WILMINGTON — Thousands of people flocked to the Brooklyn Arts District the first three weekends in February for the city’s first social district pilot program. It was a success, according to one city representative, who said staff is currently working through a proposal to bring its permanence before council.
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“We would love to go on the docket for a May vote, if at all possible, and have it activated by June at the latest,” said Tara English, owner of Brooklyn Cafe in the BAD and one of the social district organizers. “We would really love to have it in May, to give the city the full report on the social district’s functioning throughout an almost entire tourist season.”
Chad McEwen, deputy city manager, went before city council on Monday to share feedback as the BAD Collective, Wilmington Downtown Inc. and city officials are working together on the proposition. McEwen said it’s likely to come in the next couple of months, suggested to be every Saturday from noon to 5 p.m. No date has been set yet on its formal request.
A social district allows 21-and-older visitors to openly carry to-go containers of alcohol purchased from area establishments within the district’s boundaries and drink them while traveling from business to business. There are more than 50 social districts across the state since they became legal in 2021 to help drive foot traffic to businesses.
English told Port City Daily the BAD social district had more than 8,500 people come through during its three pilot events — Feb. 1, 8 and 15 — to visit restaurants, bars and retail shops in the area. McEwen told council this influx of visitors secured an economic boost to area businesses during the pilot program.
“And a lot of emails we received about the positive impact of the district were from businesses and individuals who were not involved in alcohol sales,” McEwen pressed upon council. “We hoped this social district would have that butterfly effect.”
It also affected other areas of downtown and surrounding districts, he added, noting people reported staying in the vicinity and even explored downtown proper afterward, whether to have dinner or shop.
However, those located in the throes of it all saw the biggest boost. Alex White — owner of Don Luca Pizzeria at the north end of Fourth Street — told council at the beginning of March the pilot program provided his shop the best sales in its history. White said he sold roughly one pizza every 90 seconds during the first weekend, aligning with BAD’s Coffee Crawl — doubling sales from last year.
“We sold out of pizza by 6 p.m.,” White said. “I started that day with more pizza dough than I ever had and enough for Sunday.”
The business owner said he stayed up all night to replenish for the following day’s service but came the next weekend with his crew even more prepared for the pilot social district. His staff — neighborhood residents — made double and triple tips than normal.
“It boosted morale and helped everyone during a slow season when it can be hard just to make rent,” White said.
While the third weekend was the best for Don Luca and the second weekend proved the least busy of the three, White said they still doubled sales than any other day of operations in February. And while he enjoyed serving people during social district days, its aftereffects carried forward.
“This put BAD on the map,” White said, noting customers from both Leland and Hampstead have since returned to his establishment after attending the social district pilot.
However, he wasn’t remiss to address concerns of nearby neighbors. Parking has been the biggest complaint.
Brooklyn Arts District is surrounded by homes, apartments and townhomes, with free offstreet parking for residents. Those spaces were filled to the brim during the pilot social district days. One Fourth Street resident, Michael O’Leary, told council during the March 4 meeting’s public comment that he left his apartment building at noon and upon returning that night could not find a place for his wheels.
He also is a recovering alcoholic caring for a partner who has Parkinson’s, O’Leary said.
“Listening to drunk, obnoxious people all day is untenable,” he said, adding the party didn’t end at 5 p.m. just because the social district did. “In life, I would have a choice to leave a party like that but that’s not the case now, folks — this a party in my living room … and I witnessed a multitude of drunk people getting in their cars and leaving.”
White told council he wanted to work with neighbors to address concerns but said he experienced a more family-friendly vibe at Don Luca, with people who acted responsibly.
City deputy manager McEwen told council no calls were received from fire, police or Alcohol Law Enforcement during the pilot program, despite the influx of people coming to the district each of the three Saturdays.
Still, O’Leary pleaded with council to refrain from “normalizing” alcohol as an economic booster.
“This is not a business choice, this is a moral dilemma,” O’Leary said. “Just because everyone in North Carolina is doing this, doesn’t make it right. … why not lead rather than be led?”
Council weighed in Monday with McEwen on the BAD social district permanence. Like White and O’Leary, parking concerned Mayor Bill Saffo — an issue he brought up since the beginning of the year when council first considered the pilot.
