Opponents of N.C. State University’s planned sale of the 79,000-acre Hofmann Forest in Onslow and Jones counties still don’t have any indication when the state Court of Appeals will rule on whether the school will have to complete an environmental assessment on the potential impacts of the transfer of the property to two private companies.
Attorney Jim Conner, who represents a coalition of conservationists, foresters and landowners, said Friday that another batch of appeals court rulings is due within a week to 10 days, but he doesn’t have any idea whether those will include the Hofmann case. “We could be in that batch, or it could be another month or two,” Conner said. “We’re just keeping our fingers crossed.”
Instead of selling the entire forest to Hofmann Forest LLC – headed by Jerry Walker, an Illinois-based agribusiness owner – as originally announced, NCSU announced in early September that it will instead sell 56,000 acres to Alabama-based Resource Management Service, a Timber Investment Management Organization that is known for sustainable commercial forestry, and only 23,000 acres to Hofmann Forest LLC. The transaction for the dual sale is to close by Nov. 17, more than three months after the original June 30 closing date planned for the sale to Hofmann Forest LLC.
Instead of a $150 million payoff from the original sale plan, the university is to receive as much as $140 million: $131 million from the sale and $9 million more if the buyers are able to negotiate a deal to sell training rights on and over the forest to the U.S. military or to sell protection rights to a conservation group.
From Tideland News: https://www.carolinacoastonline.com/tideland_news/news/article_b6e9cf92-496e-11e4-890e-6b6ddc639d4b.html