Three projects, one signed letter, and a reversal that developers say cost millions
A group of North Carolina developers is suing Camden County, saying it stalled three projects through a procedurally flawed moratorium and a series of reversals on written guidance.
The lawsuit, filed on May 22, 2026 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, names the county along with three officials: County Manager Erin Burke, County Planner Hunter Munro, and former Planning and Building Department Director Amber Curling. The plaintiffs are Allied Properties, Camden Yards, North-South Development Group, South Mills Landing, Kirk-Old South Mills Development, and developer Justin M. Old.
Three projects sit at the heart of the case. Wharf's Landing is a proposed 149-lot subdivision on about 190 acres in South Mills. Crouse is a 358-acre tract that Camden Yards wants to develop as a quadraplex and triplex community. South Mills Landing is a 567-lot mixed-use development with single-family homes, townhomes, five acres of commercial space, a clubhouse and a pool.
The filing says the trouble began in August 2022, when the county board approved an amendment to its Unified Development Ordinance that banned individual septic systems in the Suburban Residential zoning district. By then, the suit says, Allied had already spent about $85,726 on permit applications filed with the Albemarle Regional Health System for 149 half-acre lots with individual septic systems. According to the complaint, the updated ordinance was not posted on the county website until months after it passed.
Then came the moratorium. On June 25, 2024, the county board approved a 30-month pause on new subdivisions and multifamily development, citing limited water and wastewater treatment capacity. The plaintiffs allege the moratorium was procedurally defective. The filing says the staff memorandum did not include a legally adequate statement of alternatives considered, the wastewater capacity calculations were inaccurate, and the agenda packet did not include a schedule of the actions the county proposed to take during the pause.
The sharpest claim in the suit is about a written reversal. On July 23, 2025, according to the filing, the County Manager sent Allied a letter on county letterhead confirming that septic would be acceptable and that no sewer extension would be required for Wharf's Landing. Allied says it closed on the land on August 28, 2025 - the cost of the land was in excess of $3 million - and entered into agreements to sell each of the 149 lots.
On November 21, 2025, the planning director issued a formal determination saying Wharf's Landing could not proceed on septic, citing the 2022 ordinance change. Allied appealed. The parties negotiated, and on February 9, 2026, the county board approved a settlement agreement that required the county to work in good faith and not unreasonably withhold, condition or delay approval of future submissions.
The delays kept coming, the suit alleges. Allied says the county's stormwater consultant reviewed plans against an outdated code that is no longer in effect. The filing also points to an April 28, 2026 email from County Planner Munro that rejected the design without specifying which requirements the plans had failed to meet.
Crouse follows a similar arc, according to the complaint. Old met with the County Manager in February 2025 and, the filing says, was told the proposed quadraplex/triplex development was not prohibited by the moratorium. The suit says Camden Yards then spent in excess of $500,000 on engineering, test wells, groundwater modeling, and design work for a wastewater treatment plant and water treatment equipment. On May 18, 2026, the County Manager issued a formal interpretation saying the project did violate the moratorium.
South Mills Landing brought its own snag. The suit says the county approved Phase 1 construction drawings that included the clubhouse, then refused on April 1, 2026 to issue a building permit for it on the basis that the clubhouse belonged to Phase 2. Under that reading, the developer says, none of the Phase 2 lots could be sold to homeowners until the clubhouse was built.
The plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the moratorium invalid, order the county to honor the settlement, and award damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983.
The allegations have not been tested in court. The defendants have not yet filed a response, and no court has ruled on the claims.
