City Council - Regular Meeting

Call the meeting in order of the Wilmington City Council. I'd like to welcome all those who are with us this this evening and all those who are watching us at home. Thank you for taking an interest in your government. At this time, I'd like to call and introduce Captain John Michael James of the Wilmington Fire Department for and to please come forward to give our invocation and ask that everyone stand remain standing afterwards for the pledge of allegiance. Gaton, welcome.

Thank you. Thank you. Let's bow our heads in reverence. Heavenly Father, I ask that you be with us today as we continue the journey of building a better community. We pray over everyone gathered here today. Grant them wisdom that is fair, courage that is steady, and hearts that seek the good of every neighbor. Unite us as one city working together in strength and compassion. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Amen. Pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We have two presentations this evening. Our first presentation is uh like to recognize the leadership Wilmington class of 2026. Uh they've gone through I believe 10 weeks of uh 10 months I'm sorry 10 months. I used to do that in school. But um it it's great to have them here. here. I know that they've had a very indepth uh review of our community and the different layers of government and commerce and business and everything that uh makes our community what it is today. And so I'd like to recognize them and bring them to the front. I'd like to also ask the entire Wilmington City Council to join me up there. Thank you. Three, please. Three rows, please.

Well, first I'd like to just say uh I want to say thank you to each and every one of you because you've taken time out of your lives and your busy schedules and your family life to learn more about your community and your governments. As I say at the beginning of every meeting, thank you for taking an interest in your government and understanding the different aspects of government, how we interact with business and this community and what all the great things that happen in this community and how they all woven together. And I just want to say thank you for taking the time out to make yourselves better um informed citizens and we really appreciate that. Thank you very much. City of Wilmington, North Carolina recognition reads, "Whereas the objective of leadership Wilmington is to educate, challenge and motivate citizens and to develop future leaders to work for the betterment of our community. And whereas the program consists of 10 sessions to promote leadership skills, community issues and challenges, regional, social and economic change, diversity, equity, and inclusion. And whereas the members of the leadership Wilmington work together and individually to plan and execute a day of service for schools and nonprofits, which is also known as work on Wilmington, which I believe is happening this weekend, right?

Next. Next weekend. Getting on my dates here. Whereas Leadership Wilmington is committed to providing a continuous diverse supply of creative leaders to the community by developing their knowledge of the region and providing them the opportunity for meaningful action. Now therefore, let it be resolved that the Wilmington City Council does hereby recognize the Leadership Wilmington class of 2026 and the Greater Wilmington Chamber of Commerce Education Foundation for their commitment and dedication for contributing to quality of life of Wilmington and surrounding areas. So, congratulations. I know you have a spokesperson here. There we go.

Thank you very much, Mayor. I wanted to say thank you for the city and thank you to the chamber of commerce. I know it's Laura's fifth year of doing this. Where are you, Laura?

Hi. So, she's been named 40 under 40 and now I know why. She's incredible. And it's also the 20th year of work on Wilmington. So, we're also saying it's the best year yet. We've raised over $100,000, 800 volunteers, and 34 projects. So, we're excited to meet at Live Oak next Friday with Mayor Safo, 5 to 7. Come join us if you have volunteered and we will get to work on Saturday morning. So, thank you all.

Thank you everybody. Give him a big round of applause. Thank you. One, two, three. Thank you guys. Thank you everybody.

Kevin, stay here. Select. I'm sorry. Our next proclamation is proclamation naming April 9th, 2026 as local news day. And I'd like to welcome Miss Francis Wella. Where's Francis? There you go. Come on up, Francis. Here comes the news team. Good to see you, France. Good to see you. Hello everybody. Hello. Good to see you, too. Hello, Randy. Good to see you. Good to see you, buddy. Good to see. We'll be Yeah. Well, just come on everybody. Move over this way. everybody kind of all mixed in here together. Um, this is the first time we've ever done this. It is

and I think it's a great opportunity to share with the community that these are the folks that keep us all honest and make certain that we're doing our job. And if we're not doing our job, you will usually get a call from one of y'all to tell us why aren't you doing your job and where are you? But they are the people that inform our communities to everything that is going on in our communities and it's very important. And I've always said that there you are the fourth rail of government and it's an important rail of government which is our our media that does a outstanding job not only here locally but throughout our country and I just want to say thank you for all the hard work that you folks put in. I know sometimes we frustrate you but you know we try to do a good job working together. So I'm going to read this proclamation on behalf of the city. City of Wilmington, North Carolina proclamation reads, "Whereas local news day is a national day of action to celebrate and strengthen trusted local news and information. Modeled after movements like Giving Tuesday, it inspires millions of people to reconnect with their local outlets through subscriptions, support, and engagement. And whereas Americans overwhelmingly say local news is essential to democracy and to their daily lives, yet many communities struggle to access the in-depth, accountable coverage that they all deserve. Local News Day helps bridge that gap, reconnecting people with their trusted sources that keep them informed and strengthen their communities. And whereas the city of Wilmington values the contribution that our local news outlets provide to our residents, to the city of Wilmington, and to our entire community. And whereas the city of Wilmington commits to continuing to strengthen the relationships between the city and all of the local news outlets that do the vital work of serving our region. Now therefore, I, Bill Safer, on behalf of the Wilmington City Council, do hereby declare April the 9th, 2026 as local news day in the city of Wilmington and say thank you very much to all of

the hard work that you folks do. So this Francis, I knew you. I'm not prepared to speak, but I've never met a microphone that I don't like. And so, thank you, Mayor Sappo, and thank you, council members, for this recognition. Local News Day is not just a local effort. It is a national effort, and April 9th, local news across the country will be recognized. We certainly appreciate this recognition. We as journalists have an obligation and a responsibility every day to report the news. It's not always easy because the news is not always good. But it is our responsibility and we have taken the task of reporting daily local news. And so this recognition is an honor for all of us who are standing here today uh representing local media. I do want to mention that April 9th will be local news day across the country and here in Wilmington, North Carolina, we will have News Cafe at WHQR Studios and it's open to the public from 8 until 10:30

8:30 to 10:30 again at the WHQR studios and you have a chance to come by and talk to the local journalist and ask questions. s we will probably have a little swag to give away. Uh it's just it's a day of celebration for what we do on a daily basis and it is an honor for me personally to be here representing WCT and my fellow journalist and all of my other fellow journalists here. Uh, Mayor Safo and council members, this is truly an honor and for someone who has been doing this for longer than many of you in the room have been alive and that's the truth. 43 years going on 44. This is truly an honor. Thank you very much. Our next item business is our consent agenda items 1 through eight. Are there any items that any council member would like

to hear separately? If not, what are the wishes of council in respect to the consent agenda? We have a motion to approve by council member Laos, second by council member Clinton Quinton Quintana Clinton Quintana. And all in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying I. I.

Any oppose? That item passes unanimously. That brings us to our next item of business, which is our public information segment. We have four speakers that have signed up to speak with us this evening. Our first speaker is Miss Sue Bulock who is a city resident and wants to give us an update on request of action on public project Military Cutoff/ Eastwood Road overpass. Miss Bulock,

mayor, councilmen, women, thank you for your service. And I feel really old at this uh microphone because I was here and at WCT in the first week that Francis took her job. And mayor, you and I go back a long ways as well. I'm here on behalf of the citizens uh around the Eastwood Corridor and Rightsville Beach Chamber of Commerce. Uh I have a prepared statement for the record. This is about our followup on U5710, the proposed overpass hardscape that would go over the top of military cutoff, but was now scheduled for the same time frame as the repair for the three bridges. The problem with the scheduling is that it will collapse businesses from uh military cutoff to and to the ocean side as a four to sixyear kind of schedule. The scheduling is a major problem as well as the hardscape overpass which now could be controlled by smart technology which you and your uh engineers have been exploring. We are asking you as a council to go back to your resolution and the resolution that Rightsville Beach passed a year ago when I was here that called on DOT uh the WMO uh WMO which is another federally funded project

uh to look at this project, amend their schedule, go back and ask for the governor Daniel Johnson, the Secretary of Transportation, and those involved, uh, Tony Le at the board to relook at this. This is a project that is scheduled, uh, with an $80 million price tag, now a hundred million. 30 million of it has already been expended on the Dale uh alternative with signals, new signal lighting, new smart lighting. Uh it is suggested by our engineers and in fact yours that that intersection could remain on grade, have two lanes added to the north south and function fine. We ask for your help in this. Uh our request to NC DO and WNO uh went unheard. They presented a one-way presentation. Uh they are in violation of the NEPA and federal public hearing requests and we ask that you join with us in addressing them again. Thank you.

Thank you, Miss Bullock. Appreciate it. And I've got a copy for Penny here. Thank you very much. Next speaker is Genesis Espinosa, who is a non- city resident seeking clarification on the murder of Alberto Espinosa Sierra.

Good evening. I hope everyone had a good Easter. I'm here today to seek clarification on my brother's death and his investigation. My brother was murdered on March 8th by the WPD and Sheriff's Department at 3:00 a.m. Um, we were never informed of his death until 10:00 a.m. that morning when my little sister called me frantic. I went downtown to investigate. That's when I found a trail of cops. Um, she called me because there was rumors of a fatality in downtown. Once I started asking around, the cops directed me to the officer in charge of the case. He then informed me my brother was dead. While I was on the phone with my mother and little sister, I hung up and cried. Once I was somewhat composed, the officer asked me about my brother's home life. My brother Ed Alberto was nicknamed Batito. He worked at American Skin, went to the gym, and would come home very tired. He lived a simple but joyful life for a 21-year-old. And like many 21-year-olds, he would go out to party with his friends on weekends. However, my brother was not a dangerous man. He was a son, a brother, a cousin, a nephew. He was family. He would tell my mother he loved her and he loved all of us. A very admirable attribute for a 21-year-old man in today's day and age. So, when I asked the officer if he knew how my brother had died, he told me he couldn't say because it was an ongoing investigation. I simply thought it must have been a civilian that murdered him. However, once I arrived home and searched the WPD's public Facebook account, I found the full story. Before I left, I had asked the officer if my parents could come and speak to them. The officer responded with, "Emotions are high and I wouldn't want anybody to get arrested." A comment I found very demeaning and inhumane. According to the North Carolina General Assembly in article 35 where it talks about accident trauma and victim identification, it

states a state or local law enforcement officer shall make a reasonable effort to notify the next of kin of an accident trauma victim if the individual is hospitalized or dead. Whenever possible, the notification should be delivered in person and without delay after ensuring positive identification. I was only able to identify my brother from his ID as the officer would not allow me to see him. But he was identified and had been identified for some time since they had his ID information. And regardless if he had informed me of his death, I believe my parents were entitled to be told in person by someone other than their mourning 18-year-old daughter. And they very much wanted to come and see and speak to that officer. So after I arrived home, my dad went to the same location with my aunt and uncle to identify his bodies, which they couldn't. They were told at first that they could and then that they couldn't and then that they were never told. We did not get to see my brother's body till March 18th, which we awaited anxiously um hoping to that this was some sort of mistake, hoping that he would come home, but his room remained empty. Sadly, the only thing that filled his room was my mother. As she cried and cried, she would ask me, "Why? Why my son? Why shoot to kill him, not at his tires?" Sorry. All right. To this day, these questions go unanswered, and we have yet to receive a formal apology from the WPD or the sheriff's department. But I did get to see my brother again. He was still very handsome and had pretty curly hair. Yet, I would never want to see him in that state he was left because a part of me was hoping to see him alive. And that privilege has been robbed from me, my mother, my brother, my father, and my sister. And this is something I want no other family to go through. I never want another daughter to have to look at their mother mourn this kind of tragedy and not be able to provide her the

comfort she so desperately needs because at the end of the day, I cannot even provide that comfort to myself. According to Mapping Police Violence, five people have been killed in the hands of police this year in North Carolina. Three of these victims are labeled as armed and either agitated or aggressive. One was unarmed and being arrested on a warrant. My brother was unarmed, not described as agitated or aggressive, was not being detained for a crime he had committed, and was bleeding from his head before he even got into his vehicle. So, I ask you today, council, what will you do to stop this violence? What changes will be implemented to ensure this injustice does not go happen again in the hands of the police? And how will my family be kept up with this investigation if no officer has made the reasonable effort to inform us of anything? All the information or updates we have gotten have been from us making contact, not them. I ask for these officers names to be released and for them to be fired. And finally, I ask for the body cam footage to be released. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Next speaker is Miss Madison Morrison who's a city resident. Talks about city safety in the community. Conor Mahoney was 15 years old when he was struck and killed by a drunk driver, Ethan Blackburn, a son of a successful business owner last year. Blackburn's sentence was three years probation, one week in jail, each anniversary of the death. He left Connor's body in the street for someone else to find. Connor's parents said this clearly was not justice. Earlier this year, while high, Jason Summers, a local business owner, attacked a young girl in broad daylight, forcing her to the ground. He was only stopped because her father and a bystander to intervene. He pleaded he in his plea deal he received no jail time, 48 months probation, and charges dropped like seconddegree kidnapping and assault on a child. Michael Trey committed violent sexual assaults, stalking, and other assaults in our city for years before he was stopped. Dozens of charges were filed in 2024, 2025, and 2026. Yet, the assaults continue to take place. He had already had an extensive history of serious offenses in other states before he came here. The Espinosa Sierra family has been asked for patience and to wait for the new Hannover County f new Hover County DA's findings. How can this council suggest patience while the judicial system fails as citizens every day? I have spent my time documenting with people online different rapes, assaults, victimizations, trafficking going back decades. So when this council says crime is down, we have to ask is it actually down or is it under reportported? I hear from victims, especially women, who say their cases are mishandled, minimized, and rushed aside. And yet, this council asks for

patience. So, you want us to stop the violence, or is it just the violence that makes a city look bad? Is it the violence that is forcing people the accountability? Is it the violence that you can't ignore? You celebrate projects and progress, and yet when it comes to serious public concerns, it seems like there's hesitation and no leadership. Next speaker is Max Hammer and Mil Laneir who are city residents talking about North Carolina Tobaca 21 coalition.

