City Planner Brian Chambers has watched a lot of rezoning hearings in his time, but this one stood out.
“I've been here close to 20 years, and this is definitely one of the top 10 that I've been a part of, as far as contentiousness," he said.
The land in question was zoned R-15: low-density residential. It's a 2.5-acre plot right on the corner of Independence and Oleander, and the R-15 zoning means nothing is allowed there except single-family homes with the possibility of adding an accessory dwelling unit. Now, after months of community meetings, planning commission meetings, and a final, nearly three-hour-long public hearing at the Wilmington City Council on August 6, the developer has what he wants: an MD-17 zoning, allowing a four-story condo building and 16 townhomes.
And while the neighbors are angry, Chambers thinks the development is a win for the city. Unlike the neighbors who live nearby, Chambers thinks the R-15 zoning is completely inappropriate for that lot.
“Single-family homes on a major thoroughfare. Who would really want to live and have a family with five lanes of traffic in front of your house? It's the safety concerns," he said. "Do you want the most multiple curb cuts for driveways to create more conflicts on the roadway?”
Developer Dave Spetrino, who won his desired rezoning, said he agrees.
“Look, if I keep it R-15, I'm not going to develop it, I'll just sell it. But somebody can buy this, and there's nothing preventing them from doing these rather unattractive things like losing trees, like not having buffer zones, like having driveway after driveway after driveway crossing our cross-city trail," he said.
Spetrino said he went to the neighborhood early on and told various residents he wanted to put townhomes in that area. He originally hoped to buy 20 acres of land for townhomes, and gave up in the face of neighborhood opposition. So, instead he bought a smaller parcel of just 2.5 acres and asked the city planners for a lot of feedback on his plans.
"I went to staff and I said, 'Okay, I'm going to do something I've never done before, which is, I'm going to do exactly what you asked me for.' Usually, I go to staff and I go, 'this is my project, and this is what I need.' And they go, 'well, it doesn't have this, or we want this', and we have this kind of argument over the interpretation of the comprehensive plan. So instead of me bringing my ideas and my vision, I brought a plan, and I let them — which I've never done — red line it, go over. I mean, to the staff's credit, they were very generous," he said.
Staff suggested he add sidewalks through the property, that he create an engineered wetland for stormwater runoff, and that he add a commercial component into the condo building to make it mixed use. Spetrino agreed to it all — somewhat unusual compared to other developers.
Chambers said it represents the benefits of developers working with staff early in a project.
“We want to have those conversations early on to see if they can improve the product to the best that they can, to make it more consistent with what the plan calls for," he said.
Spetrino ultimately got a ringing endorsement from staff for completely matching their interpretation of the comprehensive plan. With that plan in hand, he went through a community meeting where he cut a few units from the development, then a planning commission meeting where he got a recommendation for approval.
City Council voted in favor of the project — after removing the commercial component that staff had added in. And in doing so, Council passed Spetrino’s test for whether they actually care about the comprehensive plan.
But not everyone feels it was a win.
Christine Hughes is a former city planner, and trained Brian Chambers. She lives in the neighborhood and spoke passionately in opposition to this rezoning at the August 6 meeting,
“Tonight, I, along with many of my neighbors, stand before you asking you to protect our neighborhood from incompatible development," Hughes said at the meeting. "I was incredibly disappointed to hear two members of the planning commission state that they believe the comprehensive plan actually recommends this exact proposed development, when, in fact, there are so many policies with which it is in conflict.”
In a later interview, Hughes explained the condo building is too tall compared to neighbors, that there isn’t enough buffering between the tall buildings and the shorter single-family neighbors.
"My concern with the comprehensive plan, and in my comments that I hope to convey, were that staff did not give a fair representation of the plan policies. There should have been a more fair review of the plan policies,” Hughes said.
But Chambers stands by his view, even against his former mentor.
“I guess we disagree on what policies apply, and how they apply, and that's fine. That's why we have a public hearing to talk about our take on it," he said.
Now, Spetrino begins the process of a tree inventory, with an arborist helping select the trees on the site to save. And he thinks the community's perspective on the development will change after it comes into existence.
“Will I still be vilified? Sure. But what I have the pleasure of is doing what I do really well: which is building really nice places for people to live and something that can add value to a streetscape," he said.
He expects to begin marketing the condos and townhomes next year, and thinks some of the neighbors who live nearby may even choose to move into the building. After all, he says, it's the kind of missing middle housing that retirees may benefit from as they downsize from their larger, single-family homes.