The City of Wilmington is undertaking an ongoing CBD preservation/teardown ordinance discussion. This item was initially presented at the February Planning Commission meeting. At that meeting in February, BASE suggested that the Planning Commission hold a work session to understand the proposal prior to taking action. That work session was held and illustrated a number of potential complications with the ordinance as proposed.

The proposal reflects a good faith effort by an ad hoc group. The upside is that it intends to provide incentives for preservation. BASE remains concerned regarding the impacts on property rights downtown. Unfortunately, one of the proposal's major benefits (Transfer of Development Rights) is not legal in North Carolina and should be removed from the proposal. That said, it appears that this draft could be a step in the right direction, provided several changes are made before moving forward. To their credit, City Planning Staff has made significant revisions and clarifications to get a draft document before for consideration. However, there are additional issues which staff has outlined and identified as "considerations." These should be resolved, in addition to the changes requested below, prior to moving forward.

In general, the processes that guide future development and continued growth downtown should offer an easy-to-understand, streamlined process.  To enable redevelopment and not step backward, whatever is adopted needs to appeal to potential investors in downtown Wilmington. If we have created a process that necessitates a flow chart (as suggested at the Work Session), perhaps we have not met that goal. One question to keep in mind: will the changes requested make it more likely to get the desired investment of a grocery store downtown?

Two specific areas in the current draft need further revision/deletion: new subsection M "Building Demolition Requirements" and subsection N "Transfer of Undeveloped Height and Density."

BASE will be continuing to monitor the issue and provide comments prior to future consideration by the Planning Commission. Should you have investments downtown, please contact BASE Governmental Affairs Director Tyler Newman immediately.