Good evening all and thank you Miss Mayor Safo and council members for having us. My name is Max Hammer

and my name is Vanirir. We are both high school students at Capefir Academy and proud members of the North Carolina Tobacco 21 Youth Council. The NC Tobacco 21 coalition is an organization working to protect NC youth from the harms of vaping and the nicotine addiction that inevitably comes with it. through the passage of Si's law and NC general assembly. A working statistic in North Carolina, a worrying statistic in North Carolina is the high school vaping rate is more than triple the national average. The the effects of this can be seen here in Wilmington, especially with a multitude of vape shops popping up across the city and many local high schools where students consider vaping increasingly normalized among students. Unfortunately, there are no current state laws that protect the youth from targeting advertisements and underage selling, and youths often get more penalties than the stores that sell to them. In fact, North Carolina is one of only six states that allows sales to 18 year olds. Si's law aims to combat the youth vaping crisis by raising the state purchasing age to 21. We hope to relay a call to action that will protect kids like us from the dangers of vape and other nicotine products and will lead to the passage of Sally's Law. An extremely relevant example of the endangerment and strife that youth vaping can cause is shown by the story of New Hover High School student Solomon Win for whom Sie's Law is named. Sullie was a great student and athlete and should have graduated from New Hover High School this May. Like many teens, he became almost immediately addicted after one vape usage and in a devastating turn of events passed away at age 15. I just turned 16 from vaping related to lung complications. Most people fail to realize that vapes often have the nicotine levels of 40 to 90

cigarettes and are made of synthetic material made in overseas labs that can cause unprecedented harms to users, especially children.

We sincerely hope that we can gain your support in to ensure the safety of North Carolina youth and that you all consider looking into this further, especially given that the origins of Si's law are in this very city at a high school where I can imagine many of you send your own children. The best way to support the NCT21 bill is to encourage our district senators and representatives to vote in the affirmation of Si's law this upcoming legislative session. Thank you so much for your time and attention to this matter and please let us know if you would like more information or additional ways to support the NC Tobacco 21 coalition. Thank you.

Thank you. And we have um Joy North who is a city resident renaming Greenfield Ryan Skate Park. North.

Hi. How are you doing tonight? Good.

Uh thank you for considering our request to rename the Greenfield Grind skate park to the Alec Chamber skatepark. Alex's roots are at Greenfield. Sometimes he skated open to close. Alex started skating when he was 10 years old, reaching the rank of professional skateboarder. During his childhood, I would watch him for hours trying to perfect a trick. His passion for skateboarding was second only to his love for his family and his dear friends, many of which are here tonight in support of Alec. Alec is considered the de facto mayor of Greenfield. Alec made you feel special. Whether you were a lifelong friend or a stranger, he treated everyone with kindness and love. Alec was never afraid to say, "I love you." As the time has passed since his tragic death, I have discovered so much more about my son. He loved with his whole heart. I have watched him help young skaters learn how to drop in. I have listened to several customers from the satellite tell me how they love Alec like a son or a brother. Once the skate park is renamed Alex in Alex's honor, we want to clean up the park. We want to assist in maintaining the park so younger riders will be able to enjoy the park. We hope that more experienced riders will show new riders support, respect, and help them learn how to skate. Several of Alec's closest friends enjoy the park and some even bring their children. Alec was a mentor to several of these kids. Tonight in attendance is Maggie Grimes of Filmworks Incorporated. Filmworks was Alec's employer at the time of his death. Maggie is here to represent Filmworks and Filmworks has graciously offered to donate toward the signage cost in renaming the Alec Chamber skate park. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, that brings us to our next item of business, which is our public hearings. Item PH1 is an ordinance amending the official zoning maps of the city of

Wilmington to reszone property located at 910 South 8th Street from R5 medium density mix residential district to UMX urban mixed Use District. I will also note that whoever makes this motion must read a consistency statement for the record. So at this time I'd like to recognize the city manager, Miss Hawk. Miss A. Thank you Mr. Mayor, Mayor Prom, members of council. This item will be presented by Todd Ratimaker, one of our planners.

Good evening. Thank you, mayor, council members. Uh tonight's agenda item is uh general resoning from R5 tox uh located at 910 South A Street. Uh just a quick little overview of the review process that uh has been taking place uh for this application. It's a 0.125 acres size track of land or 5,445 square ft. And like I said, the applicant is requesting to reszone from R5 tox. Um they applied in January of this year. Uh March 4th, the planning commission had their hearing and then here we are tonight on April 7th to have the council hearing and discussion. Uh here's some area context. Uh excuse me. A little extra information on the two resoning sites uh or uh zoning districts. I apologize. Uh currently it's R5 medium density residential allowing eight units per acre. uh in contrast in a 35- foot height limit in contrast uh to the proposed UMX resoning district or urban mixed use which allows uh several different options for re for residential development or vertically integrated mixed use. Um 15 units of the acre, 25 units of the acre in a single building and then unlimited uh number of units as long as it's got some commercial space within the within the structure. and then some context about the site. Uh here is a map showing the general vicidity of the surrounding area. You can see some of the parks in the area. Uh the Burger King when you first come into the city. Uh some other local uh landmarks that you can uh get an idea of the location we're in. Uh existing land use and zoning. Uh like I said, the site

is zoned R5 with UMX bordering the property to the north, east, and west. And then there is an additional R5 zoning located to the south. Uh the subject property. Here are some photos of the existing single family home that's on the site. Uh looking across a street and then a view of the rear yard uh where you can see some of the other adjacent single family homes um and some of the construction in that is taking place in the area. Uh here's a more specific drill down on the surrounding properties. To the north, you can see the new construction that's taking place. And this is a multi-use building that we'll get into in just a second. To the east, there's town homes across 8th Street. Uh to the west, we have single family dwelling units. And then vacant property again to the south. Here's that adjacent property I was speaking of. Uh this is the 9006 lofts that were approved on September 8th of 2023 that are currently under construction. This is a 18 dwelling unit structure uh with additional 215 ft of commercial space. And you can see that green outline on the map. That is the location of the 910 uh a street property that we're here tonight discussing. In consistency with the adopted plans, uh the growth strategy map is identifying this area as a place with uh within a neighborhood scale infill development area of opportunity and as well as in the location of an urban neighborhood node uh mixeduse center. Policy analysis uh growth should be accommodated through mixeduse sites and encouraged around existing transit lines. The area is well suited for infill development and redevelopment. transit oriented development should be encouraged around transit lines. And I will note that there are uh numerous uh

stops in that immediate area in regard to uh wave transit stops. And we did have a little bit of community input on this. Uh there were no comments submitted in support and we did receive one comment um in opposition to the application expressing concerns with the loss of the single family home uh and the associated home ownership opportunity in the immediate area. Uh in summary, the recommendation uh is to approve this and like I said the planning board did recommend approval. Uh UMX zoning exists to the northeast and west of the subject property. The site is located within a neighborhood scale infill in infill development area of opportunity. The site is located roughly within 50 feet of a wave route and bus stop uh where highdensity mixeduse development patterns are encouraged and the comprehensive plan encourages that growth be accommodated in mixeduse neighborhoods. Uh the requ the staff and planning board did find that the request is reasonable in public interest and that the request is consistent with the relevant policies in the creative create Wilmington comprehensive plan. And you can see that it did receive a unanimous uh recommendation for approval.

If you have any questions that concludes my presentation are there any questions for our staff? Right. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. This I'd like to recognize the applicant.

Thank you very much. Good evening. My name is Cindy Wolf and I'm here on behalf of the owner of the property. I appreciate Todd's synopsis of it all and I won't belabor much of it. Um, as he pointed out, this is an R5 lot that is beside a UMX project. This is a straight resoning, but for context, um the reason for the resoning is the combination of this lot with the adjacent lot where there is um a mixeduse with 18 units underway. It's under construction right now. The purpose of this will be a better I believe success for the project itself with a little more parking, a little more space for everything. So, we are losing the one home, but we're providing 17 more. Uh just again for context, this is the building that's being constructed right now. So with that, we appreciate both the staff and planning commission's positive recommendations. We certainly believe that it is reasonable and consistent for the variety of reasons that staff pointed out and I'd be happy to answer your questions.

Do we have any questions of the applicant, Miss Wolf? Thank you very much. Well, we have a question here. I'm sorry. Pro 10. So are these you said 18 rentals or 18? It would be 18 rentals. Yes. There's a commercial portion in the building and then 18 apartments. You know my next question is it affordable? No. Based on the location I mean it's hard to say it. It will be market rate. It is not specifically uh earmarked for anything in particular.

Cindy, you just made a good point. Based on the location, right? So, based on the location, we we would expect affordable housing there when when we lose a home, which I'm certain was affordable for someone at some point. And I was just looking, I couldn't see who the owner is or when ownership changed hands. But now we lose one affordable um home for 18 market rate apartments. But that's not to say that those apartments won't be affordable in that neighborhood. I just asked you. You said you stuttered a little. So that makes me think no.

And I mean this is this is an issue that we have. I mean, I I I'm certain this will pass, but I mean, we we have to ask the question. Well, maybe we don't have to ask the question, but I do. And and I and I want to know. So, I I believe that, you know, it's it's good for the public to to understand what's taking place as as we watch our neighborhoods just change and affordability changes. And, you know, we're we're in the middle of the the budget season, right? and and we're talking about area median incomes and things of that nature. And um so we understand that the numbers being skewed, right? And and

not necessarily because there can be 18 units in this building. It makes the development of it more affordable for the rates that will be charged. I mean, that's about all I can say in an apartment situation. The question's been asked. I I asked and answered and I I just wanted to give you a fair opportunity to to answer it. So, thank you. Thank you. Okay.

I have a question while Miss Wolf is still up here. Just to clarify, you're given a lot of detail that we don't usually hear about in um straight resonings and general resonings. What you're talking about is the maximum of potential of that site, right? not the intended um when you were answering um Mayor Prom's questions, right? I guess what I'm saying is that the project underway is in a um

the one on the corner permitted use. It it does have something to do in context with that pro the pro the petition tonight for the resoning certainly has something to do with it because it will become part of the project. But no, it is a conventional reasonzoning of a lot that has a house that is in poor repair. We didn't want to take the house down until we knew that it was possible to included into the project. Okay. So, the 18 units um that you asked about were the ones that are already under construction, not the ones that are possible on this site.

That's correct. There really isn't anything possible on this site other than pretty much a home and an accessory dwelling. It's only 33 feet wide. It is the depth of the other lot, but it will be included into that lot as part open space and part additional um vehicular parking. Okay. Thanks. Anybody else? Mr. Jordan,

thank you. So, help me understand why the why this wasn't brought forward prior to groundbreaking on the 18 units. If it's all conceived as one project, I understand that the the lots themselves are now going to be combined under your proposal. So why wasn't it all brought forward at once? Why are we sort of doing this peace mill? They didn't own it. There wasn't anything to bring forward the first time around. It was zoned back in 2013. So the project was underway. It is a standalone self-sufficient project and met all of the criteria. the parcel adjacent to it because the house had been in poor repair came up for purchase. So the

and so my clients purchased it to add into their project for better success of it. But it but the original project could be completed as originally submitted to the city without this without what you're asking us to do tonight. Thank you. That's the clarification I needed. Pro. So, they're going to clear the house for parking, right? The 18 units are going to be beside it and and so we're going to lose the home for parking. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Anybody else?

