- Full name: Dan Wilcox
- Address: Carolina Beach
- Own or rent dwelling: Own
- Years living in town: 21
- Occupation: Master Builder and Litigation Consultant
- Education: High school
- Club or organizational affiliations: Coast Guard-certified Master Captain; member, Boardwalk Makeover Group; member, Wilmington Home Builders Association; member, Pleasure Island Chamber of Commerce.
- Governmental experience: CB Planning & Zoning Chairman/member (3 yrs), CB Town Council (4 yrs); Town Representative to Ports, Waterway, and Beach Commission; Town Representative to Tourism Development Authority; Council Liaison to Carolina Beach Marketing and Advisory Committee; Town Representative to Carolina/Kure Beach Sewer Authority; Leader of Boardwalk Makeover Group.
I previously served as: Carolina Beach Mayor Pro tem; Chairman and member of Carolina Beach Planning and Zoning Committee; Member of Impact Fee Rate Study Committee; Member of Land Use Plan Committee
In addition to the above, I continually contribute volunteer time, equipment, and resources for Island events and organizations, including The Help Center, Carolina Beach Senior Center, and Carolina Beach Fire Department, as well as community events including the Island Day Celebration, Christmas by the Sea, Salty Paws, and many others.
Describe your platform; what you hope to achieve if elected: My platform is based on my ongoing commitment as both an elected official and a community volunteer, and I believe strongly that they are mutually important to our community. As Mayor, I am committed to insuring we continue the positive economic and community growth we have enjoyed in our town over the past four years; specifically continuing my focused efforts in economic and tourism development, improved infrastructure and services, and maintaining our beaches and inlet. I would also like to maintain my involvement in important County commissions and committees, including Ports, Waterways & Beaches and the Tourism Development Authority; continue my work to establish a sustainable long term funding plan for our inlet and beach renourishment; work for a positive resolution of the NC Aquarium Pier and Town Park project; complete our transient boater mooring park; and complete a Beach Access Park for special needs residents and visitors. Finally, I want to explore important new community projects and work to build more Public-Private partnership opportunities to enhance our community.
My specific personal and volunteer interests include my continued leadership in our business district and Boardwalk revitalization, harbor and waterway enhancements, bike path and roadway improvements and improved visitor-based activities.
Both my public and private commitment to Carolina Beach demonstrate my passion for our community and have helped create more local jobs and added important revenues to our town. I feel I have helped set a direction for this council which has been progressive and supportive of new ideas and opportunities, as well as, insuring we remain focused on managing our growth while rebuilding Carolina Beach and Pleasure Island as a nationally recognized destination.
We have made significant gains over the last four years in rebuilding our Town’s image, both as a place to live and as a popular family destination. In order to maintain our visitors and the important revenues they contribute, we need to continue the vision that has driven our successes over the past four years. Christmas by the Sea, Family Night, Thursday Night Music & Fireworks, Bingo Night, Island Day, Movies at the Lake, the Farmer’s Market, improved lifeguard services, more revenues from Freeman Park and the numerous annual events we now host, are all programs I have worked diligently on since being elected and as community volunteer.
As a direct result of these programs, we have seen an increase in room occupancy, business growth, and extended stay visitation, as well as, positive regional and national press coverage. My ultimate personal and public goal is to improve our resident’s quality of life while continuing to enhance our reputation as a family destination.
What do you see as Council priorities? Our priorities are securing long term beach renourishment and inlet dredging funding sources, continued infrastructure improvement (water, sewer, roads, etc.), development of viable alternate water sources (not just drilling more wells), and continuing our quality of life projects. All of these priorities are important to our citizens and it is equally important that we recognize the need to help fund these priorities by our only industry – Tourism. So as important as these initiatives are, it is just as important to maintain and grow our tourism base in order to continue to increase our tax base, which allows us to accomplish our community-based programs for all citizens, including our seniors.
How do you feel about the upcoming countywide property revaluation? The revaluation is not dictated by our town, it is a County process mandated by the State. Taxes are based on the assessed value of your property, something that is determined by the County on an area by area basis within our Town. Property values within the town are not determined as an overall appreciation or depreciation, but by separate areas within our town based on the appeal of the location and market influences. At the end of the process, my goal, and our Town’s, is to remain revenue neutral.
When we had our last County revaluation, assessments for some of our citizens (based on area), specifically citizens and stakeholders owning oceanfront and water-view locations, saw an increase of three to six times in their tax bill, while others in different areas saw much lower tax increases.
Therefore, since the last evaluation, citizens in some areas of our town have been paying a much higher disproportional amount of tax. This revaluation will adjust those inequities. In doing so, the folks that have been paying the most will see a reduction, some won’t see a change, and some that saw the least appreciation the last time around will see somewhat higher tax bills. This is, and has always been, the County’s process.
Other than Election Day, when is public opinion most important in helping you formulate decisions on council and how will you balance the desires of competing interests? There hasn’t been a day that’s gone by in my last eight years of public and private service to our town that I haven’t taken input from citizens. Whether passing at the grocery store, volunteering on the Boardwalk, at a Chamber Social, eating dinner out, at meetings, from emails and phone calls, or just passing in the street, I am always willing to listen to my fellow neighbors and citizens. And whether their opinions are compliments or complaints, I take them to heart and let them shape my public view, but without giving it any more or any less weight because of whom the individual is. Listening and talking with citizens is a responsibility of public servants and is what small town public service is about.
