Wilmington City Council votes 5-2 to table ‘public camping ordinance’ to next month

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Wilmington City Council met Tuesday evening to discuss several items on their agenda, but a proposed ordinance showed council members are divided over how to move forward.

Councilman Luke Waddell introduced the public camping ordinance, which would change who could be seen along city streets late at night.

Waddell’s ordinance would make camping on city property illegal between 10 pm and 7 am.

Council voted 5-2 to further discuss during their first meeting in September, with Waddell and Charlie Rivenbark voted against that.

It would also bring the city in line with New Hanover County, which already has a similar ordinance in place.

But Waddell said the ordinance he recommended would do more than prevent people from sleeping on city property.

“It’s a reasonable, common-sense ordinance that says parks, sidewalks, and storefronts should be safe and accessible for everybody and that we prioritize public safety in this community,” Waddell said.

Waddell said the reason why he thinks the city needs its own ordinance is to restore order to the city’s public spaces, with a focus on combating vagrancy, open-air drug use, and lawlessness.

During the meeting, ten people, including downtown business owners, spoke about why the city needs to step up to stop aggressive panhandling, lewd acts, and other actions by homeless people.

Wilmington interim police chief Ralph Evangelous spoke during the meeting and said while his officers will try to help people as much as possible, there’s only so much police can do.

“You can’t make someone who is an alcoholic or a drug addict go to services,” Evangelous said. “They have to want to and we’re there, services first, housing first. But at some point, you have to say enough is enough.”

Councilwoman Salette Andrews said these issues are the result of the city’s lack of resources for homeless people.

“We don’t have enough beds, we don’t have enough very low income, permanent, supportive housing,” Andrews said. “We’re, we’re working on it as hard as we can, but it’s just not there. There’s no place for people to go.”

Waddell, however, said the ordinance he proposed, isn’t meant to specifically target homeless people.

City council also passed a resolution supporting the Wilmington Housing Authority’s pursuit of bond financing for Avenue Flats, a 184 unit affordable housing project to be built at 507 South Kerr Ave.

On Tuesday afternoon, the state treasurer’s Local Government Commission gave the green light to the Housing Authority issuing $28 million in revenue bonds to be loaned and Brad Avenue Flats, a limited liability company, to buy and develop the property.

The commissioner also approved a Cape Fear Public Utility Authority request for a $500,000 loan, to replace lead and galvanized water service lines.

And Council passed a resolution supporting more early voting sites for this year’s municipal elections.

Last month, the New Hanover County Board of Elections approved just one early voting site at the Northeast Regional Library on Military Cutoff Road.

Three early voting sites were used in the 2023 elections – the library, the Cape Fear Community College Health Sciences Building in downtown Wilmington and the New Hanover County Senior Resources Center on College Road.

Council wants three locations again this year, though the CFCC building is undergoing construction, so a different site would be needed.