Just confir confirming that house was vacant. Yes, it has been and beyond repair for quite a while. And the person who owned it sold it to my client to the folks who owned the project. Yes. Okay. Thank you. How long ago was that? It was I think initially sold sometime last year to someone that basically flipped it to us. Um so, so there's been two owners. Yes. Well, the current owner, there was one in between the original homeowner, right? So technically that I believe was a a heirs. The owner had passed and so it was in the heirs. So the heir sold it.

Yes. Thank you, ma'am. Council member Santino, you just said that the house was flipped. Is the house habitable now? No, not flipped like that. I'm just saying the property itself, somebody bought it, didn't do anything with it. They just put it back on the market. Okay. So, the home has been vacant for some period of time. Yes, ma'am. Okay. Thanks. Thank you. I'm going to move up the public hearing and ask if anybody in the public wishes to speak.

Madam clerk, have you received any additional comments? No sir, I have not. Are there any further comments, questions from council? I will close the public hearing and ask for the wishes of council in respect to the item. Mr. Mayor. Yes, sir. The uh tablet says motion to approve out of a substitute. Motion to reject is not consistent and not reasonable. You have a motion to deny. Yes, sir. Motion. Motion.

Second. Council me council member Joiner's motion. We have a motion by council member Joiner. Second by council member Santua. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying I. Mayor, we still need the consistency statement. Have to read the Since we're not approving. Doesn't look like we need one, do we? Yes, sir.

Oh, yeah, we do. I'm sorry. You have to read the consistent statement, Mr. Joiner. I'm sorry. I move to reject the proposed amendment to reszone property located at 910 South 8th Street from R5 mediumdensity mixed residential district to UMX urban mixed use and find it to be inconsistent with the relevant policies in the comprehensive plan based on the application materials and the information provided at the public hearing and in the staff report as attached or described below and rejection is appropriate at the resoning request as the reasonzoning request is not reasonable and in the public interest for the following reasons. The proposed resoning is not consistent with the desired development pattern of the surrounding area. Okay. All in favor of Mr. Jordan's motion, please indicate by saying I. I.

Those opposed, nay. And I'll say nay too. Okay. Passes four to two. Okay. That brings five to two. I'm sorry. Some reason. And I'm sorry guys, my this uh voting can't vote on this machine here. The machine's not working. Yeah. 5 to two.

Okay. Brings us to our next item, which is item PH2, which is an ordinance amending the official zoning maps of the city of Wilmington to reszone property located at 4118 Market Street from RB Regional Business to MD17 CD highdensity multi-dwelling residential conditional district for a 76 unit multi-dwelling development. This time I'd like to recognize city manager, Miss Hawk. Miss Hawk. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, mayor proton, members of council. This item will be handled by Patrick Mahoney, our senior planner.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Prom, members of council. As mentioned, this is a conditional resoning request for 4118 Market Street from RB Regional Business to MD17 CD for the conversion of an existing hotel use uh into 76 permanent residential dwelling units. As you can see on your screen, uh this is the review process taken so far by this project. Um as you'll notice, there were two separate board of adjustment hearings um mixed in this review process before we got um here to you tonight um for a decision. And I'll speak more on those variances in a moment. Um, this is a slide outlining the existing zoning, the RB regional business and the highdensity multi-dwelling residential district, the MD17 CD district. Um, since this is a conditional resoning, um, we are only taking into account the conversion of the existing uh, motel into the 76 residential units tonight, which also include a provision for 20 workforce housing units. So to give a little site context, here's the uh general vicinity surrounding the request on Market Street. Uh the site as mentioned is currently zoned RB Regional Business. Uh it is surrounded by RB zoning um with O andi zoning to the north across Market Street. Here's some photos of existing conditions uh with a view of the site from Market Street. Again, that is the uh existing Studio 6 um hotel. Uh there are no changes to the building or to the elevations being proposed as part of this request today. Uh just the conversion from a motel to a primary dwelling um units. Here's some more photos of the subject properties. Here are some photos of adjacent land uses. They're primarily uh commercial in nature, resident or excuse me, a restaurant, a car rental agency, um and more commercial uses.

Um this slide shows the proximity to services. Uh there is a transit stop in close proximity to the site. Additionally, there's a grocery store less than a half a mile um up Market Street, the food line. Uh Bowont Park is located just under a mile uh further to the west along Market Street and down Wayne Drive. So through this uh resoning process um there have been some considerations in regard to design uh specifically density. Um here in this table it shows the permissible density under the current zoning uh the permitted density with a workforce housing component. Um within the land development code there's a provision that if 10% of the units are provided as workforce housing um a density may be increased to 36 units an acre. The applicant went to the board of adjustment to receive a variance from those density requirements uh to increase the density of the site to 60 dwelling units an acre um which nets out to 20 units for workforce housing. And this slide outlines uh just the basic HUD income limits for 80% of AMI, which is what the code references for the workforce housing component. So, for example, a household of a single person um would pay a rent of $1,083 for an efficiency uh apartment. And I will mention that the workforce housing uh the 20 units that are being proposed by the applicant uh will be designated for a period of 15 years. Uh open space is another consideration that was given for this application. Um which al also went before the board of adjustment. Um the applicant is required based on code for uh providing 20% of the lot area to be dedicated as usable open space. Um the applicant is actually providing 5.9% which is approximately

3,233 square ft. Um much of this usable area is located um in the front of the site along uh the Market Street frontage um which is a former drive aisle that they're going to convert into a green space as you can see in the picture on the bottom right. So the land development code contemplates adaptive reuse of buildings a conversion of buildings that we're talking about today um and changes of use and typically for commercial uses to other commercial uses there are minimal minimal site upgrades required. However, when converting a site to a residential use, uh additional requirements are put in place to ensure that residential uses are held to a higher standard uh to ensure that permanent residents are afforded the same amenities, open spaces, and places to recreate. Um since this is their permanent means of uh of residence, um the code also holds workforce housing projects as the same open space standards as market rate housing. There is no difference um within the land development code. And the third uh design consideration that I wanted to address tonight was the parking. Um the applicant is proposing 68 parking spaces for 76 units. Uh so less than one space per unit. A variance to these parking requirements was not identified originally when this application came in. Um on the left side of your screen, you'll see the table that was provided to staff uh indicating workforce housing units um as 76 with half a space per unit, which would be their allowable amount of uh 38 spaces total. Um however during the board of adjustment hearing in October um there was clarification on the total number of workforce housing units provided based on the code's definition uh which would only be 20 workforce housing units that necessitated an additional variance uh from the land development code and required the applicant to go back to the board of adjustment to seek that variance from the parking requirement. Um so the minimum parking requirement um

currently was 80 spaces. Uh the board of adjustment has approved the 68 spaces that are currently shown on the plan. Um if the applicant had gone forward with an entirely um workforce housing um dedicated project for all 76 units, uh there would be no variance required from the parking requirements. Uh there have been other hotel conversions and adaptive reuses uh of these hotels especially along Market Street. Uh, River City Studio Homes at 5040 Market Street utilized the land development code through byite zoning. Um, the commercial district mixeduse provision which allows for um basically multif family development or multi-dwelling development within commercial districts. They achieved this um to receive 40 units per acre. Um, and they also provided 21,000 um square feet of open space with a pool amenity. uh the Vivo Apartments, which is 4903 Market Street, uh they went through the reszoning process and achieved 38 uh excuse me, 30 units per acre, um 10,500 ft of amenity space andund thou about 112,000 square feet of open space for their project. So, just wanted to provide that comparison. um through the planning commission. Um there were improvements that were recommended by staff that the applicant has agreed to um in an effort um to provide additional sidewalk connections uh from the building to the entrance on Market Street, the installation of street trees along Market Street if utilities allow for it. Uh and the addition of streetscape landscaping uh within that open space area to provide additional uh landscaping that was that is not previously existing or currently existing. Uh staff also recommended that the current sign be replaced with a monument sign and remove the uh currently non-conforming pole sign. Uh and the applicant has agreed to all of those conditions. So for the uh consistency with our

adopted plans, specifically the comprehensive plan, this area is located within a highdensity transition area of opportunity uh as well as an urban mixeduse center um and is located along a high-capacity transit route on the growth strategies map. staff's analysis did show some supportive policies for this proposal. Most of these policies centered around adaptive reuse of buildings um and workforce housing in locations along transit routes. I've outlined uh those policies here. However, there were more policies that showed non-support of the proposed resoning. Um and those primarily centered around design quality for permanent residency. uh and the lack of usable open space for the permanent residents at this site. Uh to this date, we have not received any comments or testimony at any of the public hearings uh for or against this project. The proposed resoning request does not include any changes to the current site. Um what it while it does include a workforce housing component, uh the proposal fails to offer any amenities or site enhancements for future residents. Open space and amenities are aimed at enhancing residents quality of life. They extend living areas beyond the doors of individual apartments. They create opportunities for recreation for residents and for future residents who will live there permanently. Staff believes it's important this project provide amenities comparable to those in other developments throughout the city. Therefore, staff believes that the proposed zoning amendment is inconsistent with the create Wilmington comprehensive plan is not reasonable in the public interest and recommends denial. I will mention that the planning commission did recommend approval 31 at their March hearing. That concludes my presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions that you have and the applicants here as well with a presentation.

Yes, we have council member Andrews. Yeah, I had a question. Um if you go back to the slide that talks about um the 80% AMI. Sure. I mean, realistically, we're just talking about that first line, maybe the second line because I mean, there's not going to be that many house uh larger households living in these units. I would assume I just wanted to provide the full right I thank you. What is Do you know what the square footage is of these units? I will defer to the applicant. I believe you just said around 250 square feet.

250 square feet. Okay. And I can wait and ask the applicant this, but yeah. Um, thank you. Yes,

Miss Law. That was kind of my um interest, too, was the um AMI mostly because it didn't match my math I did this afternoon. um because the uh rent rate I got was higher than that. But um there's some questions I have from the applicant about that too. Did you say the planning commission um approved it four to one? Uh 3 to1 3 to one. So there's only four of them there. Yes.

And I think that's all I have for you at this time. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Sandu. Thank you. Can you go back to the slide that shows the map with different um like the transit uh routes and different grocery stores and things? Okay. Thanks. I just wanted to make sure that I understood that um where the bus stops were near here. And can you can you go back to one that has the grocery stores as well and restaurants? Yes.

Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Thanks. Appreciate it. Anybody else? Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

This time I'd like to recognize the applicant. Good evening, council members, mayor, mayor protown. Um, I'm Nicholas Silivanch. I'm representing the owner of the property night in the adaptive reuse transition. Maybe there we go. A little bit better. Cool. Um, there we go. So, one of the things is adaptive reuse. What is it? Um, it's a process that takes the existing structure, existing property as it sits today, and we seek to convert it into another use with no real changes to the exterior of the property. So, we're not going to impact uh storm water needs. We're not going to change utilities. We're not going to really change the rooms around or anything like that. Um, we're limiting what we're doing and and coming back with something better for that unit. Um, we were involved in the other two adaptive reuse resonings at uh the Vivo Wilmington as well as River City Studio Suites. Um, and those projects were great. Um, we didn't change anything on site the except for on the inside of those rooms like this one. Uh, kitchenet space was added. Um, living room space was added and that's what we did there. So, another adaptive reuse project here. Um, this one's at 4118 Market Street. We're going to take the 76 studio efficiency apartments as they exist today. Um, and we're asking for a change to the zoning code because with the hospitality code, we could do 30-day rentals. There are some other hotels in town that do 30-day rentals, and we're seeking to do this the right way to do long-term rentals here at this property. Um, this is one of the last remaining hotels that had the consent order from a long time ago where there was sex trafficking, drug use, uh, kidnappings,

beatings, domestic violence going on at these hotels, had tons of police calls. Um we were fortunate enough to get some of the statistics after the conversion um of the budgetel to the vivo Wilmington as well as river river city suites when that was converted from the days in and the change in crime in the area along market street has dropped dramatically. The number of police calls to the area has dropped dramatically because we've created a sense of community in turning these hotels into apartment complexes. So it's a benefit for us here in Wilmington. We are located along a major we're located along one of the bus lines. We are walking distance to Food Lion. We've got four different food options across the street for residents to walk to, one next door. We're close to areas of employment for everybody. Um, so for workforce housing and for entry level housing here in Wilmington, this is a good option for folks. So, this is where we are. Obviously, you saw what the what staff presented for that. Um, I do want to call out we're adding back green space in the front. So, we're taking space that currently is just driveway and we're going to make that green space in the front. You'll see on a later slide we're we've agreed and we we're showing how we're going to add the U sidewalk out from the front of the building to the street from Market Street so residents can walk there. Um, you know, in the back we're adding some more space to what exists right now as a barbecue pit and a dog walk area. So, we're going to open that up a little bit um with modernizing the parking to go from what was it, Jake? 8 to 8 and a half. Yeah. So, we're going from an 8 foot wide space to an 8 and 1/2t wide space. We did lose some of the parking there. Um and then we were able to finally agree on a new number at 68 for the parking spaces because many of our residents don't have vehicles. They walk or they're riding public transportation. And that's that's proven with the other developments that we've done throughout town or we've represented the transition on throughout town. Most of the residents don't have cars because they can't afford them. So this is this is

like a restart spot in life or it's a entry level spot after they graduate college and go out on their own. So this is what we have right now. These are the existing conditions of the unit. You can see the hot plate, microwave, uh stove, kitchen sink. You've got your bathroom, you've got your living room. Um they're already operating as suites right now. Um some more shots of what the interiors look like. So we want to convert this 76 hotel rooms into 76 studio apartments. Um we're 1.26 acres. We will provide 68 parking space spaces after it gets restriped. Um we want to reszone it from RB to MD17. Um we've had success at 5040 Market Street and at 4903 Market Street. Um this is bringing mixeduse node to the corridor by putting permanent residents here. Um okay. Um and then we've also had the other variances approved for parking density and open space at board of adjustment. Um so we're going to have rental control on 20 out of the 76 units to be set at the HUD high home rental rate for 15 years. Um, we've agreed to add in a sidewalk along the new grass area. We're thinking probably put some benches out there. There's going to be some trees we're going to plant back for the streetscape. We're going to have some bushes in. We're lowering the sign down, so it'd be a nice modernized, you know, apartment sign once we get done with it. Um, we're not changing the footprint at all, the building. So, on 1.26 acres, we're pretty m maxed out. We're not adding any floors to the the project. We're taking it as it stays today. We want to turn the lights off as a hotel, turn them back on as an apartment complex the next day. Here's our front elevation, current sign elevation. That was one of the proposed changes to the front view where we cut off the uh driveway area and we add back some green space. And now that's adding in the green space with the new

sidewalk. And that's that's what we're asking to do, guys, is we want to bring some affordable na both locked in HUD highome rent affordable units as well as market style affordable efficiency units to the market where utilities are included because we're not changing any of the utilities. We're not, you know, doing anything really to the property except saying, hey, instead of being a hotel, we're going to be apartments now. That's what I got. You guys questions here. U Mr. Joiner, I have a few questions. Yes, sir. So you said you have Vivo and River City. This would be this would be your third property in the city of Wilington. Third conversion. Say that again. Third conversion. Yes, sir. Do you have any outside of the city? No, sir. Not at this time.

Okay. Um, so you you talked about the distinction between right now you this property is offering up to 30-day rentals. You would be offering longer. What is your intended window? 6 months, 12 months, 18 months. 12 month. Is that pretty standard for what you've got at the other two properties? Yes, sir. What is your general turnover rate? like how how often are people resigning at the other properties?

That I don't know the direct answer to. What I can tell you since I'm just the the real estate broker and and development process manager here for this. Um what I can speak to is having talked to the managers and the owners of those projects. Um they had weight lists from when it was announced that they were going to be opening as studio apartments that were, you know, a couple hundred people deep. And then because the River City suit Suites um that was damaged real bad after Florence and they had to come back and redo all the interior rooms and stuff. So after it got through the resoning and the CDMU process there um and they were bringing units online, they had a wait list for them and they were filling them up and it it was a rapid lease up there. Um Vivo, same thing. They went through the resoning um were approved for 30 units an acre and that project was 8 acres. The other project was 2 and a half acres. So, I mean, it's just when we say we didn't change anything on the site and and we're seeing stats about, you know, what the open space and the amenities and all that are there. There wasn't anything added. In fact, we added more green space over at River City Suites back to that project and lost parking spots there to accommodate some more open space um because we couldn't do it otherwise. Um but back to what you said um and Vivo's lease up as they were converting those units from being just a hotel unit into a suite um or an efficiency apartment. They were leasing up rather rapidly as well. And then they took the old restaurant space that was there and turned it into a a gym and a you know tenant center. We're going to take you know the current operating office and the adjacent unit to it. um and which is right now operating as like a manager suite and that'll be a tenant space as well as um you know lease up office. So there will be that amenity on site for the tenants to have a little bit of a workforce, you know, work from home area. If you want to leave your unit, come down and have common space and whatnot. Obviously, not outside, it would be interior. But yeah,

that's all I have for right now. And in advertently, um, exed Mayor Pro. and protect.

I hate that the owner sent you here to get this verbal lashing that I'm going to have to give you for this because there's no way possible you're going to turn a hotel into permanent living spaces and you're not going to renovate. you're not going to expand the spaces and and I you keep putting an emphasis on the outside and and there I'm certain there are some council members who are more concerned about the outside than the inside, but I am more concerned about the inside and the livability for whatever uh tenants you may have. I'm I'm I'm certain you may get some,

but uh I'm I I just don't see it. So after Florence, these rooms were all renovated into suites. So they've been recently renovated with new floors, new paint, backsplashes, kitchenetses, all of that. Have you spent 12 months in a suite? Have you? I mean, when I when I was in college and I lived in a studio apartment over on um what was it? Um Racing.

I'm glad you said that again because you said something really important in your um presentation about the college students in Wilmington. Uh, the college students in Wilmington, they drive better cars than us. I I I graduated from UNCCW. They drove Range Rovers and Beamers and Mercedes. And so I don't think they're going to live there or that they're going to live in Vivo. And I mean, I'm certain that not even most of the uh students at Katefield Community College don't have cars. Um, I'm I'm just I'm I don't know. I'm I'm I'm appalled a little bit by this. I'm a lot appalled by this actually because it seems like a money grab to me. Right. There there's there's there's nothing um really satisfying for for future tenants here. Um, I could see if you were going to convert 76 uh hotel rooms into 40 uh permanent houses, that mean permanent apartments, that mean that you would take some space from other hotel rooms to create uh some comfort, some livability. And then the price point uh almost $1,100 a month to live in a hotel room is insane to me.

I I agree with you. I agree with you wholeheartedly. In fact, when we were looking at the numbers for it, um the 20 255 HUD high home rents were at like 8.56 and we were we were looking at being somewhere around, you know, that 950 number and then the new numbers that came out for 2026 jumped the efficiency unit up to being at a,000 what is it 83 and I the first time I saw that was was when it was recently released back in I think the end of February, start of March. So that's that's HUD saying this is what it should be and blows me away. We we're both blown away. And here's the other thing. So 20 of these 76 are going to be workforce and then you're going to you're going to uh you're going to lease the other 50 at market rate.

Yeah. Which is about the same exact price. Yeah. Which is which is wild to me because we we had budgeted for it to be, you know, if it's 850 for a student, I don't want you. We're going to be hundred bucks more for the other. Yeah. Don't don't cost yourself your job. Just let me beat up on you a little bit more. Yeah. you can keep your job. Uh because this is a hard no for me. Hard. Super hard no. Um yeah, I I'll let the rest of my council members speak. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Clinton Quintana.

Good evening.

Good evening. So, I'm also concerned about a couple of your comments and one in particular was that, you know, um, some people don't have vehicles and I'm just curious how we think you think that those folks that don't have vehicles would want to come and live here. And to Mayor Prom's point, in a small hotel suite, we're not expanding it, we're just flipping it. It sounds great, right? Um, I'm I'm all for a tiny home. I've said that throughout my campaign. But this we're not doing anything different to it. It's more of the outside than the inside. It just doesn't seem I I don't know that I would want to live in that. Um, but to each his own. Also, are there current residents in this hotel?

No. My understanding is that right now it's just open to anybody who's going to come and rent a room for ex whatever the period of time that they're renting the room for at the hotel is. Do you have anyone in that hotel who's renting it for an extended period of time? Not to my knowledge. Did you ask? I mean, my clients own the hotel. They they they manage it themselves. Um, but they don't have anybody there that lives there long term that I'm aware of and I' I've asked that question. Long term would be I mean, that would be that they're there for probably 30 days or longer, right? So you you guys don't have anyone who's

No, because they they've they've typically had um like during storm events or something like that, they'll get workers that come in and rent the rooms for 30 60 days or whatever it ends up being because they're helping haul off tree debris or they're there as construction workers and they're fixing things around town. Okay. Thank you, Council Member Andrews. Yeah, I think a couple of my questions were already answered. Um, you're saying that the the 1083, which is the um the HUD rate for workforce for 250 square feet, which blows me away. Um, you're saying that the market rate is probably only $100 more than that?

No, I mean I I honestly that's probably market rate for it. Um last year's number the 2025 numbers were substantially lower and HUD revised that number up and blew me away when when we were last discussing at the planning board. I hadn't anticipated that the number was going to be you know,83 a month. I was under the impression that it was still that 856900 number and then you know we're including utilities in the rental rate as well. So, their electric, uh, water, sewer, all and trash are all included in that rental number, um, that we're asking for that that would be asked of the the tenants that are living there. So, you're cutting down and and minimizing what your rent is, as well as putting utilities into that, which many apartment complexes in town, you're going to pay that rental number plus plus uh for living at where here it's it's all kind of wrapped in, which is what you do with an adaptive reuse because you're not going to individually meter units since you've got everything coming in and you want to transition and provide housing as as rapidly as you can to the the market.

Okay. And and I was going to um I was going to comment on the same thing that council member uh Clinton Canana commented on. Um I actually wrote down the quote. You said most of the residents can't afford cars. It's just I I'm having a hard time getting my head around the fact that somebody can't afford a car, but essentially a single person cuz I can't even think of anybody that I would want to live with in 250 ft. But um sorry if that's TMI, but uh you know, no, that's fair.

Um I can't imagine somebody a single person that can't afford a car that can afford $1,100 a month in rent. It's just

we have some we we've from working on the other projects, there are residents that come in and they they don't they can't afford the car because they may have just lost their home or something like that and you know, this is a restart spot for them in life. So they can rent it, they can walk to work, they can get on the bus, ride the bus to work, do what they need to do, or they've gotten out of a bad situation and they don't have that car because maybe they're a DV victim or something like that and this is a place for them to go that they can be at that's safe and and whatnot. So, and we have I'm aware that, you know, we have had DV victims at some of the other projects move in um in like emergency situations and whatnot and it's it's helped the community out by having that that option and that resource for them. Okay. Thank you.

Okay. Council member Santu.

Thank you, Mayor. Um, I guess I want to start off by acknowledging that, you know, the the choices that are available to the people in this room for where we would choose to live are maybe different than a lot of other folks. So, I understand that while this may not be a very desirable living situation for a lot of folks, this may be the only option for some. I recognize that. I appreciate the effort to make housing available for for folks um that are that are experiencing that place in their life. I also appreciate that utilities are included. I think that helps buffer some of the numbers that we saw. Um but that that leads into my first question which is um the consideration that's been giving that's been given to making this entire complex workforce housing or affordable housing. Have have you all considered that? I mean this you know, 26% affordable or sorry, workforce housing for a complex like this. I'm just curious what consideration was given to just going 100% there.

So, taking a look at what HUD did, they jumped the HUD high home rent by 200 bucks, right? Mhm.

We're trying to look at it from the perspective of, okay, we're we're going to have we were we were looking at it from the $850 a month number and then you're going to net out utilities from that. So, what's your actual number going to be there? Okay. Well, we're going to take the remaining remainder of the units will be $100 more a month. We're going to net out at that lower number here. HUD jumped those numbers for 2026 here. What's to stop them from turning around and saying, "Okay, well now in 2027 we're going to go to $600 a month." Okay. Well, now if you've got a project that someone's bought, they've invested into, and they're they're operating and maintaining it, they are naturally, because they're only 256 ft, they are naturally occurring workforce housing units. Um, no one's ever going to really say, "Oh, I'm gonna come in here and pay 1,500 bucks a month for this." No, that's that's not going to happen. Um, so

I'm sure New York City said that at some point, too. Well, I Yeah, but I mean with New York City's got 90 story buildings.

