Wilmington council to consider proposal for apartments, commercial space on Oleander Drive

A rezoning request for 20,700 square feet of office and commercial space with 178 residential units at 6120 Oleander Drive is heading before the Wilmington City Council.

The development, known as Phase 2 of the residential community Summerwalk, was approved by Wilmington’s planning commission in September.

Constructed in 2019, the first phase of the development provided access to Greenville Loop Road and includes 102 townhomes and 19 single-family homes.

Under the zoning regulations that were approved in 2015 to accommodate the second phase of the project, the maximum building height allowed is two stories or 35 feet. Now, this phase of the development looks at rezoning a 5.82 acre portion of the property to include three, four-story buildings fronting Oleander Drive.

The developer plans for 178 residential units, 20 of which are intended for workforce housing for a period of 15 years.

“We intend to disperse those 20 workforce housing units throughout the development,” applicant representative Sam Franck told the planning commission.

Initially, the proposal included five-story buildings and 192 residential units before reducing the number of floors and units.

According to the developer’s plans, two of the buildings include first floor parking and residential uses on the remaining three floors. The third building includes commercial uses on floors one and two and residential uses on floors three and four.

Franck said that after taking the residents’ concerns into consideration, the proposal was updated to include walking trails, a pond, a dog park, several benches, picnic areas and shade trees.

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According to the traffic impact analysis that was conducted, under the proposed zoning, there would be a reduced number of trips -- fewer than what would be generated by the current zoning regulations.

Furthermore, the developer has already made a number of road improvements to the site, including constructing an additional northbound right turn land on Greenville Loop Road and signal modification and optimization.

Despite the road upgrades, Summerwalk resident David Smith still has concerns regarding traffic and density.

“I was told by the developer that he planned retail establishments for the property … now he’s asking for a change in zoning to allow 178 apartments and additional retail establishments," Smith said. "That will create an additional 267 residents with at least that many cars on a tiny tract of land."

The proposal is scheduled to appear before Wilmington City Council on Tuesday, Feb. 20.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Summerwalk in Wilmington could include more apartments, commercial space