By Cullen Lea
Contributing Writer
The results of public input sessions and the impacts of public sentiment to plans for the 6.63-acre North Waterfront Park were presented by Amy Beatty, Wilmington superintendent for parks and recreation, during city council’s April 7 meeting.
“We want the park development to be a transparent process,” Beatty said. “The park will help improve the lack of land for concerts, race set up and finishes, markets, special events and community events.”
Beatty spoke about the increasing number of musical concerts and growing number of races coming to the Wilmington area and special events affect infrastructure.
“We’ve been so lucky attracting concerts and more races in the future,” she said. “The issue we face is when these proceedings close down streets and cause infrastructure issues.”
Beatty disclosed what the public didn’t want the park to become: namely another area for sport activities based on structures like tennis courts, baseball and soccer fields.
“People don’t want a lot of concrete or structures in the park,” Beatty said. “The public doesn’t want a park that lends itself to graffiti, trash and crime.”
The master plan for the park would be concluded in seven months and would include looking for public and private funding, Beatty said.
“You guys did a lot of work for this and we appreciate that,” Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo said. “We hope that you would allow for naming rooms or areas to get help from the private sector.”
Beatty responded the team at parks and recreation had the idea of naming areas of the park in mind. This would be an integral component of attracting private funding opportunities.
Wilmington Fire Department Chief Buddy Martinette announced the Insurance Services Organization had rated its services a Class 2, the second-highest rating allotted.
Martinette presented the ISO rates of around 49,000 fire departments in the United States. Only 810 are rated a Class 2 or above, landing the WFD in the top 1.6 percent in the country.
The WFD was notified in June 2014 it would be rated and visited in September the same year. In January it was informed of its rating.
“We did very well in most categories,” Martinette said. “However we do have some deficiencies such as our dispatch center and our ladder truck service.”
Councilman Kevin O’Grady congratulated Martinette and the WFD on its rating and asked what would be needed to achieve a Class 1 rating.
“We have plans to fix these issues and they are currently underway,” Martinette said. “The department will upgrade its Computer Aided Dispatch system to include interoperability and a management information system. This would improve our dispatch times and chronicle our work.”
Councilman Charlie Rivenbark questioned achieving the small differences between a Class 1 and Class 2 rating for the WFD.
“Wilmington has had a Class 2 rating as long as I could remember,” Rivenbark said. “What would be the point of going towards a better ranking? When does it become a point of diminishing returns?”
“I would say it would benefit the community by getting Wilmington one of the best ratings in the country,” Martinette said. “That rating would mean there would be better service for the Wilmington community.”
