During its annual retreat meeting, the Wrightsville Beach Board of Aldermen asked staff to create a survey to ask residents if the town should offer curbside recycling.
Public works director William “Buck” Squires told the board the only recycling policy that would work for the town would be automatic curbside single-stream recycling, where all residents would pay the monthly fee, which would allow them to put all their recyclable trash in a single bin for weekly pickup. The costs for residents would be $4-$5 monthly.
The town had voluntary curbside recycling until 2015, when the company providing it stopped because of weak voluntary participation, making it unprofitable. There could also be issues with how to include residents in condominiums and other multi-family units, as Squires said it would likely require another large bin to be placed on the property.
Alderman Lisa Weeks, an advocate of curbside recycling, said the service was intended to primarily focus on single-family residences, but Blair said “if you charge people, then you have to charge everybody.” Weeks said there could be some interest in cost sharing from the New Hanover County government, since it could help reduce use of the county’s landfill.
Board members asked the town staff to put together a survey of residents to gauge their feeling on whether they would pay for weekly curbside recycling services.
New surveillance cameras, crosswalks
The town will consider adding additional surveillance cameras in some locations, including on Jack Parker Drive on the island’s south end and at the corner of Causeway Drive and Waynick Boulevard. The additional cameras would cost between $60,000-$80,000.
Additionally, the town will consider new configurations for crosswalks downtown. Several board members said the crosswalks at 4 N. Lumina Avenue by Tower 7 Baja Mexican Grill, and the crossing at the intersection of Waynick Boulevard and Causeway Drive were dangerous for pedestrians. While adding other crosswalks across North Lumina Avenue would be helpful, alderwoman Elizabeth King noted most pedestrians will continue to take the “shortest path” across the street, regardless of where crosswalks are painted.
The town is also looking at ways to set up truck-loading zones on North Lumina Avenue between the intersections of Birmingham and Columbia streets. There can often be three or four trucks on Friday morning unloading supplies to nearby businesses, creating traffic and visibility problems for nearby residents, board members said.
“We’re trying to help these folks out. They deal with a lot,” Mayor Pro-Tem Darryl Mills said.
Other items considered by the board included.:
- In an effort to limit the time a developer can have a conditional use permit, the board will consider establishing new policy to limit the number of extensions on conditional use permits granted by the board. Blair said it wasn’t fair to extend projects indefinitely, as future boards of aldermen would inherit the conditional use permits granted by prior boards. “If you can’t get it built in 18 months, it’s not going to happen,” Blair said.
- The staff will present policy to the board during the Feb. 9 meeting that will allow a one-year extension of a conditional use permit, followed by an additional six-month extension that staff could grant. Conditional use permits grant developers exemptions from some zoning requirements if they are able to meet other conditions specified by the town.
- With the prospect of new requests for town right-of-way leases for mobile phone towers, the board gave the town manager and attorney authority to research the hiring of lawyers specialized in telecommunications policy to help update the town’s ordinance. Owens said that changes in mobile phone technology are expected to create demand for more, and smaller, towers, which could create an eyesore in some places.
- The town will consider purchasing a variety of “welcome” banners for light poles, as board members requested the staff put together a presentation with options. Weeks noted that both Carolina Beach and Kure Beach had similar banners, which she said improved the hospitable image of those places.
