New Hanover County officials are eagerly awaiting approval from the N.C. Local Government Commission to move forward with Project Grace, a public-private venture four years in the making. However, that approval could become complicated by concerns from state officials.  The Local Government Commission (LGC) is responsible for overseeing and authorizing local govern ...

It is a moment more than four years in the making and we, as a Board of Commissioners, are unanimous in our approval and support of Project Grace and our desire to move forward with this impactful and transformational project. That is why we are asking Treasurer Folwell, who chairs the Local Government Commission (LGC) and directs the commission’s agenda, to calen ...

New Hanover County officials were in the N.C. Local Government Commission’s hot seat Tuesday as they faced questions and at times scrutiny over Project Grace, a proposed public-private partnership. The project entails the renovation of an entire block of downtown Wilmington, involving the construction of a new public library and museum, hotel, multifamily housing ...

It may have felt like déjà vu for some regional officials at Wednesday’s Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting. Leaders spent the bulk of the meeting relitigating a touchy subject: replacing the aging Cape Fear Memorial Bridge. This contentious and unfunded topic has come before the board numerous times in recent years and ...

After regional officials participated last year in a high-stakes vote against considering a tolling proposal as a potential solution to fund a replacement of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge, the alternative is now back on the table. In that contentious discussion last summer, the Wilmington Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (WMPO) board voted 7-5 to reject the ...

New Hanover County Commissioners Chairwoman Julia Olson-Boseman has asked the N.C. State Bar to consent to a motion to temporarily lift an order for her arrest related to her alleged financial mismanagement while working as a private attorney.  In a letter sent Monday to the deputy counsel for the state bar, Olson-Boseman admits she didn’t keep proper ledgers ...

The Pender County Board of Adjustment on Wednesday unanimously denied the appeal of Surf City Farm, which was seeking to reverse a county decision that reined in its bona fide farm status. As a result, the business can’t, at its Hampstead site, resell produce grown elsewhere. The county intervention arose because of the new business’s choice to outsource a p ...

New Hanover County is asking for-profit and nonprofit developers or agencies to submit proposals pursuant to potential affordable and workforce housing projects.  Earlier this year, the Board of Commissioners approved a new budget initiative that went into effect earlier this month, adding four new dedicated positions and committing $15 million over a five-year per ...

A new state law has hamstrung the town of Leland’s authority to annex property well outside its primary corporate boundaries.  Senate Bill 911 automatically became law June 30. Because it’s a local bill, it did not require the governor’s signature, according to a spokesperson for the governor.  Passed unanimously by the Senate and 103-6 in ...

The Pender County Board of Commissioners hired a new manager at the end of the regular board meeting Monday. The county will welcome David Andrews, the current manager of the city of Boiling Spring Lakes in Brunswick County, on Sept. 1 as its new leader.  Andrews is filling a position left open by former county manager Chad McEwen, who resigned in April to take a j ...