Jay Healy is running for a seat on Carolina Beach Town Council. His biggest concern? Finding a qualified town manager. With such a large budget, he says hiring the right person will save the town a lot of money. His other main priority is saving the town’s character.
With an estimated over 11.4 percent town population increase since 2010 -- according to the United States Census Bureau -- economic growth in Carolina Beach is inevitable. But Healy says, that doesn’t have to change what the town is now.
“Five years from now, downtown's not going to look the way it does right now… but the important thing is how do we do this and keep the town quaint? How do we keep it small? Because we have a lot of good things going on down there, we have live music, we have fireworks, we have Bingo -- I mean it is a homey downtown area.”
As more multi-use buildings pop up, Healy wants to see local businesses on the bottom levels, and suggests a tax incentive for them. He also would like to preserve old structures and trees, as well as green space.