Wilmington City Council: higher density development plans continue, council to watch budget presentation

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - The Wilmington City Council will meet on Tuesday, May 3 at 6:30 p.m. Besides the ordinance to refund homeowners for various short-term rental fees, Tuesday’s meeting is business as usual: new firefighting equipment and a few rezoning requests for higher density housing.

In the presentations section, May 2022 will be named Bicycle Awareness Month, and budget director Laura Mortell will present the FY-2023 Recommended Budget.

Some higher density housing plans continue but in the form of townhomes and quadraplexes and not apartment buildings.

PH2 rezones 3.07 acres at 5500 Wrighstville Avenue for a 32-unit townhome development. PH3 rezones 3.32 acres at 6261 and 6265 Wrightsville Avenue for a 14-lot subdivision. Finally, PH6 rezones 1.24 acres at 109 and 111 Giles Avenue for two quadraplexes. More simply, eight units total with three bedrooms each.

On the business side of things, the PH1 ordinance rezones 3.29 acres at 1610 Tiburon Drive to allow for a restaurant. PH4 rezones 1.01 acres on 5737 Market Street for a three-story self-storage facility, and PH5 rezones 1.56 acres to Regional Business zoning after a previous project for the land failed to materialize.

As for the consent agenda, the first item would allow for a fire safety training trailer to be donated to the Western Carteret Fire and EMS Department. The second allows for the purchase of 40 sets of firefighting coats and pants for $137,581 through the NPPGov Government Cooperative Buying Agreement.

Ordinance 1 de-obligates $637,970 in funding which was intended for an electric trash and recycling vehicle. The funding is being rescinded after the company, Lion Electric, wasn’t able to deliver the vehicle on time due to various constraints.

City Council meetings can be watched online via the city website or YouTube. The meeting agenda is available online at the city’s website before the meeting, and full minutes are posted typically around a month after the initial meeting.

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