Like much of Fayetteville and the surrounding areas, Hope Mills is a growing community. This has been most recently seen with The One Apartments on the eastern side of Elk Road, and Sweetwater Homes, a subdivision of single-family homes on the western side of Elk Road. The One is a 360- unit luxury apartment development offering one, two and three-bedroom options, and Sweetwater will offer 75 new homes. 

These residential developments are an intentional part of the regional growth, alongside commercial development blossoming in the area. Since the pandemic, Hope Mills has added at least five other subdivisions of single-family homes, and five additional apartment complexes. Just a few of these residential projects include The Preserve at Lake Upchurch, Georgetown Estates off of Fisher Road and The Reserve off of Stoney Point Road. These additional residential developments have attracted more commercial development, such as Dirtbag Plaza (a new shopping complex near Dirtbag Ales Brewery + Taproom), and a new shopping complex with Target as the anchor expected off of Waldo Beach Road. It’s clear to see with this much development that growth is intentional for the leadership of Hope Mills.

“The single-family residential [Sweetwater] and multifamily [The One] residential projects align with our growth strategy because multifamily development generates one of the highest returns on tax value, allowing the Town to responsibly expand our tax base,” shared Hope Mills Town Manager Chancer McLaughlin. “Our overall vision is balanced growth, expanding commercial and retail opportunities while increasing our housing stock. We are seeing a significant amount of commercial development, which strengthens our tax base and provides residents with essential retail and service options.”

This vision that McLaughlin describes doesn’t belong only to Town Hall officials, and leadership is cognizant of the necessity to maintain the town’s history and small-town feel. Hope Mills officials have recently engaged residents in a series of community meetings to gather their perspectives and input for a comprehensive land use plan. The community engagement process, which has been led by a steering committee, has spanned eight-to-nine months and included surveys, interviews and SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analyses as just some of the information gathering from the residents and stakeholders. The Hope Mills Area Land Use Plan, which is project-managed through the Cumberland County Planning Department, will guide the commercial, industrial and residential development to allow for the anticipated growth while protecting the local charm of Hope Mills by monitoring and controlling the density of these developments.

It’s clear that developers are attracted to Hope Mills, and McLaughlin believes that is in part because of the Plan Review Team; this team of department leadership within the town hall comes together every week to review any development project that is proposed for Hope Mills. This is primarily for the purpose of vetting to keep the quality of building at the highest standard. 

McLaughlin tells developers, “If you follow our lead, your development is going to be of a higher quality.”

The Plan Review Team considers everything necessary for infrastructure and permitting on the front end to ensure the project has a positive, lasting impact for decades to come.

The Plan Review Team not only serves as gatekeepers for the stakeholders of Hope Mills, but they’re also an asset to the incoming developers. To have all of the key players for permitting and development at one table provides for quick feedback and easy collaboration, so that the project can course-correct early. This means the overall development can move forward as smoothly as possible. McLaughlin describes the Hope Mills Plan Review Team as a ‘dream team.’ 

“Every single one of us are savants in our field. I’m the planning guy. We have a public works director with 30 years of experience building all over the world, we have a stormwater director who is amazing, parks and rec director, our chief inspector is actually one of the instructors at the state level. Our finance director… we are all good in our arenas,” McLaughlin stated. 

They have even created a Standards and Specifications Manual, which outlines all of the necessary standards for developers to abide by for building within Hope Mills, which further streamlines the process for developers and benefits the community. For example, all developers must build infrastructure and roads to the Department of Transportation standards, and those roads will be turned over to the control of the Town of Hope Mills.

To maintain the small-town feel and local charm, Town Hall has invested in a number of community events, such as the Night Christmas Parade, 4th of July celebrations and programming for youth and seniors. 

“We believe our quality of life, strong leadership and professional departments are what drive interest in locating and investing in Hope Mills,” remarked McLaughlin. 

McLaughlin believes there is room for long-time residents of Hope Mills, as well as those newcomers interested in calling it home.

To learn more about The One at Hope Mills, visit www.theoneathopemills.com. 

To learn more about Sweetwater Homes, visit www.townsendrealestate.com/s/nc/ hope-mills-city/sweetwater-subdivision.