A ROW grant of $2000 was awarded to the Bellamy Mansion to be used for six story-board exhibits in the slave quarters. The mansion is currently enlarging the information displays about slave life.  

 

ROW President Phoebe Bragg and ROW Grant Committee Chairman Margi Ericson presented the check to Bellamy Museum Executive Director Bareth Evans and Board Chair Patricia Wilson.

 

Row is proud to support the educational efforts of the museum, which serves 25,000 visitors annually and sponsors additional events and lectures.

 

 

 

Each year ROW hosts the Law Enforcement Appreciation (LEAP) Dinner in February. The Wilmington Police Department and the New Hanover County Sheriff's Office are invited to share a meal with ROW members. Generous portions of food are donated by the members, and the leftovers are taken back to the respective law enforcement offices.

In the picture on the left, Police Chief Ralph Evangelous on the left shares a moment with Sheriff Edward McMahon. 

ROW extends a heartfelt thank you to all of the local law enforcement personnel who continually monitor our community to keep us safe.

 

 

Wilmington's historic brick streets are important cultural and economic assets of the city. They help define our historic districts and promote tourism. Unfortunately, many have been covered with asphalt or are in disrepair. In 2016, the city reviewed its brick street policy that was defined in 1987.

 

Over the past year, the city has held two public meetings and offered an online survey, and citizens expressed a strong desire to preserve the brick streets.  The city also studied traffic data and cost factors.

 

The City Council will soon vote on the City Budget for 2017-2018 which includes a Capital Improvement Program line item with allocated funds for "Brick Street Rehabilitation."

 

As part of the input for this decision, former ROW Mayor, Sylvia Kochler and George Edwards, Executive Director of the Historic Wilmington Foundation, formed a study group to develop a list of recommendations for maintaining and removing asphalt from some of the 3.7 miles of brick streets. The group found that while the repair and restoration of brick streets require significant upfront investment, brick streets are more cost effective than asphalt streets over the long run. A properly laid brick street can last more than 150 years with little maintenance, while a similarly traveled asphalt street lasts only 10 to 15 years. 

 

The work of this study group contributed to the positive outcome for the historic neighborhoods. To review the details of the group's recommendations, click on "Read More." 
  

 

Introduction and Summary

 

Like many tourist destination cities, Wilmington is considering how to regulate short term vacation rental businesses.  These businesses rent houses, apartments or condos to vacationers for very short periods of time, often a couple of days or a weekend. They are marketed and booked through Internet websites such as VRBO.com. Most often the owner of the property is not on site; he or she may not even live in Wilmington.  

 

One important question is whether Wilmington's zoning Code should be changed to permit the operation of vacation rental businesses in neighborhoods zoned single family residential. Under the current Code, such businesses are not permitted to operate in residential districts. The City is seeking public input on this and related questions at a meeting on March 17 at Forest Hills Elementary School from 6 to 7:30 p.m. 

 

This is an important issue for ALL of Wilmington's residential neighborhoods because short term vacation rental businesses are operating in most of them, including the downtown historic district and “street car” neighborhoods and neighborhoods near Airlie Gardens and the Cape Fear Country Club. If the zoning laws are changed to permit these businesses to operate in neighborhoods, there will be many more of them in more neighborhoods. 

 

The City has done a preliminary study of the problem.  The City found that the “majority” of short term vacation rentals are not “readily identifiable” by the City. They are marketed online and rarely have a sign out front. The City estimates “there are likely more than 100 short-term rentals…in operation within the city.”  Most troubling, the City found that the MAJORITY of them are operating in violation of City zoning laws. In a February agenda briefing with City Council, City staff conceded that enforcement of the Code, as it currently is written, is almost impossible. The City lacks sufficient resources to regulate internet based businesses that play "catch me if you can" with Code Enforcement officers.  

Some owners of short term vacation rental businesses claim that their guests are affluent tourists who quietly enjoy staying in a neighborhood and that the owners must keep their properties well maintained to attract such tourists. In fact, the affluent tourist is only one type of visitor using short term vacation rentals. There are many others who rent a house for the weekend because they plan to engage in activities a hotel or motel will not tolerate: large groups of people staying in too few rooms, engaged in late night, loud partying. There are numerous short term rental owners in our neighborhoods willing to rent to this market, and these owners have less incentive to properly maintain their properties. Even responsible short term vacation rental businesses sometime rent to these groups, because they generally not on site and they do not know what their guests are doing on the property.