Sustainable Development
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Lockwood Folly Watershed |
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Brunswick County developed a set of strategies to maintain the health of the Lockwood Folly River watershed while facilitating continued growth. The strategies range from educating the public about the importance of protecting water quality to changing land development policies to protect vulnerable water quality. A key item is the use of low impact development techniques, which use the natural capacity of land to soak up rainfall and prevent contaminated stormwater runoff from entering water bodies.
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River Dunes |
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River Dunes, on the Neuse River in Pamlico County, is an example of how developers can build attractive waterfront communities that protect water quality, are sustainable and also are profitable. Weyerhauser, the River Dunes developer, worked closely with two conservation organizations, the N.C. Coastal Federation and the Neuse River Foundation, to develop a low impact development site plan that balanced economic viability and environmental protection. A 238-acre conservation easement was purchased through a Clean Water Management Trust Fund grant to conserve critical natural areas and wetlands. The project manager sought out the involvement of local, state and federal environmental agencies to collaborate on site development. This team was able to avoid developing environmentally sensitive areas, rather than trying to minimize the environmental impacts after the fact. A significant feature is the upland marina basin that takes the place of hundreds of individual docks along 14 miles of waterfront, thus protecting the sensitive estuarine shoreline. |
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