Despite a pre-Memorial Day deadline for completion, the new public bathrooms at Wrightsville Beach sit unfinished, even as hordes of tourists prepare to descend on the shores this coming summer. (Port City Daily/Preston Lennon)
WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH The undertaking of building freestanding public restrooms near the central business hub of Wrightsville Beach is taking longer than expected. The initial deadline, set months ago, targeted an early May completion date. Now, Memorial Day which represents an incoming, sustained deluge of tourist activity is right around the corner, and the project is still incomplete and behind schedule.
A toilet shortage could be exposed in the coming weeks, when the town’s population and foot traffic will greatly swell. Previously, Wrightsville Beach leased public bathrooms in a retail building in the same commercial plaza. When the property owner sought to double the rent, the town nixed the lease, according to town manager Tim Owens.
Remnants of a socially distanced-marked lawn remain outside the university union, where Adirondack chairs were placed in white circles, personal bubbles, during the height of the pandemic. UNCW lifted its mask mandate Wednesday. (Port City Daily/Preston Lennon)
WILMINGTON Five days after Gov. Roy Cooper lifted the mask mandate for most settings, UNCW announced Wednesday it would follow suit and significantly curtail Covid-19 restrictions.
The university just began its first round of summer classes a period that even before the pandemic was dominated by online instruction and the campus is sparsely populated. But for fall 2021, university leaders have planned for months to host a traditional semester; the latest easing of Covid-19 directives adds momentum.
In Downtown Wilmington, Duke Energy employees replace power poles and lines near a company substation, as part of a wide-spanning grid improvement project between Orange Street and Forrest Hills. (Port City Daily/Preston Lennon)
WILMINGTON Duke Energy trucks clustered near the cobblestone blocks of downtown Wilmington’s Orange Street Tuesday morning, making progress on a multi-year infrastructure improvement project that company officials say will dampen the threat of extreme weather to power lines.
The movement to bolster Duke’s property with new power lines and poles placed in targeted areas downtown comes as hurricane season approaches. Areas around the company’s Orange Street substation, a local hub of electricity, will benefit from grid improvements that will improve service for nearly 10,000 Wilmington customers in the space between downtown and Forest Hills, Duke officials said.
Beach town leaders view the gear rental companies as taking up sand space for their own profit, while the companies counter that they provide a service otherwise unobtainable. (Port City Daily/Preston Lennon)
WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH A beach equipment rental company and its attorney hit another snag this week in their campaign to convince the Town of Wrightsville Beach to allow visitors and residents more egalitarian access to umbrellas and chairs on town sand.
The issue at hand is the section of town code that regulates business on the shores. Ben Rhodes, owner of Cape Fear Beach Rentals, has found himself operating in a “grey area,” he told the planning board on Tuesday. He and likeminded competitors can deliver umbrellas and chairs to the driveway of a property, but town code prevents them from dealing it directly to a client’s preferred spot on the sand.
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