TOPSAIL BEACH – After more than a year of emotionally charged meetings, negotiations and renegotiations, a Raleigh couple has pulled the plug on their plans to build a family compound on the southern tip of Topsail Island.
Software entrepreneur Todd Olson and his wife Laura informed Topsail Beach officials Monday that they were withdrawing their application seeking to conditionally rezone about a third of the southernmost end of town.
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Todd Olson confirmed in an email to Coastal Review Online Wednesday that he and his wife no longer intend to buy the undeveloped property.
During a short meeting Wednesday morning, the town planning board accepted the Olson’s withdrawal.
The couple in a statement to Coastal Review said they “hope the best” for the property, which has long been referred to as “The Point,” and explained their decision to withdraw their application.
“Despite our repeated requests for time to discuss the details of our rezoning request and come up with solutions together, the Commissioners refused to meet with us one-on-one and routinely passed us off to the Town’s staff and external planning consultant,” the statement reads. “Meanwhile, we understand the Commissioners directly conversed with members of the community who opposed our plans. This one-sided behavior has let to confusion and an unending set of proposed conditions.”
The Olsons also said town commissioners had sent mixed messages, asking the couple and their representatives to quickly respond to complicated requests, “while also regularly reminding us of the generational nature of those decisions.”
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“For example, suggesting a two-week deadline to determine the 50-year impact of our plan on the surrounding wetlands was unrealistic,” the statement reads. “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 Olsons had been under contract for more than two years to buy the land, a deal that depended on whether the town would approve a conditional rezoning request for fewer than 30 acres from conservation to conditional use.
That request was denied earlier this year by the planning board.
Laura Olson and representatives for the family last met with Topsail Beach commissioners Nov. 7 in a special-called meeting to discuss a host of conditions in which the Olsons and town could agree before commissioners cast a final vote on the rezoning request.
Commissioners warned then that if the couple did not keep in writing an agreement to permanently conserve about 80% of the property, the board would not likely approve the rezoning request.
Earlier this year, the Olsons signed a letter of intent with the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust to grant the organization a conservation easement for a minimum of 80% of the property. Citing “some potential tax implications,” Laura Olson informed commissioners at the Nov. 7 meeting that the couple wanted to remove any written agreement with the Coastal Land Trust from the list of proposed conditions.
Throughout the process, the Olsons said they wanted to preserve much of the property.
Their decision to withdraw the rezoning application means the undeveloped south end of Topsail Island could once again be up for grabs.
The property has steadily accreted over the years as the southern end of the island at New Topsail Inlet has gained sand, making it a favorite for town property owners and tourists who enjoy walking its beaches.
The property has been owned by members of the McLeod family for decades. The family has allowed the public to freely access the land during that time and leases a parking lot on the land to the town.
The property has been routinely on and off the market for the past two or so decades.
Attempts to buy the land, including those by the town to keep it free from development, have yet to pan out.
People who’ve spoken at numerous meetings about the Olson’s plans for the property – seven houses, a pool and pool house, decking, beach and sound accesses and a small, private marina – overwhelmingly opposed building of any kind on the property.
Thousands have signed an online petition opposing the Olson’s rezoning request and, earlier this year, a grassroots effort calling itself Conserve The Point – Topsail officially became a nonprofit organization.
Conserve The Point – Topsail “stands ready” to enter into a public-private partnership to buy the property and place it into permanent conservation, according to a release.
“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 all this island their home,” Conserve The Point – Topsail Board of Directors President Roy Costa said in a statement. “We will continue to keep you posted as the plans unfold to conserve The Point forever.”
Costa said in a telephone interview that the organization has not yet engaged with any particular group to pursue buying the property, pending the outcome of the Olson’s request.
The property is within a state-designated Inlet Hazard Area, one in which shorelines face a higher threat of erosion and flooding at inlets that can suddenly and dramatically shift. The land is also in a Coastal Barrier Resources System, or CBRS, zone.
Congress created the system in the early 1980s to discourage building on relatively undeveloped barrier islands by barring federal funding and financial assistance in hurricane-prone, biologically rich areas.
The property is also designated critical habitat to threatened and endangered piping plovers and loggerhead sea turtles.
