In a surprise reversal, the Wilmington City Council voted to reject a rezoning plan off Wrightsville Avenue that it had approved two weeks ago. The reversal came after council member Neil Anderson changed his vote from the prior meeting. Residents of the neighborhood filled the city council halls and cheered when the council rejected the plan.
The proposal would have put a 3,000-square-foot medical office on a 1.2-acre lot at 6149 Wrightsville Ave., near the corners of Rogersville Road and Heron Run Drive. The lot is zoned for residential, but members of the council noted that it had been difficult to find a residential developer for the property. The new proposal would have required a zoning change from residential district to office and institutional zoning.
The city council narrowly voted 4-3 to approve that proposal on March 22, including Anderson’s vote in favor. However, Anderson said that since then, he had a chance to speak with more neighbors about the project.
During the meeting, Anderson asked the city’s planning staff for several specific details about the project and the zoning changes, including what it allowed for in hours of operation. The project was designed with a potential medical office in mind, with Anderson asking if it would be allowed to be open late or perhaps all night. Staff told Anderson that there were no restrictions in the zoning on hours of operation.
“I was under the conception that this would be an office, not something that’s not open at night, whether that’s until 9 or 11 or all night,” Anderson said. “That’s the part that scares me the most. You’re losing me on neighborhood harmony.”
In the March meeting, Anderson noted that “infill” projects that make the best use of existing developments are one of the biggest challenges for the council, an opinion he reiterated on Tuesday. Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo, who again voted in favor of the project, said in March that there were few good options for the property and that the project was a good design for the neighborhood.
Neighbor Gary Edwards, president of the nearby Parsley Woods Homeowners Association, told the council there was marginal public interest in the project.
“The only benefit I can think of is tax revenue,” he said. “It would be the first injection of a commercial use in what is currently an entirely residential neighborhood.”
An owner of the adjacent lot also spoke during the meeting, arguing that the non-residential use of the project would hurt the value of the lot on which the family planned to build a house.
The city’s planning board rejected the zoning change in February by a 6-1 vote, but the developers appealed to the city council.
Council member Kevin O’Grady opposed the zoning change in both votes, pressing the case that the plan didn’t fit with the neighbors’ vision for the property. For council member Paul Lawler, newly elected to the council in November 2015, the project served to reflect the city council’s development philosophy going forward.
“Do we preserve neighborhoods or do we make it all mixed use developments?” Lawler asked. “I think we should vote this down to preserve our neighborhoods.”
Lawler also opposed the measure in the March council vote, as did council member Earl Sheridan. In the March meeting, both O’Grady and Lawler also voted to oppose waiving the council’s second vote on the proposal, thereby putting it on the agenda again for the April meeting.
After the vote came up 4-3 to reject the zoning change, the chamber was quiet for a few moments as the crowd waited to understand the results.
“You won,” said Saffo, with a smile, to the audience, which then erupted in cheers.
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