As you know, our Land CAMA Use Plan is a collection of policies and maps that serves as a community’s blueprint for growth. These plans are a fundamental element of coastal management in North Carolina. We expect and hope the commissioners and planning board will use the CAMA Land Use Plan as your guiding principle when developing ordinances such as the Riverfront Mixed Use (RFMU) zoning ordinance. If you don’t respect it, then the plan and all the efforts to develop it were done in waste. If instances arise where it must me modified, it should be done with great scrutiny and not taken lightly. Agenda item (1.4) is an example of where the proposal is to modify the Plan which should be the guiding principle, versus modifying the ordinance to meet the plan.

Secondly, as you know an overlay district was created to define specific areas that are eligible for consideration for zoning as RFMU. We feel that this was done in a time when a lot was happening in the area south of the Battleship on the western side of the Cape Fear River. We are suggesting that it would now be wise to take the time to reevaluate and possibly modify the overlay district before you are presented with another such opportunity. Bringing this agenda item forward has pointed out one specific area that is of concern to Cape Fear River Watch. We feel that the area that is directly north of the battleship that is included as a component of the overlay district is inappropriately classified. It is an estuary and prime fishing area located at the confluence of the Northwest and Northeast branch of the Cape Fear Rivers. This area is also one of the few marsh areas that are visible from downtown Wilmington. This area is owned by the state of North Carolina and could be removed without impacting a private citizen or developer.

We have been given the indication that the January Coastal Resource Committee meeting will be dedicated to strategic items and agenda items such as this will be pushed to the March meeting. This gives the board time to allow staff to further review there requests to amend the Land CAMA use plan. Tabling this item, would also allow for you to insure that the public was properly notified of your intent to amend the plan.

Finally, we would like for you in this session to make a motion to remove the area we consider wrongfully classified as part of the overlay district from the RFMU overlay district.