Home Care In Carolina Beach, NC

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - Paid parking in Carolina Beach starts back up on March 1, but there are rate and hourly changes people should be aware of.

Town Manager Bruce Oakley said the changes were made after hearing feedback from the community.

“We worked through, listened to the community’s concerns, the businesses’ concerns and made some adjustments to our parking program,” Oakley said.

One of the major changes to the parking plan is that it makes parking free in November and December. Before, people visiting the beach in those months had to pay.

Business owner Jerry Hebert said having paid parking in the off-season negatively impacted his bars and restaurants, Buzz’s Roost and The PIT.

“In the past, we’ve only closed for hurricanes when the town shut us down, but because of paid parking this year, we had to go to closing down a few days a week,” Hebert said. “The people just weren’t here. Pretty much everyone was unhappy with it. Homeowners, restaurant and business owners certainly were.”

Oakley said he’s heard positive feedback from the community about those months now being free. To make up for that lost revenue, though, the town had to make adjustments to its rates and hours.

The new plan goes from March 1 - Oct. 31 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily.

Weekly parking permits cost $100.00. Annual permits, which are only available to Carolina Beach, Kure Beach and property/business owners, cost $40.00.

“We think we can bring in the same amount of revenue we had before,” Oakley said. “That was our goal: to bring in the same revenue we had in the past, but lessen the times and address some of the concerns we heard from the public.”

Oakley said if that doesn’t happen, though, the town council technically has the power to change the plan. However, he doesn’t see that happening.

“The town council could, based on recommendations from staff and our parking provider, change rates or change the hours,” Oakley said. “We feel pretty confident this parking plan will bring in the revenue we expect it will. I don’t see any changes happening this year.”

He also said the town is going to help people through these changes. Instead of being enforcers of the new program, he says they hope to be ambassadors. New signs are being put up that reflect the changes in rates and hours. The signs also list a phone number for people who have questions.

Hebert said he’s happy with the way the town responded to business owners’ requests.

“I appreciate what the council and the mayor did,” Hebert said. “They didn’t have to do this, they didn’t have to compromise. We jumped up and down and they listened and meeting us in the middle is really what’s supposed to happen. I think [the plan] has a pretty good chance to stay and maybe even get enhanced in everyone’s favor in the future.”

Hebert says one day he hopes to see paid parking only from the start of April to the end of September, but he doesn’t see that happening in the near future. Instead, he’s choosing to focus on the positive. Even, though paid parking starts back up again on March 1 with the rate increases, he’s hopeful customers will still come out and visit his businesses.

“I think it’s going to be a pretty busy March for all of us,” Hebert said. “And we’re excited for that, we need that.”

Copyright 2024 WECT. All rights reserved.

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - The Carolina Beach Town Council unanimously approved its 2024-2025 parking plan at its Wednesday meeting.

The new plan aims to eliminate paid parking during the off-season (Nov. 1 - Feb. 28) for on-street parking and town-owned parking lots. Councilmember Deb LeCompte clarified that the council does have the right to change this decision for the parking lots based on what private-owned parking lots do.

“It’s not that we’re going to set out to charge year-round, it’s just that we have those parameters so we can if we decide to because of what the private lots do,” LeCompte said.

From March 1 to Oct. 31, parking will be charged from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on the street and in town-owned parking lots.

For street parking, visitors will be charged $5 hourly, but there is no longer a daily rate.

For town-owned parking lots, visitors will be charged $6 an hour or $25 a day.

The council also stipulated they are considering making some parking lots “premium.” These could be potentially charged year-round at a rate of $7 an hour or $35 a day. The council has not yet determined which parking lots it would deem as “premium lots.”

The council says paid parking makes up 10% of its revenue.

“Town hall is not immune to inflation,” council member Jay Healy said. “Parking is one of the few, few things we have that we can actually control.”

Many Carolina Beach merchants, though, said the council’s previous method of charging parking during the off-season was hurting their business.

“Frustrating doesn’t begin to describe it,” Owner of Siren’s Cove gift shop Richard Nelms said. “People came in and would tell you ‘I’m not coming back.’ And that hurt, aside from business, the image that we try to present, that we’ve built over 100 years.”

