Wilmington delegation shares downtown-revitalization tools and programs with Rocky Mount retreat

Representatives from the City of Wilmington and Wilmington Downtown Inc. (WDI) described programs and regulatory tools used in recent downtown redevelopment and neighborhood-revitalization efforts and answered questions from Rocky Mount council members at a city retreat.

Chad (City of Wilmington representative) introduced a delegation that included Tom Moten, Wilmington’s deputy city manager; Linda Painter, planning and development services director; Rachel Schuler, director of housing and neighborhood services; and Christina Haley, president and CEO of Wilmington Downtown Inc. The delegation framed its remarks as practical examples Rocky Mount could adapt.

Linda Painter described Wilmington’s planning framework and implementation tools, saying the city adopted a comprehensive plan in 2016 and later rewrote its land-development code in 2021. Painter said the 2021 code rewrite removed burdensome requirements on accessory dwelling units and reduced the number of uses requiring special-use permits, expanded tree-protection standards and enabled “missing middle” housing in more districts. She highlighted a small-area initiative that rezoned more than 600 parcels to an urban commercial mixed-use district and pointed to a private redevelopment called the Cargo District, where staff worked with a developer to allow repurposed shipping containers and says the appraised value of that site rose from about $65,000 (2016) to nearly $2,000,000 (2025).

Rachel Schuler summarized Wilmington’s housing and neighborhood programs. She said the city created a housing-and-neighborhood-services department and pursues a mix of interventions across supply, stability and subsidy. Schuler noted the city layers local funds, federal Community Development Block Grant and HOME program dollars, and other financing to support projects; she cited Avenue Flats as an example: a 184-unit tax-credit project with a reported total cost near $59 million that included roughly $4 million from the city, additional county funding and private investment. Schuler described in-house rehabilitation programs, down-payment assistance and eviction-prevention efforts and said code enforcement is both complaint-driven and patrol-based. She said the city has used owner-occupied rehab partnerships, including working with Habitat for Humanity as a general contractor on targeted projects.

Christina Haley described WDI’s role as a nonprofit economic-development organization for Wilmington’s central business district. She said WDI operates a façade-improvement grant program (50% match, maximum $2,500 per project in recent fiscal years), a revolving microloan program held with Civic Federal Credit Union (loans up to $20,000; the fund was described as “a little over a half million dollars”), marketing supported by a parking-fund allocation, and a Municipal Services District (MSD) that levies roughly $0.0647 per $100 in property valuation to pay for cleaning, graffiti removal, hospitality ambassadors and other services. Haley said WDI’s street-outreach social worker made over 500 contacts with unhoused individuals in the most recent fiscal year and that the outreach worker typically helps “at least one, maybe two” people a month obtain housing or shelter resources.

Council members asked detailed questions about several programs. A Rocky Mount councilmember asked whether Wilmington’s street outreach resulted in housing placements; Haley and staff said the outreach has placed individuals in housing or shelter at least monthly but acknowledged some people decline services. Another councilmember asked about Wilmington’s microloan operations and whether the food-truck concept called “Chow Town” uses rotating vendors; Haley said the program is active and the site under construction but did not detail the vendor-rotation mechanism during the retreat.

Wilmington staff emphasized practical implementation: code changes to remove regulatory “poison pills,” proactive rezoning of corridors, tree protections tied to permits and a collaborative enforcement approach for demolition-by-neglect that prioritizes repair and owner compliance before demolition. They described the municipal-services approach as supporting both public safety and business recruitment by keeping downtown streets clean and safe, and said targeted programs — façade grants, low-cost financing, and a holiday lighting initiative — helped increase visitation and private investment.

No formal policy or funding decisions were made by Rocky Mount leaders at the retreat. Wilmington officials offered to share further information and contacts for the programs they discussed.