CAMPBELL MADE A MOTION TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE OCTOBER 15, 2025, PLANNING BOARD MEETING. MEMBER BAKER SECONDED THE MOTION. CHAIRPERSON JOHNSON CALLED FOR A VOTE AND MOTION CARRIED BY UNANIMOUS VOTE. Administrative Reports: None New Business: Work Session on the CAMA Land Use Plan Draft Chapters 5 & 6: Wes Macleod from Anchorpoint Planning thanked the Planning Board for having him at the meeting. Mr. Macleod reviewed the revisions from Chapters 1-4 and reviewed Chapters 5 and 6 with the Planning Board. Chapter 5 Corrections: Pg 5-3 – Add “s” to “open space” 1st paragraph Pg 5-4 – add comma after “i.e.” Pg 5-7 – remove “s” from top of page Pg 5-7 - remove periods from incomplete sentences Pg 5-7 – include proper punctuation such as semicolons Pg 5.1.C – Properly add correct punctuation when warranted Chapter 6 Corrections: Pg 6-3 – Add clause there are 5 regular members and 2 alternate members on the Planning Board. Mr. Macleod discussed how the process of the CAMA Land Use Plan will unfold from this point forward and the entities that will approve them. MEMBER CAMPBELL MADE A MOTION TO RECOMMEND APPROVAL OF THE CAMA LAND USE PLAN WITH MODIFICATIONS. MEMBER BAKER SECONDED THE MOTION. CHAIRPERSON JOHNSON CALLED FOR A VOTE AND MOTION CARRIED BY UNANIMOUS VOTE. Mr. Macleod thanked the Planning Board and told them they will be kept in the loop as far as the approval process. Mr. Macleod said the Planning Board will get a complete revised copy. Mr. Macleod thanked the Planning Board for all of their hard work and said it has been a pleasure working with them. Public Comment: Julie Turner, 4 Egret Court – Mrs. Turner said at the last Planning Board meeting, this 50-page document was submitted in opposition to rezoning the Carolina Shores Golf Course. Mrs. Turner said this was written by the residents with many years of expertise and was included in the November Board of Commissioners packet. Mrs. Turner said please note there are many pages that contain footnotes. Mrs. Turner said it is her expectation that the Planning Board has read this entire document and encourage each of you to follow the footnotes to the factual publications which support this research. Mrs. Turner said for transparency, she needs to point out an error which occurred at the Planning Board October 15th Planning Board meeting. Mrs. Turner said Mrs. Ashley McEntee should not have voted to move the previous rezoning plan forward as per town Ordinance 91.43 which is Conflict of Interest. Mrs. Turner said as a Board member who is the Executive Vice-President at inside commercial real estate companies resulting in brokerage for DC, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Mrs. Turner said she should have recused herself from voting. Mrs. Turner said rezoning is a big deal to residents. Mrs. Turner said her expectation of this Planning Board is they will read and evaluate every bit of information provided to them and will take their entire allotted time to absorb all of this information, ask questions and engage with one another in discussion to deliver the best recommendation for the whole community in accordance with the CAMA Land Use Plan. Mrs. Turner said consider what you would do if you had to make this serious medical decision for a beloved family member. Mrs. Turner said not only would you want all the details from their physician to help you make that informed decision, but you would also want to do your own research and reach out to experts for 2nd and 3rd opinions. Mrs. Turner said in this scenario, what you are deciding will directly affect a loved one’s life. Mrs. Turner said as that scenario relates to rezoning, what you will decide will affect about 2,500 lives, the residents of Carolina Shores. Mrs. Turner said residents put their trust in this Board through transparency, honesty, knowledge, understanding, and engagement is important to us all. Mrs. Turner said thank you. Lon Forehand, 19 Brassie Drive – Mr. Forehand said thank you for letting me speak today. Mr. Forehand said he comes here today not as an individual resident but as a voice for an overwhelming, unified community to include the Carolina Shores Community, Carolina Shores POA and the newly formed Carolina Shores Golf Course Committee and residents throughout this town. Mr. Forehand said we are firmly against the rezoning of the golf course from CRD to PRD. Mr. Forehand said this is not a split issue, not even a close call. Mr. Forehand said it is a rare moment where nearly every stakeholder in the town is aligned. Mr. Forehand said the Carolina Shores POA for the community has taken the extraordinary step of retaining legal counsel following a measure supported by 75% of the participating members, that is not normal, that is not routine. Mr. Forehand said that is a resounding statement that residents believe this rezoning is harmful, unnecessary and inconsistent with the town’s long-term character and stability. Mr. Forehand said this Planning Board is now entrusted with performing thorough transparent and professional review. Mr. Forehand said that he wants to be clear that both our community and our legal counsel will be watching this process closely to ensure that every aspect of your responsibility is carried out to the fullest extent. Mr. Forehand said when you weigh in public interest, the long-standing rezoning commitments, the environmental concerns, storm water concerns, and overwhelming community opposition, we are confident that the only responsible and defensible 2 recommendation is to reject the rezoning proposal. Mr. Forehand