Wilmington Planning Commission approves rezonings for hundreds of new homes

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - The Wilmington Planning Commission conditionally approved several rezoning requests for new housing developments at their meeting on June 1.

With these requests approved by the planning commission, they can be sent to City Council for the final decision. You can find the full meeting with timestamps to the various discussions at the City of Wilmington website.

The commission also voted to continue its decision on an amendment to codify changes to short-term rentals.

Approved: a request to rezone 50.17 acres for 570 new housing units

The largest request would rezone of 50.17 acres to build 570 new housing units at S 17th St and Independence Blvd.

The commission approved this request conditionally, but noted the requirement for a traffic impact analysis and further review before development can be constructed.

Just below half of the proposed housing units would be in cottages and townhomes. Detached cottages account for 170 units with two to three bedrooms each. Current plans place 14 units in seven duplexes and the other 96 units in townhomes. The other half of the units would be in apartment buildings: 290 units across 5 buildings.

To accommodate the housing, several connections would be added to the nearby roads. Requests from neighbors also lead to the inclusion of a fence on the border of the Hanover Heights neighborhood to provide a larger buffer between the neighborhoods.

Approved: three rezoning requests for cottage and townhome-style homes

As for the other public hearings, a request will move forward to re-zone 8.76 acres for 61 units in various townhome styles on Peiffer Ave and Giles Ave off of Oleander Dr.

One proposal would zone 1.06 acres to create three duplexes for a total of 6 units on 202 Beasley Rd. The development is no particular shakeup for the residential area near Pine Grove Dr and Holly Tree Rd.

Finally, one more request would rezone 2.23 acres for nine single-family homes near around 4127 Cedar Ave. Residents of the future development would be in walking distance of S Kerr and Wrightsville Ave.

Continued: land development code adjustments to reflect short-term rental court decision

The board voted 7-0 to continue its decision on an amendment to the land development code pertaining to short-term rentals. Per the City of Wilmington, the amendment would:

• “Eliminate the annual registration or permit requirement for all lodging uses;
• Remove the minimum 400-foot separation and the (2%) cap on whole-house lodging uses relative to the total number of dwelling units;
• Remove separation requirements for bed and breakfast uses; and
• Delete references to penalties for violations of laws or regulations that are not part of the Land Development Code.”

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