I understand it's a I understand it's a completely I'm just saying when we leave it to the market, we don't lock in those workforce rates. And I'm just curious what consideration you've given to that. I mean, we we looked at it and that's why, you know, we originally started off at looking at 10 and we went to the 20% to get through and and we were comfortable with 20 of the units, which would leave us with 56 left because we also have to accommodate um for people that have mobility issues, disability issues, and whatnot, and have handicap units that are located throughout, but mostly on the first floor. So, you know, when we've only got x so many units to place these affordable units plus the handicap units and make sure that we're we're accommodating everybody that's going to be with us. That's that's what we're looking at.

Okay, understand. Um, thank you for answering my question. Um, I'm curious what uh consideration has been given to what staff brought up in their recommendations with regard to the amount of open space, the general appearance and facade of the building, um the the look of the building, that box style. What what have you all considered in terms of addressing those concerns from staff that they've presented? So, with adaptive reuse, the the process and the thought is, and I know we don't really have a policy at the city for adaptive reuse, um, is taking what exists, and there's only so much that we can can do to address the concerns of, well, you need x amount of parking spots per unit. Okay. Well, we also need to have x amount of green space. We also need to have this. Well, here's what we can do to accommodate those things. here's what's reasonable for something like this where we're not trying to, you know, break the bank and make this look like the Taj Mahal. We're we're trying to provide workforce housing and affordable h housing units as rapidly as we can without having to go through an 18-month process with the state of North Carolina, come here and ask the city to, you know, donate to our budget for the construction process, those kind of things that that happen. Um, we we're not asking for any. What we're asking for is the zoning and we can deliver these within 90 days, not 6 months, 18 months after getting approved and then going through the build process, the permit process, all that. It

that that's that's part of what we're looking at here is, you know, is it the most attractive building in the world? No. Um, is it a rundown building? No. It's an operating functional building. It has, you know, gone through multiple hurricanes in our area. It's cinder block. It's strong. Um, and it's it's built in the 1950s. And here we are today with it. Still functional, still working, and and ready for its next part of life, which would be providing workforce housing solutions right in the heart of Market Street um to the residents of Wilmington that need it the most. And they can access everything they need just by walking, which is great. Um, so it sounds like the conclusion that you've come to is that it's not uh likely to be able to address the inconsistencies with the plan that the staff has pointed out. Am I summarizing your answer?

Yeah, I mean, we've done the best that we can within the policies. I mean, what staff has is a policy that says for brand new development, you've got to have all of this.

We're not brand new development. We can't add a pool in here. Where where would we put it on? I mean, where would we put it on our site plan? We we we're a long tubular building. We're a long tubular lot like a bowling alley. Where would it go? It it can't. So, what are we doing? We're adding back green space in the front that can be a common space with some picnic benches on it. We're adding green space in the back for a dog walk and barbecue pits in the rear. We're we're doing what we can and adaptively reusing the property as it sits today to meet what a market demand would be for affordable housing in Wilmington. I have one more question then I'll let my colleagues go. Um you mentioned a couple of other projects that you've done this with Vivo and River City. Um what are what's the square footage of those units?

They were John about the same 250 to 275 250 to 275. So they're all about the same about the same. Um what are the are those um and then what is the percentage of workforce housing in those develop projects? The one for River City was 120. They did 10% so I think it was about 12. Vivo was 220 units. They did uh 10% there I believe. So it was 22 and they're both at 96% occupancy. Okay. And that 10% was for 15 years. Yes. The Okay. Okay. Thank you. So I I know one of the comments was I don't know who wants to live there. Well, if they're 96 both projects are 96% occupied,

they're full. People are living there and it's helping our our community members out. Yeah. I'm not making judgments about who wants to live here. I'm asking questions about how this compares to the other projects. Yeah. Thanks. So, Council Member Low.

Thanks. Um I love the read um the adaptive reuse uh aspect of this. Um kind of makes me wish we were in a formbbased code already so that we could focus on the um streetscape and um let go of some of the other uh concerns. I'm not concerned about the size of the units. Um, uh, like some of the others mentioned, um, it it's not where I might want to choose to live. Um, but I'm not judging, you know, people in different situations. Sorry. But, um, my and with adaptive reuse, I'm also willing to, you know, uh, meet use in the middle of brand new development standards versus, you know, doing nothing. But we need I feel like we need to get a little closer to the middle. My biggest um concern I know you got this through BOA um is the fact that you're eight parking spaces short and this so this assumes that the um eight people who live there won't have a car um because you'll probably be full. There'll be uh obviously a very big demand for this and that nobody's visiting. Um, I'm concerned about the flow of traffic. If people go through and they pass one space, but they're looking for another, like we all do. Um, and when they come out, you know, thank you for the open space, but it also takes away that pull through. Um,

so I know you have to make some decisions about, um, and about those different priorities. I'm just concerned about somebody pulling out on a market street trying to get back into the other side. Um, I was wondering if you had talked to the restaurant next door about sharing parking or leasing some spots that would be available after a certain time of day or something like that, after a dinner. We had not, but it was something that was thought of.

Yeah. Because that would help um with that, but I know it's like we'd love to see more open space of course, but then it impacts the parking. It's just a really tight lot that we're working with. So, um, let's see. Oh, and to confirm what one of the staff members said, when you were when they assumed that you had 100% workforce housing, the parking was met, the parking standards were met because um the 80% of AMI, just doing the math uh here, uh not speculating on who's moving in there, but just doing the math, 80% AMI is still $60,000 um a year. So, I don't know a lot of people in that um income range that might that that are not having a car. So, that's that's my biggest concern is um the the parking situation. Um another question is are we draining is the whole site draining to the street because you got curb in the back and all that.

Yes, ma'am. And your dumpster pads back there by the storage building. Yes, ma'am. I think that's it for me. Thanks, Council Member Clinton. Uh, so just curious, washer and dryers. Uh, we have laundry facilities on the property.

Okay. And also, um, I know you said that this was like workforce housing and walk to work, but, um, if I'm not mistaken, there's not a lot of, um, the hospital is not close by. You have to drive if you work there. Um, this is the area where Target, 7-Eleven, Hooters, Food Lion. Um, if anyone is working at those locations, the salaries won't cover that workforce housing rent. Like I said, I was blown away by what HUD came out on the rental rates because we were budgeting sub $1,000 a month for rent here.

I understand, but I also know that there are several people watching and I just want to call out the obvious, right? Yeah. Um, and I do commend you all for thinking of something outside of the box and trying to get affordable housing. um not necessarily too affordable for some, but maybe someone else. And again, you know, to uh Councilwoman L's point, we're not judging. To each his own, right?

Um but I just this doesn't seem like a I know you keep saying like people can walk and yes, you can walk to Target. You can maybe walk to 7-Eleven. You definitely don't want to. I don't know about you, but I've tried to cross that street. It's not easy. Okay. Council, I mean, Mayor Per Spears.

Yeah. So, uh, Councilwoman Clinton Quintana kind of stole my thunder just a tad bit. And, um, I've heard my other council members say that they're they're not judging, right? And, um, clearly I'm judging. I'm judging. I'm I'm not, but I'm not judging you. I'm I'm judging the project. And again, my concern is the well-being of the people who may live there. And uh the the thunder that Councilwoman Clint Quintana stole was the the you said that they could walk to work. So yeah, where are they going to work? Are they going to work at the Food Lion? Are they going to work at the uh Mexican restaurants across the street? Uh maybe Enterprise maybe. Um right. So it's it's just the the walkability and the the workforce housing aspect of the thing is is pretty much unrealistic. uh in addition to the parking uh because if someone did decide to live there, they they would probably have a car or two. Um and and then I think a a a key point that we're missing here when we're we're talking AMI and and we often talk AMI, right? But we never really talk about the people that don't that live in our community that don't even make $30,000 a year. And there's a lot of people who live here in Wilmington. And like I said earlier, the the top percentage of the AMI skews the numbers.

Absolutely. For everyone else. So it seemed like, oh, come to Wilmington. It's great. You'll you'll live great. Everybody's living great here. But they're not,

right? And so um I'm certain your other properties do have a 96% capacity rate. Uh because yeah, people have to live somewhere, but how comfortable are they living in in in these um residents? And um yeah, it's it's just I I'm still um I'm surprised. I I I am really surprised. And yeah, that's I I I'll let it be because I I don't think that there's enough here to to sell it. And I will say that this is this is my last point that I want to make. Um, for me, I won't pass just anything just for the sake of affordable housing.

Not asking you to. Thank you. Council member Andrews, I I wanted to go back to what some of the other council members were asking about comparison to the other properties. Did any of the other properties have a shortage of parking like this? Uh, yes, we did at River City Suites by how many by how many? By about five or 10 spots. And that that's also we we removed some of the uh parking from it to add back to the green space and that's what created our parking crunch there. I think John will end up like five or 10 spaces short. We also have EV parking,

right? We also had we also had EV parking there because they used to be the spot where the Dukes um sausage trucks that were local would hook up at night. So we had some EV parking options and then we had a mixeduse commercial building in the front. So at night when that restaurant closes or whatever, those parks open up for residents and then during the daytime when the residents leave um those parks are available for the restaurant space because that was a commercial district mixeduse um resoning. So we don't have that here. Correct. We don't we don't have a commercial space here.

I would love nothing better than to hope that people are going to give up their cars. Um, but we've actually a a year or so ago, we had a project that was near some multif family where we actually lost housing because they needed it for parking for multif family. And just earlier tonight, we heard another project where, you know, we were going to lose housing for parking. And um so so it it it does become an issue and and it becomes a um a quality of life issue too when you can't have anybody visit because you don't have any parking and uh you don't know if you're going to have your space available. The I'm assuming these are not going to be assigned parking. I I don't

you don't know.

I don't know because that's going to end up being with how the final operator decides to operate the project. We would anticipate that the parking spots are going to probably be assigned. Um I mean some of the units, especially if they're they're handicapped or disabled residents that are living there, they may not have a vehicle and they might get picked up by whatever local support group um is there because I'm sure that we're going to have some of those residents that are in need of care and support offsite and they need a place to live here uh and and they can live with us here and we can accommodate them without a vehicle. So, there are some agencies out there in town that have people that need to live somewhere and they don't need vehicles because they're picked up by community support and and whatnot. And that's some of what our resident makeup makeup will be. Um, we're obviously I mean, when we were doing our our perform a budget on this thing, we were not over $1,000 a month on rent. Now, I'm being dead honest with you guys on that. And that's including utilities into what we were looking at on the rental basis. um HUD coming out with that number kind of just blew me out of the water and I'm like that's more than what I was looking at for a market rate unit is what you're saying for the efficiency is. So I I don't understand where HUD came up with that. And to the mayor of Prom's point, yeah, our our AMIs here are completely skewed by folks that are moving into town um with higher uh income figures. And then it takes most of the folks that work at Dollar General, work at Walmart, work at Target, um work at Food Lion, um who are not making a salary like that, and they've got two, three or four roommates, uh here in Wilmington just to to rent a house or rent an apartment. You've got three roommates, then they're splitting utility bills, they're splitting all that. So, some of that is, hey, look, you know, your your rent is this, but your utilities are included. These other things are included. So, it's a benefit in some way to them because what their gross payment for utilities, rent, everything else is, we're wrapping at least some of that in here into one number.

I just had one more question. How many employees does the hotel currently employ? I don't know what my client's current staff is for operation because I mean that's where the real profit point is going to be from turning a hotel into long-term residential right is lower um

right we are required to have overnight staff as part of the consent order right now um how many people that is I don't know it might be one person maybe two people Um, but I can tell you that knowing what the income figures are from the hotel versus seeing what the revised performer would be based on the rental rates, it's making more as a hotel right now. Okay. I think you do. Council member,

thank you, Mr. Mayor. when you were running your perform numbers, um did you did you look at putting the workforce housing um at a lower AMI like 60%. Yes, ma'am. Is that something that would help? I mean, it would that would work. We we can work with that. Absolutely. It's within the margins that we we actually I think the 60% number is at where the 80% number was last fall. So yeah, we can make that work because uh that would make the rents to a little lower and also help um you put put you in the market of maybe some people that don't have cars. Yeah. Um

so that's just something I was trying to make this uh find a way to have this work out. I mean I I don't have an issue I think agreeing to what the 60% number is if if that's helpful.