At Monday’s agenda briefing, the mayor reiterated council has “passed parking programs to protect residents” in other areas. This includes the 300 block of South Front Street; in 2023, business owners pushed back after the residents petitioned the city to make it permitted parking only. Other areas of the Historic District in downtown proper also consist of permitted parking areas, due to tourists taking spots from residents in peak season.
The city didn’t answer Port City Daily on whether it was considering the same type of program for BAD residents but rather noted it’s evaluating all options. The mayor suggested McEwen and city staff work with the businesses to push even more people to the Skyline Center parking deck, owned by the city and located a few blocks away from BAD.
English said BAD businesses are open to boosting signage that directs attendees to the deck. She also wants better signage with maps to place throughout the district. McEwen told council it also would include outlining the district’s 10-block boundaries clearly.
According to English, the BAD permanency would also come with reusable stainless steel cups that attendees can purchase and reuse to help cut down on trash and recycling needs.
“So is it fair to say after doing one pilot project to make it permanent?” Mayor Pro Tem Clifford Barnett asked McEwen on Monday.
McEwen said for the BAD social district, yes. Yet, tweaks were still going to be made surrounding crowd management and capacity issues, as lines snaked out of 20 or so participating establishments down sidewalks during the pilot.
“But there were no real issues,” McEwen clarified.
He said when it comes to other applications coming in for social districts, the city would look at the concentration of bars in proximity to other retail, since its goal is to boost multitudes of business economically. It also will weigh capacity and how it could affect city departments. For instance, McEwen spoke against allowing districts during peak bar hours, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., which may require more of a police presence.
Council would have the ultimate say over what’s decided, but McEwen said discussions have included doing only Saturdays and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m., or assigning districts various time slots. But nothing is set in stone.
“And if we have three districts that want a noon-5 p.m. Saturday timeslot, you can imagine the challenges that may present, say, from a fire standpoint,” McEwen said. “If there are three districts, you’ve got the likelihood of a fire inspector needed at three different places checking occupancy, checking to make sure fire exits and sidewalks are open outside of these establishments. And also in the context of law enforcement and ALE, that’s three different areas of the city that will have a high concentration of alcohol sales and with other areas of the city that have alcohol sales during that time.”
He suggested the city have an application process for council to approve a permit for the social districts and then they could consider the needs for each district individually. Currently, McEwen and staff are figuring out the internal framework and structure to make the process simple.
Saffo favored a permit: “It gives us a chance to evaluate and if we don’t like something about it, we can shut it down. All it takes is one bad bar owner that thumbs their nose at us and it takes an act of god to close down an establishment if it’s violating ALE.”
Council member Luke Waddell said his family attended the BAD social district and supported it during two pilot weekends. He was concerned about capacity overflow in establishments but said he still approved of it. The appeal, he said, was putting the onus on businesses to provide their district plan without infringing on city services — none additional were required for BAD, nor did the city have to dole out any financing.
Rivenbark agreed.
“This is not a street fair,” he said. “I don’t wish to see our services get taxed to any sort of limit. Not like you open the southern border and 10 million people flood in there. That isn’t what I envisioned at all — having to sit here and worry about having capacity to monitor all these social districts. I think you let the people that are coming before you that want their name on the permit [to] be responsible.”
McEwen said the goal was for a district to be self-managed and self-structured by businesses who host it. Though Wilmington Downtown Inc. has also helped BAD businesses with trash.
“City would maintain the district at its current service level, regardless of where the district is approved,” McEwen assured.
In whatever way a social district moves forward, council member Salette Andrews asked staff to make sure all residents affected are properly notified about the public hearing that will be held ahead of the district’s permanent vote. It was an issue she took up before the pilot, stating some people in Brooklyn Arts District weren’t properly given a head’s up.
O’Leary confirmed he wasn’t aware of the pilot program until a few days before one of the February events. Council member Kevin Spears echoed the issue but said he thought its reach went beyond Fourth Street proper.
“I don’t want to downplay the concerns of citizens in and around that community,” Spears said. “Impacts go down Nixon and Red Cross, possibly to McRae Street. I don’t think everyone needs to be sent the letter by the city — or if BAD wants to get out and do the work — but there was not a fair representation as to the positivity and effectiveness of this district.”
Andrews also asked that Jane McDonald of Coastal Horizons Center — once with Cape Fear Coalition for a Drug-Free community — speak to council whenever the permanent district is considered.
“She has suggestions for best practices around safety,” Andrews said.
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