Local

By Catherine M. Welch

Wilmington, NC – After months of deliberation and debate the New Hanover County Planning Board approved a uniformed zoning plan for the west side of the Cape Fear River.

Wilmington and county planners rolled out the Riverfront Mixed Use District last year to create a uniform look and feel for future development.

By Megan V. Williams

Wilmington, NC – The Wilmington City Council wants to set aside a million dollars in its next budget for landscaping north Front Street after the road switches to two-way traffic.

Beautification projects had originally been put on hold because the street also needs major sewer repairs.

Now, the city would like to see all three of those changes happen at once.

By Catherine M. Welch

Wilmington, NC – The New Hanover County Planning Board is scheduled to vote tonight on whether it will adopt a uniform zoning plan for the west side of the Cape Fear River.

Height has been a major concern with the proposed zoning. The City of Wilmington has passed a version with a 20-story height limit. Historic Wilmington Foundation supports a 50-foot height limit. And a draft produced out of planning board workshops calls for a 100-foot height limit for directly across from historic downtown Wilmington.

By Catherine M. Welch

Wilmington, NC – The North Carolina Waterfront Access Study Committee will be in Wilmington Thursday night to seek comments and concerns about public access to the water.

The committee is looking at management tools and tax incentives to maintain and preserve public access to the water.

Committee Chair Michael Voiland says every county with waterfront access is grappling with balancing rapid development pressure and a need for public access.

By Megan V. Williams

Wilmington, NC – The state of the city is excellent, according to mayor Bill Saffo.

But that doesn't mean it isn't facing difficult - and expensive - items, items Saffo highlighted in his State of the City speech tonight, ranging from sewer projects past and present to a ten-year plan to eradicate homelessness.

In an interview last week, Saffo said he wanted to be frank, "it's not going to be cheap, and it's not going to be as fast as we all want it to be, but we're moving forward in that direction."

By Catherine M. Welch

Wilmington, NC – New Hanover County's tax department says it's will wait another two weeks before sending out property revaluation notices.

The 2007 notices were to go out Wednesday, but now they will be sent on Valentine's Day.

State law requires property revaluations at least every eight years.

New Hanover County Tax Administrator Robert Glasgow tells WHQR news that the average property value as of three days ago was at 110%. He says that's down by 7% of the figure tallied nearly a week ago.

By Catherine M. Welch

Wilmington, NC – A controversial movie at the Sundance Film Festival has sparked a state senator to propose that North Carolina should review movie scripts before handing out tax incentives.

Rockingham County Republican Senator Phil Berger is drafting legislation after discovering that parts of the movie Hound Dog were filmed in the Wilmington area.

By Megan V. Williams

Wilmington, NC – Businesses in the Wilmington's riverfront commercial district want their area, and just their area, to be officially defined as 'Downtown.'

Wilmington Downtown Inc. and other groups are lobbying local media to restrict their use of the term 'downtown' to the city's Central Business District, an area bordered by the Martin Luther King Parkway in the north, Nunn Street in the south, and 5th Street to the east.

By Megan V. Williams

Wilmington, NC – UNCW officially opened its new Cultural Arts Building last night, with literal fanfare.

That full-throated welcome came courtesy of a chorus of trumpets, playing to open a gala reception in the building's glass-walled lobby.

By Catherine M. Welch

Wilmington, NC – Developers seeking to bump a stretch of River Road are planning to put two traffic circles in River Road.

Developer Newland Communities says it wants to put one River Road traffic circle at Lorraine Drive and another just south of Barnards Creek.

Residents say the pair of one-lane traffic circles will snarl traffic and developers should instead widen the road for future growth.