POST Voice The Pender-Topsail
Flea at the Farm Old River Farms near Burgaw is planning a community flea market and yard sale Aug. 23. Read about the event and more on page 12A
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Jamboree this weekend The Pender Co. Touchstone Energy Football Jamboree is Saturday at Trask High. Read about the football action in sports on page 1B .
Wednesday, August 13, 2014
Volume 43, No. 46
The Media of Record for the People of Pender County
50 Cents
Building boom continues across Pender County
Scotts Hill Fire Station
Construction values nearly double from FY 2011-12 By Andy Pettigrew Post & Voice Publisher
Staff photo by Andy Pettigrew
Pender EMS and Fire chief Woody Sullivan (left) and assistant chief David Stancil stand at the new Scotts Hill Fire Station. The station is expected to be answering calls in October.
Pender EMS and Fire plans another station on U.S. 421
New Scotts Hill station operational in October By Andy Pettigrew Post & Voice Publisher Pender EMS and Fire officials say the Scotts Hill fire station should be staffed and working by early October. The station, located on U.S. 17, will have an engine and a crew of three firefighters staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition to improving fire protection and response times to calls, the new station is expected to lower the ISO rating for the area, which translates into lower insurance costs for homeowners. “The primary goal of this facility is to decrease response times for fire and EMS calls, and lower the ISO rating in eastern Pender County,” said Pender EMS and Fire Chief Woody Sullivan. “By dispersing our equipment into more stations, it will put 100 percent of our fire district
“The primary goal of this facility is to decrease response times for fire and EMS calls...” within five miles of a fire station.” Sullivan says the savings on fire insurance for homeowners has offset the increased fire taxes in the area. While cost savings for homeowners is a good result of the new station, Assistant Chief David Stancil says it’s still all about fire protection. “It’s about boots on the ground. Instead of just two staffed engines, now we have two staffed engines and a ladder truck,” Stancil said. “By adding a station, our capabilities have doubled, because now we are able to staff the ladder truck.”
Hampstead flooded by freak storm By Andy Pettigrew Post & Voice Publisher A thunderstorm parked over Hampstead for several hours Saturday, dumping up to eight inches of rain on the community. Six elderly residents of apartments off Azalea Drive were evacuated by boat when the rising water from the heavy rain flooded their homes. U.S. 17 was shut down for a time due to the flooding and was reopened by 7 p.m. The closed highway
The Sloop Point and Scotts Hill stations will have engines, while the ladder truck will be at the Hampstead station. Currently New Hanover County provides primary fire protection to the Scotts Hill area. It’s Sullivan’s goal to have Pender firefighters cover the area. “New Hanover County knows our end game is to take this area back and use them as mutual aid,” Sullivan said. U.S. 421 station planned Pender EMS and Fire is planning to build a station on U.S. 421 at Blueberry Road. The new station is in the Long Creek Grady fire district and would provide fire coverage to the county’s industrial park and the new R.C. Creations plant currently under construction. Officials expect the station to be operational
Continued on page 9A
Although construction of new homes and commercial buildings hasn’t reached prerecession levels yet, growth has returned to Pender County. Building permits are up, with residential construction centered mainly along the U.S. 17 corridor in eastern Pender County. In fiscal year 2013-14, which ended June 30, the county issued 665 building permits with a total estimated construction value of $60.99 million. The number of permits is up from 558 issued in two years ago in fiscal year 2011-12 and the estimated construction value has doubled since FY 11-12. “We are steadily increasing in the number of building permits issued,” said Pender County Planning Director Kyle Breuer, “particularly associated with several new subdivisions that have been approved recently which are in
the coastal side of the county. We have also had an increase in commercial development with the building going on in Rocky Point. The new Tractor Supply and Family Dollar are currently under construction, along with the new Handi Hugos across from Paul’s Place.” Breuer anticipates the new private sewer system that will run from Scotts Hill through Hampstead will also boost both residential and commercial development in that area. “That will run from Scotts Hill to Country Club Road in Hampstead and will hook into the first project, the Villages at Olde Point, which is a 90-plus unit subdivision,” Breuer said. Prior to the recession, about 1,000 building permits were issued in Pender County during fiscal year 2006-7. Breuer doesn’t feel that number of permits and level of growth is sustainable as of yet. “Even though we have
Continued on page 9A
TriHabitat eyes N.C. 210 property in Rocky Point By Andy Pettigrew Post & Voice Publisher Developers of the TRiHabitat triathlon athletic facility are looking at 1,306 acres located off N.C. 210 east in Rocky Point. The property, just east of the Shaw Highway intersection, is proposed to house the event center, which will host up to 20 race events each year, a bike course, running course, and a lake. A lodge, RV park,
cabins, campsite and bathhouse facilities are proposed on the site. The facility will also include a race village for vendors, amphitheatre for performances, and a conference center for meetings. Part of the property has frontage on the Northeast Cape Fear River. The project will require a Special Use Permit to be issued by the Pender County
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caused a large traffic backup. Other streets in Hampstead closed by floodwaters included Country Club Drive, Garden Springs Road, and Azalea Drive. A sinkhole opened up near Azalea Drive off Country Club Drive near the Belevedere Country Club. “There were car accidents when vehicles hit the water, lost control and ran off into the ditch,” said Pender County Emergency Management Director Tom Collins. “Nobody was hurt – nothing serious anyway. We faired pretty well. Seven to eight inches of rain fell in a small area right around County Club Drive and toward Topsail in a two-hour time frame. It was a localized thunderstorm and the heavens just opened up and the storm just sat there.” Collins says in some places cars were submerged in the floodwater as the ditches filled up. “There were a lot of cars that were flooded out,” Collins said. “It was a freak storm that just unloaded. Storm drains can’t handle that kind of rain.” With all the wet weather the county has seen during the past week, Collins hopes no tropical system Staff photo by Michelle Charles will take aim at Pender County. “If we have a hurricane in the next month or so Rainwater pours across a washed out section of Country Club Drive Saturday. flooding wise it is going to be bad,” Collins said.
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