120 inches from your driveway?

You know the old joke that your neighbor built their home so close to you, that you could reach out your door and hand them a cup of sugar? It was reality for one of our neighbors on Montague.

Despite being a third generation resident, a developer bought out the land around his family land. The house next to him, was placed 120 inches from his drive.

Now not only is he feeling crowded out, but also has understandable concerns about the new houses across from him, as that area flooded during Hurricane Florence, despite not being declared a flood zone.

Ken McKinnley & Level 4 Hazardous Waste Facility at 421/Montague

This September, our community became aware of Ken McKinnley developing a large plot of land, stating it would be mixed use residential and business. What they did not immediately disclose is that it would also include a warehouse fulfillment center/holding station, that would be storing Level 4 hazardous waste storage facility as well.

Level 4 hazardous waste materials are explosive materials, highly toxic, and reactive materials. They have a high likelihood of spontaneous combustion even in normal temperatures and regulations. This presents a high risk to the surrounding neighbors, as the closest emergency management team that would be able to respond is in Wilmington NC.

This was a driving force in our community mobilizing, and trying to have more say in what is built in our back yards.

Dollar Store & Untruths on Permits

In January of 2022, our community attempted to stop the build of a Family Dollar/Dollar Tree at Montague and 421. The developers mislead the county, claiming that they were over 5 miles from the other Dollar General off 210.

Despite multiple community complaints that this violated their own policy of not having 2 businesses of the same nature within 5 miles, and this new business would be only 1.4 miles from doorstep to doorstep, they pushed forward and built this store.

Despite having a petition of over 150 residents protesting this, and one commissioner even admitting how dangerous the blind curve is on 210, stating that they almost had hit a pedestrian on it the other day. Sadly, the commissioners voted to push this through with a 4 to 1 vote, as not enough citizens were able to attend the meeting for the vote on this in Hampstead.