WILMINGTON — Adopting a new zoning code and setting next year’s budget highlighted Thursday’s Wilmington City Council meeting.
After over a year of discussions, the city’s new zoning code was approved after its third and final reading. With it being formed through an appointed task force and consulting with Warren County’s Regional Planning Commission Judiciary Committee, Chairperson Matt Purkey described this as one of the most unique ways of creating city legislation.
The purpose of the new code is to give a full update as the current one was “old and dated,” Wilmington Planning Commissioner Taylor Stuckert told the News Journal after the December 2017 zoning task force meeting.
The task force was a way of getting the community involved and to create transparency in the process.
Purkey and Safety/Service Director Brian Shidaker thanked the task force along with Stuckert and Zach Moore of Warren County’s Regional Planning Commission for all the work they’ve done in making the map.
Minutes of the task force meetings and the new map itself can be seen at wilmingtonzoningupdate.com.
Wilmington City Council passed its $43.3 million budget for 2019, which sees a $1.7 million increase from the 2018 budget with a 25 percent carryover.
Finance Committee Chairperson Kelsey Swindler thanked the administration and all the department heads who helped form the budget.
“This was a very smooth process. We’re glad to have it passed and ready to move into the new year,” said Swindler.
Also during council:
• During Water Committee report, council approved an ordinance approving the purchase of Fathom Water Management equipment for the Municipal Waterworks System. They also approved an ordinance “authorizing advertisement and contract for hauling of lime sludge” from the Water Treatment Plant.
• During the City Revitalization Committee report, the council approved a Hotel Lodging Tax request for $75,000 from the Parks Committee to go to the construction of the new David Williams Park playground replacing the old wooden playground. This was the tax request approved after the committee put a new application process in place for requests.
• City Auditor David Hollingsworth shared during council that State Auditor Dave Yost announced that the city has received the Auditor of the State Award for its clean audit report, according to a press release. The release also praises the City Auditor’s staff and that the report “is free from any findings for recovery, material citations, material weakness, significant deficiencies, Single Audit findings or questioned costs.”
