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Wrightsville Beach
Friday, March 29, 2024

My thoughts

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The city of Wilmington has let Wrightsville Sound residents down. It has broken trust with them.

I spend my days across from the apartment complex under construction at Wrightsville’s gateway. Where before my office window looked out at the beauty of the Babies Hospital oak and Summer Rest pond, now it looks at large, ugly buildings. Where before birds fished in the late morning sun, the view now is just plain offensive.

The fears of those who fought a protracted, pitched battle against this very development have been realized.

Last week the Jacksonville, N.C., developer made the eyesore this project is even worse when he took out the cedar and oak trees lining Wrightsville Avenue, just before the drawbridge. The trees served to soften the harsh edifice of this unfinished complex.

The city of Wilmington, in which the real estate lies, had blessed the tree removal, but overlooked telling the city council.

The developer received city staff permission before his trees were trimmed by Duke. He is quoted as saying he requested the removal permit as Wrightsville Beach’s oak trees were being, in his opinion, poorly trimmed. But if these trees should have come down, then every tree in the county that was atrociously trimmed should come down, too.

City forestry management supervisor and arborist Aaron Reese said when the landscaping went in, nine new trees would replace these five, and it would look better. Oh là là! As if low height saplings will mitigate the loss of oak trees in the eyes for all those who must pass daily through the intersection at the scene of the crime. Reese denied the trees were of any significant age, even though the trunk of the last one removed, a Darlington oak, had a robust girth.

More than one person has likened the complex’s unappealing appearance to that of a prison.

What is the city of Wilmington thinking when it approves such construction over the heavy protests of the stakeholders in the location that will bear the burden of the city’s decisions for centuries?

One could liken the development — that was approved as high-end condos then somehow turned into rental apartments — to the type of development lining the streets of Jacksonville, home to the Marine Corps’ Camp Lejeune.

No disrespect to the Marines and Jacksonville intended, but one would expect this barracks-like construction in the developer’s home town, not perched on what was an exquisite piece of land overlooking Wrightsville Sound. Dense development with this architectural style is unimaginable at the entrance to a historic coastal community and town on the edge of the waterway and Atlantic Ocean beyond — and  yet there it sits, in all of its ugliness.

What in the world happened to the Wrightsville Avenue Land Use Plan (WALUP) adopted in 1990 to protect the unique character of this historic road because of its importance as part of our local heritage and a source of community pride? One has to wonder, did the city toss it out in its bid to please developers over residents?

I personally like Chris Bailey, the developer. Mr. Bailey Sr. seems nice when you meet him, but this development is not in the least attractive and it doesn’t belong in this location. It is almost as if the Baileys, in some spiteful move, were set on ruining Wrightsville Sound and Wrightsville Beach beyond.

It is, as always, all about the money. Cram as many dwellings as possible on a location, and build it as cheaply as possible to maximize return on investment.

Suggestions for more accurate naming for Bailey’s “Grand View” apartment project — including Greed View —  are popping up on Facebook and conversation.

Panicked calls to the city this week as the saws could be seen and heard cutting the significant and historic live oak on the corner of Summer Rest and Wrightsville drew this response from arborist Reese: “The tree you are referring to is only being trimmed. The trimming is in accordance with what the developer is allowed to do (after extensive discussion with he and myself), and is being done for the tree’s health, as well as to achieve the appropriate clearances needed. They will not be performing any work that will damage the tree.”  Tell that to the tree, which was very heavily thinned and its signature horizontal limb amputated.

Nothing can be done at this late date about the buildings themselves. But this developer must be watched closely. The city is not going to do a thing unless a complaint is called in. The developer, however, still should have a request pending to expand the dock on the ICWW to lie directly over the Town of Wrightsville Beach’s only sewer line to the mainland.

Less than a mile away, another out-of-town developer, this one from Charlotte, took out big trees not near power lines earlier this year with an, “Oops, didn’t mean to do that.” So, was he fined by the city?

Beautiful oaks also line Wrightsville Avenue there, too, and if the city follows its trend, those trees do not have a chance.

The city of Wilmington needs a tree ordinance with teeth that actually protects the trees. That is our duty.

Hello, Wilmington. Who will speak for the trees?

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