Sunday, November 10, 2024

Port projects prompt concerns about 170 foot domes in residential area

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It’s not Chester’s Mill—the fictional town trapped “Under the Dome” in the television series filmed here in Wilmington. But some residents in the city’s Sunset Park neighborhood are concerned the show’s title could soon become their reality.

Residents in the neighborhood beside the Port of Wilmington are fearing the worst from two separate projects at the port—a planned cold storage facility and a wood pellets facility, the latter of which would plop two tall storage domes close to their homes.

At 170 feet in height, the domes, which are an inflatable fabric material with a concrete base, would rival the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, reaching the height of the operator houses on the port’s shipping cranes that tower over the river.

While the height is a concern to them, the proximity of the domes to Sunset Park—particularly Burnette Boulevard, which is lined with homes that border the port property—is what residents are most concerned about, along with increased truck traffic, noise and potential air pollution.

Several residents took their concerns to city council this month in a hearing to decide if the port could be exempt from code regulations requiring such things as landscaping and parking spaces around the cold storage facility, which is planned to be built near the center of the port. Since the facility would not be viewable by the public, port officials requested an exemption to the landscaping and additional parking that they say the public would not see or use anyway.

While the wood pellet facility is a separate project, the exemptions, as proposed, would apply throughout the port. And while landscaping and parking are not the neighbors’ concerns, they and others, including some members of city council, are concerned the relaxed rules would have unforeseeable consequences.

City staff points out the exemptions would be limited—to parking, some landscaping, and subdivision regulations and sign requirements—but they note the city would still retain authority over other code requirements, such as buffering standards meant to protect adjoining neighborhoods; building use, height and setback requirements; and stormwater management standards.

But council member Kevin O’Grady questioned whether the exemptions could result in billboards lining the length of Burnette, or some other undesired effect on the neighborhood.

“You understand what our concern is: you’re right next to a residential neighborhood, and they’re concerned,” O’Grady said in the hearing. “You’re asking to take away some of our authority here. I’m very wary of giving it up, unless I know we have some assurance that there will be no billboards, (that) there will be a commitment to protecting the neighborhood.

“That would be the kind of give-and-take that would make me feel better about this,” he said. “What I’m suggesting is, before we give up anything, we know what’s going to go in in its place.”

More than 20 residents of Wilmington's Sunset Park neighborhood attended a meeting last week with port officials about proposed exemptions to city land codes. Some residents fear the exemptions could lead to unforeseeable, undesired consequences. Photos by Jonathan Spiers.
More than 20 residents of Wilmington’s Sunset Park neighborhood attended a meeting last week with port officials about proposed exemptions to city land codes. Photos by Jonathan Spiers.

Ports officials maintained they have no plans for any billboards and that the exemptions are intended for the cold storage facility—a 75,000-square-foot building, expandable to 300,000 square feet, that would provide near-vessel storage of produce, meats and other agricultural products. USA InvestCo, a real estate development group based in Wilmington, is behind the project.

But residents are asking, if the exemptions are for that building specifically, why the request to the city could not be amended accordingly, to apply only to the cold storage facility. At a meeting with port officials—held a week after the hearing, at city council’s request—residents asked if the exemptions could be specific to the facility.

But the discussion about the exemptions has opened the door for the neighborhood to express its concerns about the wood pellet project—a facility proposed by Enviva LP that would accommodate annually 2 million tons of wood pellets, an energy source used in power plants in Europe.

Environmental groups have voiced opposition to the project and its expected impact on regional forests, which would provide the trees to be turned into pellets. But while some in the neighborhood share those concerns, most residents who spoke in the meetings this month are more concerned with the project’s impact on their homes and quality of life.

Johnnie Henagan, president of the Sunset Park Neighborhood Association, noted in the hearing that the neighborhood predates the port by a quarter century, adding that the group could not support a project that he said would produce noise, dust and other impacts on the neighborhood, and potentially affect residents’ property values.

At the meeting with the port, held last week, residents asked if the domes could be located anywhere else on port property besides the location along Burnette—near its intersection with the neighborhood’s Northern Boulevard. Laura Blair, spokeswoman for the North Carolina State Ports Authority, said proximity to certain berths and other factors restrict where the wood pellets facility could be located.

“Our options are limited on where we can put the domes, because it needs to have access to particular berths,” Blair said, prompting one resident to respond: “Our lives are limited.”

Regarding the city code exemptions, one resident said he foresaw such a change as a slippery slope.

“My concern is, if council grants the exception, you’re going to feel like you have free reign to do whatever you want,” he said.

Mark Blake, director of engineering and maintenance for the N.C. State Ports Authority, points out the planned location for the wood pellet domes. The map at the top of this story shows a bird's-eye view.
Mark Blake, director of engineering and maintenance for the N.C. State Ports Authority, points out the planned location for the wood pellet domes.

Blair maintained that the port wants to work with the neighborhood and address any concerns, though she noted the projects are the companies’—not the port’s—and that federal requirements may restrict what could be done, particularly regarding noise and sightline buffers.

Blair said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security requires a line-of-sight to be maintained around the perimeter of the port, potentially restricting any sound walls or vegetative buffers. But she said the port is talking with the Sector North Carolina of the U.S. Coast Guard, which she noted is the first line of defense for the department, on what might be allowed.

“We have asked the Coast Guard what we can do, not what we can’t do,” she said. “We are asking that. But ultimately, it is not our decision.”

City council will revisit the requested exemptions at its meeting this Tuesday. A hearing will be held after the meeting starts at 6:30 p.m. in chambers at Wilmington City Hall.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly identified the domes’ make-up.

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Jonathan Spiers is a reporter for Port City Daily. He can be reached at (910) 772-6313 or jonathan.s@portcitydaily.com. On Twitter: @jrspiers

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