New Hanover County commissioners will meet just once in December—next Monday, the 9th.
The board typically meets the first and third Mondays of each month, but both December meetings were cancelled in October, then combined for the meeting on the 9th—to be held at a different time, 4 p.m., in the New Hanover County Historic Courthouse.
Chairman Woody White said he requested the changes in part because December meetings often feature lighter agendas that he said could be combined into one meeting. He also said he was trying to accommodate a family vacation he had planned in advance, noting he cancelled a vacation last year in the wake of the Newtown, Conn., school shooting.
That shooting, which killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School, prompted safety concerns nationwide and requests from local school boards for additional security. Commissioners ultimately approved a plan that put a law enforcement officer at each of the county’s elementary schools.
Related story: New Hanover board of education asks for deputies at all elementary schools
With the board meeting Dec. 9, the related agenda review session—typically held the Thursday before each regular meeting—is likewise rescheduled. That session will be held at 4 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 5, at the county government center.
An agenda review previously scheduled for next Thursday, Dec. 12, was cancelled along with the previously scheduled regular meetings.
The agenda for next Monday’s meeting has yet to be released, but one item of business already scheduled for that meeting is a public hearing to decide a modification to a special-use permit. Cindee Wolf of Design Solutions is requesting a modification to a site plan for an existing special-use permit that would add 20 units to the Saylors Watch development, which was approved in 2005 for a total of 82 units.
Other county meetings scheduled this month include the planning board’s meeting this Thursday at 6 p.m. That meeting will likewise be held at the historic courthouse in downtown Wilmington.
Business on that agenda includes three public hearings: a special-use permit request to operate a childcare center in a residence at 1220 Potomac Court; a master plan modification request that would add a commercial marina and rezone 11 acres at the west end of Chair Road from residential to a planned development district; and a staff request to amend the subdivision ordinance regarding language for conservation overlay districts.
Jonathan Spiers is a reporter for Port City Daily. He can be reached at (910) 772-6313 or [email protected]. On Twitter: @jrspiers
