At last week’s meeting, Wilmington City Council members heard a presentation from Tyrone Garrett, Chief Executive Officer for the Wilmington Housing Authority, on the Hillcrest redevelopment project. Garrett and a team of developers are still requesting a waiver for tree mitigation fees for the elimination of several specimen trees. The city manager hasn’t granted that request. WHA has also announced that it will likely be Fall 2028 before tenants can move into the first units of Phase I redevelopment of Hillcrest. They initially targeted April 2028.
Mitigation fee waiver
The Hillcrest redevelopment will occur in four phases, with the first housing residents 55 years and older in 99 one-bedroom residences. The overall redevelopment will include 550 residences, with both market-rate and affordable units. There will be apartments, townhomes, a community center, daycare, and — hopefully, according to WHA attorney Sam Franck of Ward and Smith, P.A., commercial space along Dawson Street.
Franck asked that council waive the mitigation fee in connection with the trees “that we can’t replant, that we don’t have room to replant,” adding, “the city has historically honored that request in connection with affordable housing development, and I understand that there’s reconsideration of that in connection with this one, and respect that is what it is.”
Wilmington Council member J.C. Lyle said she still believes that if developers aren’t going to save significant trees, mitigation fees are “appropriate, as assessing those fees follows the current standards in the city’s ordinance.” She added that this sets the tone for developers to do everything they can to preserve trees…