53.3 F
Wrightsville Beach
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Dockside parking wins early approval, praise for compromise

Must read

Upgrades to the Dockside Restaurant and Marina parking lot on Airlie Road were OK’d Jan. 4 when the Wilmington Planning Commission approved two separate zoning proposals that will bring the issue to the city council. However, the commission’s chair was the lone vote against one of the rezoning proposals, echoing some neighbors’ concerns about density in the area.

By approving both a special use permit and a conditional residential rezoning for the properties at 1303 and 1308 Airlie Road that include a gravel parking lot for the restaurant, the ownership group of Dockside will again try to convince the Wilmington City Council to approve the project, which they said is needed for safety and convenience.

Jason Thompson, who represented Dockside owners at the meeting, said the owners had made several new changes to help meet neighbors’ concerns. From the first proposal two years ago, the property owners have reduced the scope of the project from a parking lot with 93 spaces along with three residential units to one of 80 spaces, with two additional residential units.

“Everything they told us they want to see is in this plan,” Thompson said.

Planning commission members praised both Dockside’s ownership group and neighbors for appearing to find a compromise in the neighborhood development debate that last ended with the city council sending the two sides back to negotiations after neighbors continued to protest rezoning the lot to commercial, which they said would spur development on Airlie Road.

Still, it was the rezoning from lower-density R-15 residential to R-5 residential that drew concerns from neighbors that were echoed by planning commission chair Deb Hays, who voted against the residential zoning density change.

“I don’t see the need, they can do the parking lot without rezoning,” Hays said. “I hear constant concerns from residents about this.”

Neighbor Kevin Parker, one of only two to speak against the proposal, said it was the rezoning to R-5 that could lead to denser residential zoning in the Wrightsville Sound area.

“From R-5 to R-15 is a quantum leap in regards to density,” Parker said.

Like other neighbors have in the past, Parker said the proposed upgrades to Dockside parking was welcome. The gravel parking lot has no lanes marking traffic, is crowded with pedestrians at peak hours and is dusty, Dockside owners have argued.

Another Airlie Road project is expected to come up for consideration during the Feb.1 Wilmington Planning Commission meeting when owners of an 11-acre site near the former Galleria shopping center will ask to the city to rezone the property from R-15 to a conditional urban mixed use zoning to facilitate a 72-lot residential development.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, Jan. 5, the New Hanover County Planning Board voted unanimously to postpone consideration of changes to the county’s special use permit process, which places restrictions on industrial zoning. Board chair Donna Girardot cited concerns that with some proposed revisions occurring near the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, not enough residents and stakeholders had time to review the changes. The special use permit process revisions will be considered during a public hearing at the Feb. 2 planning board meeting.

Email [email protected]

- Advertisement -spot_img

More articles

- Advertisement -spot_img

Latest articles