The Wilmington City Council will decide April 6 whether to allow a medical office on Wrightsville Ave., though a majority of the panel already approved the project after a public hearing on March 15.
The city council voted 4-3 to approve the 3,000-square-foot medical office on a 1.2-acre lot at 6149 Wrightsville Ave., near the corners of Rogersville Road and Heron Run Drive, requiring a rezoning ordinance from residential district to office and institutional zoning.
City planners said the development fits with the long-term planning goals for the Wrightsville Avenue Corridor 2030 land use plans, which allow for the development of “neighborhood nodes,” allowing for smaller commercial development.
However, the Wilmington Planning Commission didn’t agree, and rejected the proposal by a 6-1 vote on Feb. 3. The developers appealed to the city on Feb. 10, resulting in its addition to the council’s agenda.
Neighbors said they worried the project would bring too much traffic into a residential neighborhood that has already seen some commercial development. But members of the council said they saw the project as consistent with the land use plans and that the road was appropriate for the project.
“It’s not in the middle of a neighborhood. It’s on one of our main collector streets. It sits on a corner. The architectural design is something that blends with the neighborhood,” councilman Charlie Rivenbark said.
City planners said the project worked in that area because it would help reduce traffic on streets by giving neighbors and nearby residents close access to a low-traffic service.
“We want to encourage some mixture of compatible uses. It’s our only hope to minimize the distance residents travel to get to services,” said Wilmington planning director Glenn Harbeck. “We wouldn’t want to put a big gas station there with a bright canopy.”
Residents told the council the development would create more stormwater runoff into the nearby Bradley Creek, though the project called for pervious concrete that would help reduce the runoff. They also said the lighting from the development would create light pollution that would ruin the character of the neighborhood. But the primary concern was an increase in traffic.
“There’s no way to this hub, there’s no sidewalks,” said Mark Harris, president of the Heron Run Homeowners Association. “People have to drive to this. It will put 20 more cars at a busy corner.”
The council did amend the ordinance to exclude the building being used for an assembly hall after Anderson raised concerns about increased traffic, and it also required changes to reduce light pollution.
“If it was a great residential site, it would have already been bought,” Mayor Bill Saffo said. “This is in area where residential properties don’t last long on the market. It’s a very difficult site.”
Though approved, objections from council members Kevin O’Grady and Paul Lawler mean the city will have to vote again on the project during the next meeting. Councilman Earl Sheridan also voted against the zoning change, but didn’t support the second vote.
“The idea of a neighborhood node is that they would be places where neighbors run into each other, like a grocery store or a pharmacy,” said councilman Paul Lawler. “Not sure a medical office fits that idea.”
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