Design Adjustment Committee Meeting – April 17, 2024: Minutes Approved, Abberly at Wilmington Continued
Design Adjustment Committee Meeting – April 17, 2024
The Design Adjustment Committee of the City of Wilmington met on Wednesday, April 17, 2024 at 1:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers, Skyline Center, 929 North Front Street, Wilmington, NC. The meeting was brief, with a quorum present (Chair Rob Gordon, Vice-Chair Denys Vielkanowitz, Member Travis Henley, and Captain Chris Elrod; Member Carel Vandermeyden absent). Two actions were taken: approval of the previous meeting’s minutes and a continuance request for a single agenda item.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes (March 20, 2024): The minutes from the previous regular meeting were presented by Chairman Gordon. Captain Chris Elrod moved to approve as presented, seconded by Vice-Chair Vielkanowitz. The motion carried unanimously (4-0).
Discussion Items
- Old Business – Abberly at Wilmington (DAC-13-324): This item was a request for design adjustments for a multiple dwelling development at the intersection of Alexander and Market Street, with proposed annexation and MD-17(CD) zoning. Senior Planner Patrick O’Mahony informed the committee that the applicant (Tyler J. Womble with HH Hunt) had requested a continuance to the May 15, 2024 meeting. Without further discussion, Chairman Gordon moved to approve the continuance, seconded by Mr. Henley. The motion carried unanimously (4-0).
Key Outcomes
- Minutes approved from the March 20, 2024 meeting (4-0).
- Continuance granted for Abberly at Wilmington to the May 15, 2024 Design Adjustment Committee meeting (4-0).
- The meeting was adjourned at 1:33 p.m.
Meeting Transcript
All right, well, I guess we'll get started. Call the meeting to order, even we have a very brief agenda here. Um I'm gonna go ahead and read the consistency statement for the audience. Um the design adjustment committee's purpose is to establish clear and measurable review criteria for the consideration of major deviations from the city's technical standards and specifications manual. The design adjustment committee does not consider housing type, cost of the proposed unit, occupants, building material, unit size, number of bedrooms, or the architectural design of the structures. These hearings are quasi-judicial evidentiary hearings. That means it's like a court hearing, and the committee's decisions are constrained by the standards in the ordinance and based upon the facts presented. All variants require four-fifths vote of the committee to grant the variants, and appeals of committee decisions are to Superior Court. Parties in these cases are entitled to an impartial board. If a board member has a fixed opinion on the matter, a financial interest in the outcome, a close relationship with an affected person, or have any ex parte communication about a matter. Please disclose that information to determine if a recusal is necessary. City staff will introduce the proposed project to the committee, and committee members may ask questions. Applicant may present additional information about the project, and members may ask questions. Since there are no items on the agenda, we guess we don't need to swear anybody in. So moved. I have a second. Second. All in favor say aye. Have approval of the minutes. Aye. Aye. Opposed. Minutes are approved. And then I understand we have a continuance proposed. Yes, Mr. Chair. Uh the applicant for item number one has requested a continuance to the May 15th design adjustment committee meeting. Any discussion? If so, we have to take a motion and approve that, correct? Okay. Yes. Well, I will make the motion to uh to continue the item to the May 15th committee meeting. Second. Second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed. All right, so that item is continued. Nothing else on the agenda that I'm aware of, so are we adjourned? We're adjourned. Thank you.
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