WILMINGTON — A local nonprofit leader and former planning commission chair is seeking a position on Wilmington’s City Council to improve housing stability and development while preserving the city’s natural beauty.
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JC Lyle is senior director of client engagement at nonprofit real estate firm Wesley Community Development. She served on Wilmington’s Planning Commission for six years and is the former CEO of Wilmington Area Rebuilding Ministry, a nonprofit focused on rebuilding homes and assisting low-income home owners.
Lyle announced her campaign Monday for one of three Wilmington City Council seats to be filled in this year’s Nov. 4 election. Charlie Rivenbark, Clifford Barnett and Luke Waddell have seats opening on the board and none have made a formal announcement yet on whether they’re running another campaign.
Having moved to Wilmington in 1996, Lyle said she wants to give back through leadership, service and action. Her candidacy is focused on three major issues, including community development, affordable housing, and promoting environmental conservation.
“I’ve been working on these issues for a long time and this is my next step,” Lyle told PCD. “Bringing all that I’ve learned from the planning commission, and from overseeing the State Housing Trust Fund, and from a career in housing to Wilmington City Council, to guide us into the future because we have some really big issues to tackle over the next few years.”
Port City Daily spoke with Lyle to discuss local issues and the election. The candidate Q&A has been edited for length and clarity.
PCD: How were you involved with the 2016 Comprehensive Plan and what is your focus in the revision process?
JCL: In 2016, the city conducted a community-wide process for gathering public input, put it through the lenses of land use best practices and projected growth, to come up with a large-scale plan to guide the city for the next 25 years. At that time, I was an affordable housing advocate and interested citizen who contributed as much as I could (more here). Well, a lot has happened in just the last 10 years, so we will be updating the plan next year. I want to be there to make sure all voices are heard and valued.
While I was on the planning commission, we played a major role in reviewing the new Land Development Code (which should reflect the big picture comp plan) before it went to city council. My big concern was incentives for developing housing that’s affordable to people who make below 50% of the median income — because they’re our workforce, and they are, in my opinion, VIPs of the community because they help keep our economy going strong. And there’s a lot of entry-level positions going unfilled and people leaving their jobs because they can’t afford to live here.
In North Carolina, municipalities don’t have the power to force developers to build “affordable” products. So we have to incentivize them. So that was my big thing in working with the land development code rewrites — to put more incentives and reduce barriers to developing affordable housing. For example, we put some incentives in there for developers to include 10% of their units as workforce housing and made it a lot easier to build accessory dwelling units. So, we took down some regulatory barriers and provided some incentives to build more products that will be affordable to some of those lower wage workers and people on fixed incomes. So I feel like we made some big strides with that, but the work’s not done.
PCD: Wilmington City Council unanimously passed a resolution opposing H.B. 765 last week, a bill putting new restrictions on local government’s power to regulate development. Do you have a position on the bill and the broader debate around state vs. municipal authority?
JCL: I completely agree with the city’s resolution. The intent of that bill included promoting affordable housing. In my experience from the planning commission and in affordable housing as a professional, the term “affordable housing” is used so much these days, it’s almost lost its meaning. So you really have to put numbers behind it and identify your specific goals to make it meaningful.
Regarding the regulatory authority, the first rule of real estate is: location, location, location. I think that having the local municipalities make those decisions and have that power is really more practical.
PCD: Critics of the supply side-centered approach to the affordable housing crisis argue it fails to address the impact of corporate investment and profiteering on housing costs. For example, the Department of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit against RealPage and six property management firms alleges the companies distorted the market with coordinated price-fixing. Do you have a position on these concerns and the RealPage lawsuit?
JCL: It doesn’t matter how good our social programs are and how many vouchers we have if the housing stock is not there. So increasing the supply is absolutely the top issue. Obviously, with the basic law of supply and demand, when you don’t have enough housing, the price is just going to go up. On the planning commission, we approved a lot of what they call the “missing middle,” between apartments and single family homes. The missing middle would be the townhouses, the duplexes, things like that.
And of course we approved some more apartments over the last few years, and that helped the rental rates that were just skyrocketing because it helped increase the supply. So those things work. They can’t work by themselves. And the principle behind building luxury is it helps trickle down. Your new luxury stuff is obviously going to have to be profitable to somebody who’s paid for today’s land costs, labor costs, and construction materials cost, but they have to compete with existing units and lower their prices.
Like everyone else, I want to see how the lawsuit plays out and how it’s going to practically improve things.
PCD: How would you balance your goals of preserving green space and increasing housing supply? Would you advocate increasing building height in certain areas?
JCL: You’re right: Only going vertical is really going to help us solve this issue. We can’t build any further east and we’re not allowed to annex. When I moved here 30 years ago, cities could annex property from the county, and we are not authorized to do that anymore by state statute. And so there’s really no option but to go up if we’re going to pay for roads and keep green space and house everyone that is moving here and that need to be here.
There’s three kinds of issues with this: low density, preserving nature, and affordable housing. You have to balance those out. You have to kind of pick and choose where which one is going to dominate in each decision you make because it’s hard to have all of them unless you go up.
Some areas of major corridors are “growing up,” for example Oleander, Market, Carolina Beach Road, and Shipyard. They already have commercial property. And when we incorporate residential into areas that already have commercial property, then people don’t have to travel as far to get to services and work and entertainment. So the closer we can put people to where they live, work and play, the more we can keep them off the roads and major thruways. But we have to be gentle because people aren’t used to height and we need a transition between commercial and single family uses.
PCD: What is your view of retrofitting as a tool to increase affordable housing?
JCL: Definitely. I’m working on an infill project with my company that is going to house adults with disabilities. That’s a really special project because the infrastructure is already there and water and sewer are easier to build out, and they’re surrounded by community.
So it’s not corralling all the poor people in one area, it’s allowing us to live beside other human beings that may be different from us. And I think that goes a long way in developing the culture of the city. It’s not just about developing land, it’s about making sure that it’s going to have a positive impact on the culture.
PCD: At a September city council meeting, Mayor Bill Saffo and council members expressed concerns about the quality of Novant Health NHRMC’s care after a presentation by Cape Fear Five Star Project founder Jon Martell. How would you seek to improve health care as a council member?
JCL: We certainly have our voice and can advocate for the citizens of Wilmington. While we don’t have direct impact over health, the city can influence other issues like hunger and housing and those things impact health outcomes. Those things impact education too. It really helps us to look at these issues as part of a bigger cycle and focus on what we can control as a city to help with some other issues through the vehicles we do have control over.
Tips or comments? Email journalist Peter Castagno at peter@localdailymedia.com.
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