said let me be clear, if the voice of this community is ignored, there will be consequences. Mr. Forehand said the commissioners who appointed you are ultimately accountable to the people of this town. Mr. Forehand said while Carolina Shores typically sees only about 600 voters participate in off-year elections, that will change. Mr. Forehand said we will mobilize, we will educate and we will show up at the ballot box in numbers that this town has never been seen before. Mr. Forehand said any commissioner who votes to advance this rezoning against the will of the residents, against the POA, against the committee, against the public interest, will be held accountable by the voters of Carolina Shores. Mr. Forehand said we are not threatening, we are simply promising engagement, engagement that is long overdue. Mr. Forehand said the Board has an opportunity to do what is right for the town’s safety, its green space, its property values and its long- term vision. Mr. Forehand said you have the opportunity to make a recommendation that reflects sound planning, community stewardship and respect for the clear will of the people. Mr. Forehand said he urges you to respectfully but forcibly to reject this rezoning and stand with the people of Carolina Shores and the community that you serve, thank you. Lauren Nigro, 40 Swamp Fox – Ms. Nigro said she wrote a whole thing but after listening to this meeting, she wants to say that she thoroughly endorses the first two speakers with everything they presented to you. Ms. Nigro said the CAMA Plan is a good thing to see and she is glad that she is here for it and she is going to review it and she has read the chapters prior. Ms. Nigro said she didn’t realize there were updates out there. Ms. Nigro said she is optimistic from what she is hearing and hopes that she will see that in the final plan that gets submitted for approval. Ms. Nigro said she would like to say that many governments in this area are fearful of denying rezoning or development requests. Ms. Nigro said they are fearful of the developers coming at them with legal action. Ms. Nigro said we will be here to support the commissioners and your board if they choose to come at you, if you deny it. Ms. Nigro said we will truly stand to oppose the rezoning and as Lon has said, what it would do to our community. Ms. Nigro said we are here for the long run, we are not going away, and we hope that you will join the residents as you are to keep the community the way we hope it will always remain, thank you. Diane Sbardelli, 35 Carolina Shores Drive – Mrs. Sbardelli said she wants to talk about that on Monday night, Brunswick County had a meeting and they had residents there from a group and the gentleman that runs the website for that group is Josh Kirby and they are actually going for a moratorium on all development. Mrs. Sbardelli said she is sure that a lot of you have heard, there is so much building going on everywhere. Mrs. Sbardelli said at that meeting, the county approved spending over a million dollars on four modular classrooms because schools are over capacity. Mrs. Sbardelli said they admitted that stormwater rules are not strong enough and need major rewrites and loopholes just to function. Mrs. Sbardelli said they acknowledged fire staffing is a huge problem. Mrs. Sbardelli said they gave the NW treatment plant another year and another 1.6million dollars because the system can’t keep up. Mrs. Sbardelli said roads are all failing and the DOT can’t catch up. Mrs. Sbardelli said flooding is getting worse because the county chooses to approve developments before stormwater policy is fixed. Mrs. Sbardelli said then they held a presentation on why we can’t have a moratorium. Mrs. Sbardelli said we can’t make this up. Mrs. Sbardelli said everything they listed as a problem, is literally the legal reason why a moratorium is allowed. Mrs. Sbardelli said the schools are strained, stormwater is inadequate, fire understaffed which we had our fire chief here explaining at one point how a woman was stuck in a house for an additional 13 or 15 minutes because they could not go in until they had another township show up. Mrs. Sbardelli said it’s crazy and the roads are overrun and evacuation is in eminent danger. Mrs. Sbardelli said with all the flooding we have here, if there is a major problem, there is nowhere for us to go because of the roads and the conditions of the stormwater issue. Mrs. Sbardelli said her thing is, we are not anti-growth, we are calling for responsible growth and right now Brunswick County isn’t growing, it’s exploding faster than the systems that are supposed to protect us, thank you. Mr. Hicks said he would like to say one thing. Mr. Hicks said in North Carolina, where it was brought up about Ashley voting, and the conflict of interest, he knows she has nothing to do with that 3 development, and he feels that doesn’t meet the criteria of a conflict. Mr. Hicks said it has to be an identifiable and substantial interest. A person from the public said that would probably show up after the fact probably. Mr. Hicks said he is not accusing her of anything. The person said she wasn’t accusing her either. Mr. Hicks said at this time there is no conflict of interest as far as the statutes go. Adjourn: MEMBER CAMPBELL MADE A MOTION TO ADJOURN THE NOVEMBER 19, 2025, PLANNING BOARD MEETING AT 11:09 AM. MEMBER BAKER SECONDED THE MOTION. CHAIRPERSON JOHNSON CALLED FOR A VOTE AND MOTION CARRIED BY UNANIMOUS VOTE. _____________________________ Chairperson Submitted by: Nicole L. Hewett, Assistant Town Administrator/Town Clerk 4