It looks like um Linda's um calculating it right now. She is. Um, there's just so much asphalt right around there. It seems like there'd be an opportunity to lease some parking spaces because, you know, all the parking is over done except for maybe at the rental car place. There probably plenty of parking needed,

but um that seems like an opportunity to do some shared parking um back there with the restaurant. So, I mean, I think that makes sense. Um and it's definitely something to explore further when the time's right. So, but obviously we don't have anything.

You're not here tonight with it. I understand. Correct. So, if you went with a 60% AMI, uh, instead of going with high home rent, you'd probably be looking at a low home rent, which would be $948 for rent. That's still $100 more than where we were last fall. We're good with that number because that was the market rate number we were looking at for the units last fall. You were looking at that for the market rate units.

We were looking at 951 being the market rate unit number and that's the number that I have plugged into the the spreadsheet on my computer for this thing. And it it it works as a project at 951 for the market rate and we budgeted 854 for the uh the HUD uh the HUD rent units. So that's those were the numbers we were working with was 854 and 950, you know, 950 a month for rent including utilities. You can't find that else anywhere else in town except at maybe Vivo and River City suites because they're other adaptive reuse projects. And you said you didn't put in those amenities. They already were there like the pool and the um

correct. In fact, the pool um I think it had to get like a new pump over at River City because it was completely green um and was not being maintained cuz the hotel was not functional and the rooms there were completely destroyed uh from the the previous uh from Florence and at Vivo uh the pool there had been working for forever and was just you know part of the hotel. Thanks Linda. Uh what is the rent at Starway Village? Do you know have that number?

I do not. We will try and find that out. Um I can tell you that the 60% uh the the income for a single person household at 60% AMI would be 45,560. So just to put that in perspective. Okay. Just Linda, I'm just This is a question for staff. I know that you guys denied it based on the some of the amenity issues and the parking issues and what have you. Would you hypothetically would you have supported this if they would have been able to meet that criteria, the lower income criteria or the the development aspects of of the development? Obviously, this is an

Yeah, I think I think our concern was coming from again looking at this as converting to something someplace where somebody's going to live every single day and and looking at what having quality housing for all residents. So, if we had had open space and amenities, the parking um I think as Pat mentioned, if you did more units at affordable, our code already provides reductions in parking based on affordability, based on that assumption that the lower you go in terms of income, you may have people who don't have vehicles. So, the parking space requirements for the workforce housing units is a half a space per unit as compared to I believe it's one and a half spaces per unit. um typically speaking for a studio or one-bedroom apartment. Additionally, the code provides a further reduction for proximity to transit service. So, all of this parking has has been reduced based on its location on a transit line, the number of workforce housing units. And so, if they had done more workforce housing units, you wouldn't even need a parking variance. That would that would not be on the table. Um, if they had included a a commercial component, the density variance would not have been required because we allow and they actually the reason you they wouldn't be here this evening because in the regional business district you can do a commercial district mixed use and if you provide 10% of those units is workforce housing and you have a commercial component on site, you there's no density cap in terms of what you can do. And so really it comes down to that open space as being that that one remaining component. And and given that the grocery store was about a half mile away, the closest park was almost a mile. We were again looking at this and the and the code specifies that these things come into play when you go to residential. If it were going commercial to commercial, we don't even look at parking. So if you're going from office to restaurant with an existing building, you're not doing anything to the site. We don't change the parking requirements

just because you're changing the use. But it does treat residential differently recognizing that you you you are going from a commercial use to a place where people are going to be living. And there's no way to be able to I know you folks have I'm sure wrestled with this and and looked at it and there's just no way to meet that criteria, is there? I mean you've done it I mean you've done it on the other two maybe you had more land availability and you were able to do it on those conversions but on this one being very tight and and I've looked at the site it is extremely tight. Correct. in respect to what you're trying to do here

and and there was nowhere to meet because you have to have a certain threshold on your square footage for the commercial district mixed use with the multif family. There was nowhere for us to really have that uh square footage be available for commercial space and without having a tenant amenity center. So, you know, we're having that little tenant amenity center, meeting space, kitchen, common space. in the front left of the where the lobby is, there's a a manager suite or what you would call for the overnight manager to have to to go into when nobody's coming in to rent a room. Well, that becomes now a little tenant rec center room. Um, and then you've got your um your operations room, which is the current check-in lobby. So, there there will be an indoor amenity center. It's just not going to be having a grand pool outside.

Okay. And we did get the Clinton um when Tana just shared with me that at Starway Village the one and threebedroom units starts at 1,047 to,42 750 ft to,265 square feet. So, and I know that they're they're just about leased up over there. So, I know that I know that there's a strong demand for housing, all types of housing. Um and it's um and if if I may add, Mr. Mayor, the uh uh one of the other concerns that I've discussed with staff about this proposal is going back to the comment that Miss Painter made a minute ago is about the quality of the housing.

And so uh when we're looking at this proposal, one of the major components that it's missing is when you are inside the apartment to even call it an efficiency apartment, it doesn't have an actual kitchen. It has a hot plate and a microwave. And an efficiency apartment typically at least has a twoburner stove. And so when we're talking about not being able to fit in the green space and we're talking about not being able to fit the efficient parking or sufficient parking into it, it's because we're trying to cram too many living spaces onto a small lot. And the current apartment rooms are not even actually the definition of an efficiency apartment because they even lack the amenities of an efficiency apartment. And so we we would be able to do away with many of these conversations if the rooms were combined. If we to do a true adaptive reuse would be to make these actual living spaces for these residents. It would still meet the definition of efficiency. It would still have the income limitations that you can put into place and they can actually be something closer to an a true apartment as opposed to a hotel room that somebody is living in. And and respectfully, I would um question if there will only be one person in these rooms. I I fully believe there are many people if they're a couple, if they have children, they will be having multiple people in these spaces. And we recognize people are struggling. People may not have a lot of means, but so they're going to take a roof over their head, but is is this an actual place that that we would want to be providing for people in our community? And so so that's really where staff is coming from when it comes to um the quality of life. It's not just

what's in the code for the outside, but it is what the actual conditions are in the inside. Thank you. You and Mary may protect my knee. Thank you, Beggy. I I said that, but you said it so much better. And I would imagine that to convert those it goes through a whole building code and updates and correct and and I guess that's correct. That's the cost the ne that's the cost benefit or or

correct just cuz we have this here it still has to go through building code with new handover county to make sure it meets all the minimum requirements of what an efficiency apartments needs to be. So there will probably be further upgrades that are done to these spaces um based off of what we have here today. Okay. Anybody else? Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. This time I'm going to open up the public hearing and ask if anybody in the public wishes to speak in on item PH2. I'd just like to decode some of what I heard. Uh, no renovations means we don't have to spend any money on this. Not changing the room size means we don't have to spend any money on this. Not reducing the unit number for a more reasonable space means we can have more renters and more money. The HUD price change means, hey, we get more money than we originally thought we'd get. Uh having a wait list for a 250 apartment doesn't mean anything other than people in Wilmington are pretty desperate for housing. A reset space that people can barely afford doesn't mean it's good. Uh it means exploitation of people that don't have a better choice. To say we don't judge people for living in this space is wild. Assuming this is someone's ideal spot for them to choose to live probably means they're in a desperate place and this is exploitation of those people in desperate places. Thank you.

Anybody else?

Uh thank you mayor uh Mayor Pro Tim and council. Uh my name is Philip White. I live at 1904 Washington Street and I currently serve on the zoning board of appeals for the town of Ammerst, Massachusetts. So, I deal with these all the time. Uh, one thing you addressed a multitude of issues that I saw. One thing that I didn't hear addressed that I take huge issue with. Um, I don't see any way legally that we can consider that front green space to actually qualify as green space due to its proximity to Market Street. Uh, the applicant said they would have put a table out there. Maybe children are there. I don't know what commercial insurance company is going to write a policy for a children's play area or even an area where people are going to be standing in a green space that is 15 ft from Market Street. That is something that's a huge concern for safety issues. Um I would consider that to be probably more of a landscaping um barrier, but I do not see how that is at all usable green space. Thank you. Hello, Mayor, Mayor Pro Tim, Council. I want to thank y'all for talking about our residents. We know y'all are speaking about them being food lion and restaurants, but let's be honest, I manage a bank. I just pulled up my one of my employees's full-time salary. I don't get to choose that. My corporation does. They cannot afford to live here. They cannot afford to live here and they're a banker at a bank because our income is not up to where it needs to be. We're still considered a sleepy small town financially. However, we're outpricing ourselves. I'm thankful to be able to be in a place where I can afford it. However, I do have employees in the past who have lived in their cars instead of living in houses because they need a place to go.

They need a place to get their kids to school. And we do not have choice wrership at Wave. We don't. And until we get choice wrership, we are required to have cars to live in Wilmington. Thank you. Body else. Madam clerk, have you received any additional comments? No, sir.

Are there any further questions from council? Okay, I'm going to close the public hearing and ask for the wishes of council in respect to the item. Council member Andrews. U Mr. Mayor, I move to uh reject the proposed amendment. We have a motion to deny by council member Andrew, second by Mayor Pro Tim Spears. You have to read a consistency statement for the record, please.

I move to reject the proposed amendment to reszone property located at RB Regional Business to MD17 CD, high density multiple dwelling residential conditional district for residential development and find it to be inconsistent with the relevant policies in the comprehensive plan based on the application materials and the information provided at the public hearing and in the staff report as attached or described below. and rejection is appropriate as the the zoning request is not reasonable and in the public interest for the following reasons. The proposed development is inconsistent with the create Wilmington comprehensive plan and lacks amenities and site enhancements for future residents.

Okay. All right. All ready to vote. All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying I. I. I. I can't vote here, but I'm favor. I I I I I I That's unanimous. Okay. All right. Brings us to our next item of business, which is

Mayor. May I make a point of order motion? May I propose that we go ahead and move to um committee reports? Uh we've we've got a longer we're taking longer on the agenda than I expected and I know there's some people here who are simply here for report number one. I would have a motion to reorder the agenda to address that item. Council's naming facilities committee. Let's do that. All right. You go right ahead. So we're going to go ahead and move that the reports up. And you need to take a vote on that to wave the rules and move. Yes. Can we wave the rules? Can I please have a waiver of the rules? Have a motion to wave the rules. A second. Dave um Councilman Joiner's motion.

Mr. Joiner made the motion, seconded by uh Council Member Santre. All in favor of the motion to wave the rules, please indicate by saying I. I. Any oppose? That item passes unanimously. The rules have been waved. We will move the item RP1 at this time to the forefront. So, I'm going to turn this over to um Council Member Clinton Quintana, who is the chairperson of that um committee.

Good evening everyone. Um I am Chaima, Council Member Tea Clinton Canana, chair of the naming and facilities committee. Uh the committee met on Monday, March 23rd for agenda item number one, which was the request to rename Greenfield Grind Skate Park located at 368 Park Street. The applicant being Andrew Bell, honoring Alec Chambers. All documents were included and the recommendation and action by the committee was approved unanimously. agenda item number two to rename the tennis courts at Robert Strange Park at 8th Street Center MLK in honor of Lenny Simpson. The rem recommendation of the committee was to continue uh the naming of this at our next meeting. Our vote was unanimous. Agenda item number three, which is the Wilmington Revolutionary 250th Art. uh documents were included and council has allocated 25,000 for this pro proposed pro project. I am going to call on city manager Becky Hawk.

Uh thank you Mr. Mayor or excuse me um Mayor Mayor Prom and uh Councilwoman Clinton Quintana. Um Amy Batty our parks and recreation director is actually going to share some additional information with council at this time.

