Wilmington City Council starting its May 3rd meeting with several presentations. The City’s Gary Shell Cross-City Trail and River to Sea Bikeway will be in the spotlight during the month of May with Council declaring it Bicycle Awareness Month.
Residents are encouraged to ditch their cars whenever possible in favor of carbon-free transportation.
“Consider riding your bike to work, riding your bike to school, riding your bike to meet friends. It’s a great opportunity to try something new and find there’s more than one way to get around,” said Abby Lorenzo, the deputy director of the Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization.
The month-long initiative includes the 32nd Annual River To Sea Bike Ride which will take place Saturday May 7th, 2022. You can register for the ride here.
Next, Staff presented the recommended budget to City Council at its May 3rd meeting. The budget prioritizes new investments in affordable housing, transportation and infrastructure improvements, and delivering equitable core city services. It also protects the city’s fund balance, which is critical to emergency response and recovery efforts, and contributes to the city’s consistently high marks from financial ratings agencies like Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s.
Council will hold a public hearing on the budget May 17 and will vote on the budget at its meetings in June. The FY23 budget will be effective July 1.
Finally, council voting to refund more than 500-thousand dollars in fees collected from short term rental registrations since 2019. This comes after the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that a portion of the city’s short term lodging ordinance violated state law.
RELATED: Where Short-Term Rentals Currently Stand In Wilmington.
“In case those folks that are out here think that we can appeal this, they need to be made aware of the fact that when you have a 3-0 vote on an appeal process, you don’t take it to the Supreme Court,” said Mayor Bill Saffo.
Registrations will no longer be required but other provisions including parking and nuisance-related requirements will remain in effect.
For more on this meeting, you can go to wilmingtonnc.gov.
City Council will meet again on May 17 at 6:30 p.m.