He said in 2024 he hopes parking becomes better for both residents of Carolina Beach and non-residents.

Something missing from the parking plan that many had asked for, though, are parking passes for people who live just a few miles over Snow Cut’s Bridge.

Troy Eason has to travel to Carolina Beach almost daily. Two of his daughters attend Carolina Beach Elementary School. He says that the town charging him for parking because he lives over the bridge is driving him away from the community.

“The money that you’ve generated in parking, I think you’re losing out from a lot of us that are just over the bridge,” Eason said. “We’re locals, we’re part of the community, we want to be down here. But it’s hard to give sales tax money to someone who doesn’t want us here.”

Council member Healy, though, said over-the-bridge parking passes were never on the table for the new plan.

“People that live over the bridge take advantage of what we have, lifeguards, beaches, bathrooms and I think it’s fair as a resident that they pay for that. I am not a fan of OTB passes.”

Healy also said he recognizes this plan won’t satisfy everyone, but with only around a month to go before beach season, the council had to move forward.

“It’s not going to make everybody happy, but people have to understand that,” Healy said.

The council also approved a decision to appropriate funds to the Ocean Sidewalk Paving Project, moving around $430,000 to build the sidewalks. They have not confirmed a date for when those new sidewalks will be put in.

Copyright 2024 WECT. All rights reserved.

Back in March 2020, the same week the nation faced shutdowns and new social distancing guidelines, Jeremy Fenton and his staff at Fentoni’s Pizza were facing an additional challenge — keeping the newly opened pizza shop afloat.

“We opened up March 20, 2020, which is the day that COVID shut everyone down,” Fenton said. “We were supposed to have a grand opening party and ribbon cutting the day that they shut all the restaurants down. We still opened up the same day.”

More than three years later, Fentoni’s Pizza has garnered enough business to expand to two new locations.

The first new spot on the Carolina Beach Boardwalk is slated to open at the end of March. The move comes after the building that housed Fenton’s first Carolina Beach store sold unexpectedly last month. The second new location is slated for a space near Publix, which is located at 1018 N. Lake Park Blvd. That location is expected to open in mid-April. The Publix location will serve as Fenton’s main location moving forward, he said.

“We’re just waiting on final permits to be done and then we can start building,” Fenton said about his Publix location. “Super excited to not have customers pay for parking to come see me.”

In 2023, Fentoni’s Pizza was named one of the top pizza places in North Carolina by The Washington Post. Fenton said his Sausage Pop Pizza with spicy Italian sausage, peppers and onions and his White Pizza, a traditional New York White pizza, are bestsellers.

“Totally blew us up, caught us off guard,” Fenton said about the attention. “We didn’t know anything about it and then people started calling me saying, ‘You’re all over the news.’ We started getting people from Wilmington and Leland and Hampstead just to see what it’s all about, ranting and raving about it.”

Fentoni’s Pizza isn’t Fenton’s first pizza shop or business. He’s owned and operated several pizza shops and delis throughout his lifetime, including some before he moved to Wilmington from New Jersey in 1997. Fentoni’s Pizza is his latest business and will also serve as his last.

“I’ve been in pizzerias and delis my whole life up North,” he said. “When my kids got to about 12 to 13 years old, I wanted them to learn the way that I learned … making dough and folding boxes. This place had been offered up to me a few times, and my kids are old enough I was like, ‘You know, I’m going to do one more store.’ It was just a matter of me doing one more store before I retire.”

Have a tip for Restaurant Roundup? Email us at [email protected].

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Ready to start planning your family’s next summer vacation? School will be out soon soon and if a trip with the kids is in your future, Yelp can point you toward some good spots. They’ve just come out with their picks for the top 10 family travel destinations in the country. Fortunately for your wallet, one of them is right here in North Carolina.

According to Yelp, searches on their site for vacation destinations that are “good for kids” were up 88% from 2021 to 2023. To help parents find the spots everyone in the family will enjoy, Yelp analyzed searches for “good for kids” and “family friendly” that saw the biggest increases. Then they finalized the rankings with the expertise of Yelp Trend Expert Tara Lewis.