Thank you Amy Batty. Good evening, Mayor Mayor Part and City Council. Last summer, city council appropriated $25,000 for an art installation celebrating Wilmington's role in the Revolutionary War to coincide with America's 250th this year. And the process that we uh chose to facilitate this project was for parks and recreation staff to work with Rhonda Bellamy, the executive director of the Wilmington, New Hver County Arts Council to develop a scope and put out an advertisement um commissioning an artist. Subsequent to that, uh, staff com uh, put together a review committee to evaluate the submissions and I'll go over the, uh, composition of that review committee over the next two slides. And then the process after that was to make a recommendation to city council's facilities and naming committee. The selection committee was comprised of city staff as well as our clerk, Miss Spicer Sidbury, who is also the liaison to the commission on African-American history. Evelyn Adgar, the board chair for the commission of Africa and American history. Lynn Ashcraft who is with the North Carolina Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution and also a chair of the North Carolina America 250 group. Uh we had representation from the Bellamy Mansion again uh the arts council, the Capefir Museum, the Burkham White

House, and another member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. staff uh made a selection among uh 12 proposals to recommend to the facilities and naming committee and the basis for the selection was the submission's relevance to Wilmington's revolutionary history, the artistic interpretation, the feasibility and durability of the material of the proposed uh sculpture and the strength of the artist's resume. Um you can see a mockup here on this slide and it is about 7 and 1/2 ft tall. The name of the uh sculpture is canceled cups and the artist is Stumbberg Gorum. And I'm going to read the plaque that is um planned to go below the sculpture um that's on the slide but is a little bit hard to read. Canceled cups plays tribute to the brave women of the Wilmington Tea. In 1775, as recorded by Janet Shaw in her journal of the Lady of Quality, these American patriots participated in a solemn procession to publicly burn tea in downtown Wilmington as an act of resistance against British rule. Such an act, especially for women at the time, was bold and socially risky. Yet these women were strong in their convictions, proud to openly reject such a luxurious commodity in favor of sovereignty. This artwork honors these patriotic patriotic women and their quiet yet very public act of rebellion. The steps that were taken again to um overview these the facilities naming committee um was provided with staff's recommendation at their meeting um last month. uh to make a recommendation to

city council tonight. We discussed uh several proposed locations and that conversation continues. If city council acts on this uh tonight, then the city would enter into a contract with artists to commission the work and then we would plan for the art installation and ceremony. at the uh presentation and meeting of the facilities naming committee uh there was a desire to see um uh the location at the foot of Market Street or close to that. Staff is evaluating that area and other areas um close by. We would also ask council to consider a temporary installation so that we can uh commemorate and have a ceremony tying this art installation to America's 250th this summer. Um, this is breaking news, but uh the city is planning a popup park at 305 Chestnut Street, across from the uh across from Thalen Hall, which is the former site of the city's administration buildings, uh, to be a celebration 250th popup park. We thought it would be um a great idea for council to entertain uh having a ceremony there and a temporary installation there um while staff continues to evaluate um spaces uh down u at the foot of Market Street and Water Street Park and I'll answer any questions that you have.

There any questions for uy Santaida? I don't have a question. Amy, thank you for presenting this and thanks to the name facilities naming uh committee. Um, I'm really excited to learn about this artwork. I got to participate in the reenactment of the ladies tewalk a couple weeks ago. Our city manager was there as well. Um, I'd like to think of myself as a woman who would have burned some tea in those times. Uh, and I know a few others as well. So, I think this is going to be great to see in our city. Thank you. You're welcome. Anybody else? Okay, Amy. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you, Amy.

Awesome. So, it looks like we have a motion. um by council member Celelet Andrews, a second by council member Cassidy Santagita. Um all those in favor I think I'm going right. Yep. Say I please I I any naysay? Motion approves. Passes unanimously. Thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Joiner. Did you want to say something? You brought this.

I didn't have I didn't have anything planned, but I guess procedurally, just to recap what we did, we uh thank you uh chairwoman for giving us the report from that committee. We heard that each of those the two items were voted out from committee favorably to city council. There's one item that's going to remain on that committee's agenda, but now we have voted unanimously to adopt the recommendations of that committee. Um, and may I ask someone on staff to give us a timeline of when we can expect to have more information? I'm not going to hold you down to a specific date yet, but when we can expect to have more information about when we will rename Greenfield Grind to the Alec Chamber Skate Park of Wilmington. We will get a timeline and uh put it together so that uh we can share it with the community and have a naming ceremony. Awesome.

All right. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Our next item of business item PH3, which is um for the 2027 annual action plan for CDBG and home funds. And at this time, I'd like to recognize our city manager, Miss Hawk. Miss Hall.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, mayor prom, members of council. This item will be presented by Gilbert Combmes, our community development and housing manager. Thank you, Mayor, Mayor Proam, and members of council. just here before you to provide a brief overview of this year's annual action plan. The framework that helps to build a plan and some variables that influence the direction of activities in the coming year. The development of the annual action plan comes with additional requirements such as this public hearing and a 30-day public comment period which started on March 12th and will end this Friday on the 10th. Before you are ways that we advertise the plan to receive public comments and staff plans to bring uh staff plans to come before council at the regularly scheduled May 5th meeting for adoption of the plan. This plan will include as attachments any applicable comments received during the public comment period. Here just some background on the overall reporting process required by HUD. The annual action plan builds off of the five-year consolidated plan of which the city is in its fifth year. City council adopted this consolidated plan in June of 2022 and it includes a needs assessment, a housing market analysis, and established goals for a 5-year period. The topic tonight is the annual action plan. And following the end of this fiscal year, staff will be before you to present the caper or the consolidated annual performance and evaluation report, which reports on the city's accomplishments and progress on long-term and annual goals. These three plans are all informed by other city plans, including the create Wilmington comprehensive plan, the fair housing assessment, and the strategic plan. staff look forward to an exciting year ahead of stakeholder engagement for the

development of the next five-year consolidated plan. Here the strategic goals of the consolidated plan and shown here are the funds allocated at the local level over the past couple of years and your general fund appropriations from fiscal year 25 to fiscal year 2027. CDBG has decreased at about f 6%. And home about 1%. This has resulted in a decrease of over $57,000 in federal funding over the period that you see before you. This decrease is due to federal funding budgets and allocations and not a result of the city's performance. HUD would let us know. Please know that HUD released the figures for CDBG and home for fiscal year 27 just yesterday. and an update to all amounts contained in the draft annual action plan, including general funds and subsequent funding breakdowns, will be required. This will be reflected in the document presented to you all at the May 5th meeting. It is important to note that staff in the affordable housing division and the satellite finance group that helps to support the division's programs are paid with a portion of federal funds from the dedicated federal funds and funds from the dedicated affordable housing fund. There is an administrative cap or a maximum percentage on both CDBG and home funds that can be used towards administrative costs. And as federal allocations reduce, so too do those amounts. In fiscal year 27, the administrative percentages from federal dollars will decre $7,000. This difference will be supported by the city's affordable housing fund. The funding in the previous slide helps to support the goals of the annual action plan before you. These goals are prescribed by the five-year consolidated plan. An important consideration each year is the surveys gathered during the draft

period for this plan. Ahead, I will share some of the top responses to program related questions and briefly describe how they support the program related decisions. This also provides an opportunity to share some of the programs administered by the affordable housing division staff. So the first question asked participants to select their top public investments of those listed. The top two answers as you can see were selected over 160 times. Uh there actually is a a mistake on this slide. It should be seven instead of six. My apologies. Um so the ones that were selected were to provide home buying assistance and support emergency shelters. This supports the city's hop or home ownership pool program and the desire for the city to support loc locations providing services for those who are unhoused. This question looked for the top most important types of public services. And the top two selections were job training apprenticeships and youth services. These two and really all those that are listed we have traditionally known we have supported through what is traditionally known as the human services grant where the city has supported nonprofit agencies in the community. You all are very aware that this grant is morphing into something that is truly transformative and we are calling that the community investment program for affordable housing issues. The top two are more housing options for households of 60 to 80% area median income which we have talked about a lot tonight or AMI and more broadly housing for those households at 80% area median income or lower. These responses these responses again support the HOP program and the city's owner occupied rehabilitation program which helps to maintain some of the affordable housing stock in the city with homeless services.

Homelessness support and prevention services and permanent supportive housing were the top two responses again further supporting the desires of the city to partner with a homeless service provider. As for a per as for permanent supportive housing, this very council supported secu the sparrow through land and funding for a 32-unit permanent supportive housing development that will provide wraparound services for 32 chronically homeless adults. These types of projects make a difference in our community and as you can see align with the public's desires. Before you just a table that breaks down some of the proposed spending from different funding sources. The figures shown are carryover from previous years combined with anticipated allocations. The proposed activities align with survey results focusing on increasing and maintaining home ownership, expanding housing options for households of 80% AMI or lower, broadening homelessness services, and supporting community partners. As mentioned, the draft annual action plan is out for public comment until the 10th of this month, this Friday. This is just a public hearing and no action is required at this time and a resolution will be brought before council at the May 5th meeting. And I just wanted to mention that the affordable housing division wants to thank you for your significant support for affordable housing initiatives and supporting our partners in the community. With new leadership and concerted efforts, our team is truly looking forward to the positive impacts that we can make together for this community. Thank you and I'm available for any questions. Any questions of staff?

Okay, push my button. Yes. Um, thank you, Gilbert, for the report and for all the work that staff has done on bringing this together. I know it's a lot of work. Can you go back one slide just because there um I think it Yeah, that's the one. I just was trying to take it all in. So, I don't have any questions or comments. I just wanted to have a little more time with the spreadsheet. So, you I'm sure you'll email this to us the the presentation. Yes, ma'am. I I can certainly do that. And there's a there there's a in the full report there's like lists of different um nonprofits that are recommended and things like that, right? Is that part of that? There's going to be a breakdown of the of the the spend. Okay. And then the city's programs and where that um goes. Yes, ma'am. So, great. Thank you.

Anybody else? Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you, sir. This time I'm going to go to the public hearing and ask for anybody in the public wishes to speak on item PH3.

Seeing none, madame clerk, have you had any comments to read to the record? No sir, I have not. Okay. Are there any further questions from co from uh council? Okay. I would now close the public hearing and this was a public hearing only. So no action was taken at this time. So, we'll move on to our next item of business, which is our ordinances. Item 01 is an ordinance reappropriating 1.7 million in the building improvement capital projects fund to create a 1.25 million reserve for lease, facilities, maintenance, and improvements and to pay 450,000 burger commissions at this time to recognize city manager, Miss Hawk. Miss Hawk.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, mayor, prom, members of council. This item will be presented by Courtney Salgado, our property acquisition specialist.

Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Mayor. Mayor Proin, members of city council, I'm pleased to be here tonight to present the first item from the newly organized property management division within the um asset and property management department with the city. Um I'm here to present an ordinance that reappropriates 1.7 million within the building improvements capital project funds to better align with funds within the city's current needs and priorities. As you may recall, in August of 2024, city council approved 1.7 million for improvements to two cityowned properties. The building at 115 North Thirdrd Street and the deck at 114 North 22nd Street. Those improvements were tied to a proposed lease agreement with the United States General Service Administration or the GSA. Since that time, the city is not moving forward with the GSA lease due to rising costs and uncertainty about total project expenses. As a result, those funds are no longer needed for the original purpose and are now available to be reassigned. This ordinance proposes a strategic reallocation of those funds in two parts. First, 1.25 25 million will remain within the building improvements capital project fund and be used to reestablish a dedicated reserve for maintenance and improvements to leased properties and city facilities. This will allow us to proactively address ongoing future needs across city properties including public safety and security needs. Second, the remaining 450 will be transferred to the general fund to cover broker commissions associated with executed leases. This is consistent with the city's contractual obligations with Kate Beer Commercial, including some outstanding obligations that are due now. This action does not appropriate any new funds. Thank you. And I'm happy to answer any questions.

Any questions of staff? What are the wishes of council in respect to the ordinance? We have a motion to approve by council member Andrew, second by council member Laauo. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying I. I. Any opposed? Item passes unanimously on first reading. Is there a motion to wave second reading? Motion made by Mayor Pro Tim Spear. Second by council member Joiner. Discussion. All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying I. I.

Any opposed? Item passes unanimously on first as well as second reading. And that brings us to item O2, which is an ordinance making appropriations of $212,285 in insurance reimbursement funds to the parks and recreation capital projects fund for the Enino Sports Complex project. Again, I'd like to recognize the city manager, Miss Hawk. Miss Hawk.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro, members of council. This item will be presented by senior project manager, Kim Gordon. Good evening, mayor and council members. The purpose of this ordinance is to appropriate insurance reimbursement funding that was re recently issued back into the project budget. For background, the Instino Soccer Park opened in fall of 2024. In January 2025, the the region experienced an unseasonably cold weather event. This caused significant damage to the toilet facility. Plumbing lines in the walls froze, plumbing fixtures froze, floor drains froze, and the floor flooded. We used project funds to make the repairs in time to reopen the facility for the Seaside Classic soccer tournament in May 2025. The reimbursement funding will go towards completing environmental permitting, replacing casework that we lost in the weather event but did did not have time or funding to replace and completing other small projects at the site. This time I'll be happy to answer any questions.

