With a lack of consent among members of Wilmington City Council, the vote on a resolution supporting the extension of Independence Boulevard to Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway was postponed during council’s Tuesday, Oct. 7 meeting.
The resolution on council’s agenda would have supported a number of items that included the extension’s position on the Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization’s long-range transportation plan, encouragement of the North Carolina Department of Transportation completion of a draft environmental impact statement on the project and selection of a preferred corridor for the extension.
In addition to taking issue with conflicting statements within the resolution, city council members also said they, as well as city residents, do not have a firm idea of what the extension should look like.
Councilman Kevin O’Grady said his vision for the project is far from the preliminary design concept submitted by NCDOT of a raised thoroughfare wider than College Road in that area.
“I think we are putting the cart before the horse here,” O’Grady said. “It is a boulevard, we can’t seem to get that across, we do not want a highway, or at least some of us don’t.”
Outside of the city council’s meeting, Councilman Neil Anderson said the majority of the public is just now becoming aware of the issue.
“I’m not saying I am necessarily for it the way it is, but I want it to have more public input and I don’t think that has happened,” Anderson said. “The public is just starting to respond now … I don’t feel like we have an idea what we want, meaning the majority of Wilmingtonians.”
Councilwoman Laura Padgett voiced concerns about using the Independence Boulevard corridor as the new north-south connection through the middle of the city and suggested the need to study alternative routes like connecting 17th and 23rd streets.
“Let’s not leave future city councils with something that will … divide out city,” Padgett said.
City manager Sterling Cheatham and city staff will have until council’s second meeting in November to reshape the resolution.
Inland Greens
Wilmington City Council approved awarding the $1.1 million contract for Phase I of the Inland Greens Project and allocated additional funding in the amount of $723,503 to complete both Phase I and II of the project during Tuesday night’s meeting.
Phase I of the project will include retrofitting the drainage systems in the neighborhood with outfall piping, and the construction of a walking path and passive park on what was one side of the 18-hole par three golf course purchased by the city in 2012.
With council’s approval Tuesday, work on Phase I should begin sometime in November or December.
Phase II of the project will include renovating nine holes of the par three golf course, landscaping, a new parking lot, a playground, building renovations and additional site amenities.
Amy Beatty, Wilmington superintendent of parks and downtown services, said city staff would put Phase II of the project out to bid before Phase I is complete and Phase II would take around five months to complete.
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