Public hearings during the Wrightsville Beach Board of Aldermen’s March 12 meeting will give residents another opportunity to provide input about a proposed Coral Drive sidewalk and stricter regulations for boat clubs.
The proposed sidewalk would be constructed using part of a $292,000 Surface Transportation Project-Direct Apportionment (STP-DA) grant the town received from the Wilmington Metropolitan Planning Organization.
Residents stand on both sides of the issue, as evidenced by a Nov. 13, 2014, public hearing regarding the proposed project. While the sidewalk would increase safety for children walking to Wrightsville Beach School, it would also intrude into the N. C. Department of Transportation’s right-of-way that Coral Drive residents consider part of their yards.
An initial sketch shows the project extending 15 feet into the right-of-way on the eastern side of the two-lane road. A 10-foot-wide grassy area, graded to form a shallow swale, would separate the sidewalk from the roadway.
Town manager Tim Owens said all plans are preliminary until the location has been surveyed and engineered, but the proposed design would improve safety and drainage, two of the main issues along Coral Drive.
While a sidewalk abutting the road with a curb and gutter would be less intrusive to residents’ yards, Owens said it would exacerbate the area’s drainage problems.
“You’ve got an existing roadway with existing drainage patterns,” he said during a March 10 phone interview. “You’re retrofitting a roadway that was never designed to have a curb and gutter.”
Whereas a shallow swale with sandy soil would hold and filter stormwater runoff before it enters the outfall pipes, a curb and gutter design would allow untreated water to run directly into the surrounding marsh.
“The DOT has some fairly stringent standards for separation,” Owens added. “They want that separation in case a car were to run off the road and head toward a pedestrian.”
Citizens opposed to the project have said the sidewalk would require the removal of native trees and eliminate roadside parking. Residents on North Channel Drive, a single-lane street that runs parallel to Coral Drive and also has a sidewalk, use the grassy separation between the road and sidewalk for overflow parking, but the proposed swale would likely prevent that.
Owens said if the board approves using the grant for the sidewalk, the lengthy process of surveying, engineering and finalizing the sidewalk design would include multiple opportunities for board members to hear and consider such concerns from citizens.
The board will also invite public input about allowing boat clubs in town as a permitted or conditional use. Boat rental companies have been operating within the town for years, but when Scott Weismantel applied to open the nationwide franchise Care Free Boat Club in Wrightsville Beach, town staff realized boat clubs are not a permitted use in the C3 zoning district.
The board’s decision will affect not just Weismantel’s proposed business, but also Reliant Marine, and any other companies currently operating as boat clubs.
If the aldermen allow boat clubs as a permitted use, those businesses would apply for a permit from town staff. If the board opts for a conditional use, each business would be required to come before the Wrightsville Beach Planning Board and the board of aldermen to receive a conditional use permit.
Planning board members favored the conditional use because it would allow the town to set rules with which each company would have to comply, mitigating safety concerns associated with renting powerboats.
“The board of aldermen are probably leaning towards the conditional use [too],” director of planning and parks Tony Wilson said during a March 9 phone interview.
The amendment will not affect businesses renting kayaks, sailboats or stand-up paddleboards, Wilson added.
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