So there was no heater in there or the pipes weren't insulated to the point where we would have this kind of damage. We believe that we lost power for some time and we had um I think it was like 17 degrees for quite a long period of time and that's what you think happened out there. That's the theory. That's part of Yes. So Becky, in regards to protocol with this um I mean that's a pretty significant um break there. What are we going to do in the future since we don't know if there's power or not out there? If it if it fails, do we have any mechanism in place or we just take our chances?

Yes. After the event, mayor, we actually developed an inclement weather plan with the um with the tenant to um we developed a checklist that we um worked with the design team to come up with these items. um to go room by room, which includes um shutting down the water supply to the building, draining the plumbing lines, um making sure the windows were shut, um a number of items, room by room, and I believe this was made to be part of their lease agreement.

Okay, good. It's great. Okay, any other questions? Okay, what are the wishes council in respect to the ordinance? Motion to approve by council member Joiner, second by council member Clinton Quintana. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying I. I. Any opposed? I pass unanimously on first reading. Is there a motion to wave second reading? Motion made by council member L, second by council member Andrews. Discussion. All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying I.

I. Any opposed? Item passes unanimously on first as well as second reading. That brings us to our next item business. Thank you. That brings us to our next item of business, which is item 03A, which is an ordinance making a supplemental appropriation of $131,78 from the Capefir Public Utility Authority to the Capital Improvement Projects Fund for the Front Street Bridge Rehabilitation Project. And then there's a accompanying resolution of item 03B, which is a resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into an interlocal agreement with the Capefir public utility authority in an amount not to exceed $131,78 for the front street bridge rehabilitation project. Again, like to recognize our city manager, Miss Hawk. Miss Hawk.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, mayor prom members of council. This item will be presented by project manager Kyle Burton. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Prom, and members of council. Before you tonight is a resolution that authorizes the city manager to enter into an interlocal agreement with the Capefare Public Utility Authority for the Front Street Bridge Rehabilitation Project. The construction contract for this project was authorized by city council on February 27 February 17, 2026 and was awarded to Safo Contractors of Wilmington, North Carolina. Part of this project is the temporary and permanent support of a 10-in diameter water line as seen in the picture on your screen. Um, this water line is own is owned and operated by CFPUA. Following discussions with CFPA, this water line cannot be shut down and must remain in place and active throughout construction. Per the agreement, CFUA will reimburse the city for all costs associated with the waterline work at the completion of the project. The actual bid price of the associated waterline work is $131,77.65, which includes a 10% contingency. In addition to tonight's resolution, there's an accompanying ordinance that will appropriate with approval from council $131,78 to the streets and sidewalks capital projects fund. Passage of both this ordinance resolution is recommended. I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Any questions of staff? Okay. Thank you, sir. Thank you. What are the wishes of council in respect to the ordinance? I will take two votes. We have a motion to approve by council member Joiner, second council member Clinton Quinta. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying I. I. Any opposed? Item passes unanimously on first reading. Is there a motion to wave second reading? Motion made by council member um Clinton Quintana, second by council member Andrews. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying I. I.

Any opposed? That item passes unanimously on first as well as second reading. Now let's go to the resolution. I've already read that into the record. What are the wishes of council in respect to the resolution? We have a motion to approve by council member Joiner, second by council member Andrews. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying I. I. Any opposed? Item passes unanimously. That brings us to our next item of business, which is our resolutions. Item R1 is a resolution to amend city policy 212, paid leave. Again, I'd like to recognize city manager, Miss Hawk. Miss Hawk.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, mayor prom, members of council. This item will be presented by assistant city attorney Sean Evans. Good evening, Mr. Mayor, Mayor Pro Tim, and members of council. This will be brief. Um, our current leave policy um for volunteer leave allows city staff um the ability to take off eight hours per fiscal year that can be used for school events if you have kids or um to volunteer at any nonprofit in the community in the city or in the community where staff members live. Um what's being proposed is expanding that slightly to allow um an additional eight hours of leave for staff to volunteer in city sponsored community service events. Um this time as proposed could be used during working hours in which case that leave would be applied. It could also be used by staff for events that are occurring after working hours or on the weekends and staff at the um recommendation of the city manager could be awarded comp time off equivalent with the time that they volunteered. That's kind of it in a nutshell. I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have about that recommendation.

We have any questions in respect questions, comments? Okay. What are the wishes of council in respect to the resolution? Oh, I'm sorry, Miss Law. We miss Go ahead. Um, thanks for putting this together. As a former nonprofit director, it really makes a big difference when companies support their um, employees volunteering. So, I would just have a quick question. It's probably in the weeds a little bit. No problem. Um, is are there any restrictions like it has to be a group pro a group thing that the department does or that the city sponsors or something? Or is it just anybody you take the word for it that hey, I did this, I'm going to go do this. How does that do it on their own or or as a team I guess is my

the first eight hours can be used at any nonprofit in the city of an employes's choice. Um the eight hours are to be add are proposed to be added on are for city sponsored events. Okay. Um such as once this happened later this spring. It's a a collaboration with the Special Olympics and the Chamber of Commerce and um a lot of work at parks and streets and things things of that nature. It's more sponsored. That's neat. Yeah, that's cool. Thanks. Thank you. Anybody else? Okay. Whether wish to counsel in respect to the resolution, we have a motion to approve by council member Santua, second by council member Clinton Quintana. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying I. I.

Any opposed? The item passes unanimously. This concludes our regular agenda. Are there any items been brought forward by our city attorney? Yes, sir. Mr. Mr. Mayor, we do have a close session when you're ready for that. Okay, very good. Uh, our city manager, no items. Madame Clerk, no, sir. Okay, Miss Santaita.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, I know we've had a long uh meeting this evening, but I do want to take a moment to let folks know in our community know about an event coming up this month on April 25th that honors the the life of a young person lost in our community a couple years ago. Um, Nicholas Sorenson was a beloved son of two Katefir Community College instructors as well as an engineering student at CFCC. He died in a motorcycle accident in 2024, leaving behind his family and unfinished plans to earn a degree in aerospace engineering and enhance our understanding of the universe. To honor Nikki's memory and his unfinished plans, his family is working to create the Nicholas Sorenson Endowed Scholarship at CFCC. To support the establishment of the scholarship, they're hosting a volleyball tournament on Saturday, April 25th at Captain Bills. You can find more information about the tournament on the Captain Bills website, and I'll share details on my social media. If you need another woman on your team, I'm very tall, good at volleyball. Um, finally, I just want to say that there are too many families in our area that are mourning the loss of their loved ones because of traffic accidents. So, I hope we um also all see this as a reminder to drive safely and drive soberly and cherish the moments we have with the folks we love. Thanks.

Thank you. Thank you, Council Andrew.

Yes. I just wanted to um congratulate the Making Waves Foundation um of which I am the chair and um um Miss Everheart is one of the members um for um getting a grant from the endowment for $15,000 that we're going to be able to use to um provide bus passes to organizations that uh serve underserved populations. So, I'm very excited about that. and to also mention that we're still looking for a couple more board members. So, if that's something that you're interested in working on, um there is an application on the way of transit website.

Very good. Mayor Pro.

Yes, sir. Just want to acknowledge the passing of uh two great people uh within our community. um within the past week I've was honored to uh attend their uh going home ceremonies and and that would happen to be Mr. Bernard Robinson who was really uh influential within the New H County Democratic Party and within the community um huge loss for the community and also Harry Johnson uh unsung hero uh really just I I was surprised by both passions but uh Mr. Johnson is just, you know, call him Duck, but just just a great guy, uh was a great guy. Both great guys and um they will truly be lost uh within this the community of Wilmington just serving uh politically and and and Mr. Johnson helped a lot with the homeless population and just just a great guy. Um and and I want to say this. I I received a phone call yesterday about some of the incidents that have taken place um in the past month or so and and I've said this before about politeness. Um you know, young lady called me yesterday. She said that she was one of my constituents and she just went on and on and on about how she needed answers and uh she didn't I asked her what answers and she just told me that I needed to do my job and she's right but I would need to know the answers that the questions that she needs answers to and I would have to have the answers myself to provide them to her. But I I think again I've said it before I'm going to say it again. We've learned this way of interacting with elected officials and and and people of authority. Uh we learn it from TV shows or I don't know where we get it from. Uh it but it it's it's not kind. Um you

know, everybody we're all humans. We we all deserve respect. And you know, whether you agree or not, I I mean, I I answered the phone, so you could at least said hello, and you know, I I'd like to express my concerns about something with you. But I just think that, you know, that mannerism or that attitude towards everybody that is in a role of authority or an elected official or you feel like we're all uh shy individuals or whatever is is just it's not good. It's not cool. We say that it's not it's it's not it's not positive. It's not it's not it doesn't create a environment for positive banter or um solutions to to take place within our community. So I would just say be mindful of all people when when you have an issue. We understand that things are going on in the community and um I I feel like there's a consensus that if any of the seven of us have information, we will most certainly disseminate it to the public. So, thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Councilman Clint.

I will simply say uh last week I sent out a message to the public to stop the violence. Unfortunately, that message was um taken out of context um definitely on social media and uh you know who you are and thank you for that. But I will still say the same message today, tonight. I'm asking for everyone here and anyone out there listening to take it back to your community to please stop the violence. It didn't stop last week. We had more violence. Um, this is not about because there are events coming up. We have events all the time in this city, but the violence has gotten worse. And just for the record, I know that we get um several of us, especially Kevin and myself, get questions about um, hey, what's going on with this investigation and so forth. We cannot, we don't have the information, you all. If it's an investigation, they're not giving it to us. That defeats the purpose of it being an investigation. So, I just want to put that out there. I'm still saying the same thing tonight. It's not with a little bit of attitude. It's with a lot of attitude. Please take this back to the community. Stop the violence. Thank you.

Council member Law. No, sir. Council member Joiner. No. Thank you. Pardon me.

Okay. U before I go into close session, I do want to uh share um I had an opportunity to go with the American Flood Coalition with several mayors from the eastern part of the state to the western part of the state. Um they helped us during Hurricane Florence. A lot of the 911 centers that were down during the hurricane were rerouted through New Hover County and other communities here. our swift bo um water um rescue team from New Hover County Fire as well as Wilmington Fire Department were there rescuing people during the after in the aftermath of that storm and they just wanted to share with us how they felt about our communities in the east helping those communities in the west and they have made a remarkable comeback. There's a lot of recovery left to do, but for the most part, they are open for business. And one of the things that they did share with me to tell everybody here was to make certain and to tell them that they are still open for business because the majority of their economy is based on tourism. So, just please tell your friends and neighbors if you're thinking about visiting the mountains in the summer or the fall, please do so because it is open. It's a beautiful area. They've cleaned up a lot of the the effects of the um of the hurricane, but they're in the recovery efforts and just like we were down here with Florence, you know, they having to go through the process with FEMA and the state and all that, but they're going to get there and they've done a remarkable job. But what I was glad to see was the camaraderie and the support that this community and other communities throughout the state and even the country that have given those folks in the western part of the state which now I think the total is about $64 billion in damage being the costliest storm in North Carolina history. And it's not a matter if if it's going to happen. It's going to when it will happen here in Wilmington again. We will be hit with a hurricane at some point in time. Hopefully not now, not this year or next, but it does happen

from time to time. Mother nature is mother nature. And she's going to do what she's going to do. But when those times happen, that's when you see the best in humanity. That's when you see people coming together. And it's not about political parties or tribes. It's not about neighbor. It's about people helping each other. And I saw that firsthand. And we should be proud of what we were able to help them with. And when we're in need, they have helped us. So, I just want to make certain that everybody understands the the sensitivity and how important it is for us to help our neighbors in the western part of the state. So with that, I'm going to ask that we go into a close session pursuant to the provisions of North Carolina General Statute section 143-318.11 A and3 and A and 9 in order for the city council to one consult the city attorney regarding the matter of the city of Wilmington versus Gamma Zeta Gamma Gamma Zeta Foundation Incorporated case number 24- CVs00002493- 640 and number two instructs um staff regarding the city's position regarding public safety. The closed session will be held in the Raven Park room behind council chambers. Only city council members and outside council for the city will be allowed into the retiring room for this closed session. At the end of the closed session, the council will reopen its public session and adjourn at that time in this location. So with that, we will now go oh I'm take the vote. So we have a motion to approve by council member Joiner, second by council member Clinton Quintana. Any further discussion? All in favor of that motion, please indicate by saying I. I.

Any opposed? Item pass unam. We are now going into close session.