The best family-friendly destination in 2024 is Fredericksburg, Texas, located in the state’s Hill Country, just a short drive away from Austin and San Antonio. My wife and I used to visit Fredericksburg all the time when we lived in Austin. It’s known for its small town charm with a Old World German feel, scenic views, as well as activities like hiking at amazing Enchanted Rock. Parents will enjoy sipping a glass at the Pontotoc Vineyard Weingarten.

Speaking of wine, Napa, California, known for its many world-class vineyards, comes in second on the Yelp list. It’s home to the outdoor sculpture walk at Di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, nature experiences at Connolly Ranch, and shopping at Oxbow Public Market. A lot closer to home, Charlottesville, Virginia is third on the list with historic Monticello, hiking at Shenandoah National Park, and apple picking among the highlights.

After that, it’s the ever-popular Outer Banks beach town of Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. The surf and sand are the big draw but there’s so much more. You’ll enjoy the Wright Brothers National Memorial, plus the shopping, dining, and loads of activties, from adventurous water sports to good old fashioned putt-putt. My family has been vacationing on the Outer Banks for years and we absolutely love it there. You can see the rest of the top ten below!

(CN) — A Virginia couple that sued a North Carolina county over access to their vacation home lost their bid to get the case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Joseph and Linda Blackburn lost access to their secondary home in Dare County, on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic; starting on March 20, 2020, a public health order temporarily barred nonresident landowners from entering the county.

In their lawsuit, the Blackburns argued the order was tantamount to a governmental seizure of their personal property without compensation, setting up a debate over how Covid-related travel restrictions stack up against the Fifth Amendment.

But lower courts rejected the claim, and on Tuesday the Supreme Court declined to grant a writ of certiorari to hear the couple’s appeal.

The court offered no explanation for the decision.

Dare County announced the restrictions on March 16, effectively giving nonresident property owners four days to get to their properties if they wanted to quarantine in the county. Since the Blackburns did not arrive by March 20, they were unable to access their beach house until the order was partially lifted 45 days later.

Absent a physical intrusion on the Blackburns’ property, however, the restriction did not constitute a governmental taking of property, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals found. Plus, since the order was temporary, it could not possibly deprive the Blackburns of all the property’s economic value — a benchmark often used to measure encroachments on property rights.

Lawyers for the Blackburns pushed back in their Supreme Court brief, arguing Dare County had still encroached on the couple’s rights to enjoyment and use of the property. The right of enjoyment and exclusion are among the so-called “bundle of sticks” that typically define property ownership, the attorneys argued, and the ability to enjoy and use one’s property is just as central to the idea of property ownership as the potential economic benefit.

Therefore, the Blackburns said, to deprive a property owner of those rights amounts to a taking of the property.

“At a fundamental level, the ability to enter upon one’s property for personal use and the right to prohibit others from doing the same are the two basic tenants of property ownership,” the brief says. “To take one is to take the other, and both should be considered per se takings under the Fifth Amendment of the United States.”

Dare County attorneys meanwhile argued legal precedent is clear that a “taking” of property can't occur without physically occupying or appropriating property.

The county also highlighted in its brief that the limitation was temporary, and local governments routinely restrict access to areas in times of emergency. Even outside a global pandemic, natural disasters or violent incidents, like bomb threats or active shooter situations, often require road closures or other measures that may limit access to properties.

“Persons owning property in those affected areas have suffered no appropriation or invasion of their property, and such temporary restrictions have never been considered a per se taking,” the county’s lawyers argued.

The Fourth Circuit’s decision in this case has been upheld and cited in other cases, many involving conflicts over Covid-19 restrictions, county attorneys noted. In Golden Glow Tanning Salon v. City of Columbus, for instance, the Fifth Circuit ruled that the closing of a tanning salon due to Covid regulations didn’t constitute a seizure of property.

Courthouse News reached out to attorneys for both parties for comment but did not immediately receive responses.

Categories / Courts, Economy, Government, Health

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