What are the top five issues facing Carolina Beach that you will work to resolve during your term? In local government, progress often takes longer than one would like, so it’s difficult to know what would be fully resolved at the end of my two year term. However, I want to fulfill my work to establish a sustainable long term funding plan for our inlet and beach renourishment; get a positive resolution of the NC Aquarium Pier and Town Park project; improve our water sources; complete our transient boater mooring park; and complete a Beach Access Park for special needs residents and visitors. I will continue to represent the citizens on the various town and County commissions and committees I’m appointed to, and will also continue my hands-on approach to finding solutions and opportunities that positively impact our town.
What types of businesses does Carolina Beach need and how do you plan to attract/encourage redevelopment projects to revitalize the downtown area? While our quality of life makes this a wonderful place to live, we are still a “seasonal” destination dictated by a heavy reliance on Tourism. We not only need to accept this reality, we need to embrace it and capitalize on it. A healthy business district promotes visitation, creates jobs, and provides services to our locals, adding to our tax base. One important strategy that I have been working on as both a public servant and private volunteer is to extend our tourism season by increasing activities in our off-peak seasons. In addition, I have been working hard to help make our citizens better local shoppers. We are almost fully independent as a town and I would like to think that our citizens could find all their basic needs and many of their impulse purchases at our local stores.
I think free market demand and the evolution of retail consumerism in our future economy will determine the types of businesses we can and will attract, but they all contribute to our tax base and help offset our resident’s tax burden. If we provide and promote a friendly, clean, and positive business environment – quality and successful businesses, including small clean technology companies and service industries will continue to come, and existing businesses will continue to expand or improve to meet growing market demands. All of this activity contributes to a balanced residential and commercial community and a sustainable quality of life.
Do you agree with the Town’s Central Business District Master Development Plan, and what can be done to foster implementation of the plan? I agree with the plan in concept. Our Master Plan is not a “Plan” as we typically think of a plan. It’s more a vision of what we could be; a list of key development options and features that a town like ours should strive for when planning for our future. We should continue to support the principle features of our Master Plan, which involved substantial public input through two administrations during its creation. But at the same time, we should be willing to tweak the Plan based on changing circumstances, economic conditions and levels of community involvement. If we don’t know where we are going, we won’t know how to get there, of if we’ve arrived. A good Master Plan that is created by its stakeholders, which ours was, sets clear future goals to work towards, and at the same time, gives us a yard-stick to measure our successes.
Do you feel it is possible to avoid raising property taxes and utility fees during your term? (Why or why not?): Our objective should always be to avoid raising our resident’s taxes, and in my four year tenure, I have never voted to raise taxes. And I think any candidate that makes that blanket promise is making a promise that is beyond their control.
However, since this is a two-part question, I’ll answer it in two parts:
Taxes: Every year for the last four years there has been talk about raising taxes, but so far we have not done so. In fact, even in the most difficult economic times most of us have ever experienced, without raising taxes we have been able to fund major town improvements, such as Wilmington Beach road improvements, #1 lift station, entrance and corridor landscaping improvements, continued water-line and infrastructure replacement, and numerous other important community projects. I believe anyone that is already suggesting a tax increase for next year, when we just recently finished our budget for this year, is creating unnecessary citizen concern, especially without knowing what next year will bring.
Utilities: Our utility infrastructure continues to age, at the same time, new demands continue to increase due to growth. We’ve been able to limit utility increases, but it is a constant balance between citizen services, aging infrastructure, and revenue. As a result, there could be a utility increase at some point, but only if revenue doesn’t cover expenses, which it currently does. And even if needed, increases in water, sewer, and storm water are generally infrequent and minor – usually resulting in one or two dollar monthly increases every four to eight years. I for one, do not mind an occasional utilities rate increase if I can continue to receive the level of services I currently receive.
What do you think about the Road Diet implemented in downtown Carolina Beach and the decision to return to a four-lane pattern? Council has voted to return to a four-lane pattern. I disagreed with the vote because it was pushed through without notification to the public, or notice that there would even be a vote. After years of substantial public input, meetings and planning, let alone the tax payer’s cost of our Master Plan and Streetscape designs, “anecdotal” information and political posturing forced this issue to be voted on without bothering to notify the very stakeholders that took their valuable personal time to participate in its original creation.
Regardless of the outcome, postponing the vote until the next Council meeting would not have caused any delays in the process or subsequent outcome. The public should have been notified of the vote. You cannot not claim to support open government and then close the public out when their input would be inconvenient or doesn’t fit council majority’s preference.
I also feel strongly that we made that decision without taking a long term view of our increasing population and tourism, as well as our need to meet State and Federally-mandated roadway funding requirements for improved bike and pedestrian pathway. We should encourage better public transportation as well, and I am working to find private sector solutions to providing island-wide transport options that will allow more people to leave their cars at home.
What do you think about the Town’s decision to spend $4.3 million dollars
on property for the NC Aquarium Pier as well as purchasing 1710 Carolina
Beach Ave. North? This is a two part answer:
Pier: We purchased the pier property for $3.6 million, not $4.3 million as you have stated. However, for the purposes of funding, we combined the purchase of a separate parking lot and some administration costs into a $4.3million loan, of which the pier is approximately $3.7 million including administration costs.
It is import for our citizens to distinguish between “spending” and “investing”. Even without the pier project, these properties have considerable value, which makes them an investment. As it stands now, Council is reviewing all possibilities for this property, including requesting a final “yea or nay” from the State on their future participation in the pier project, as well as the possibility of dividing the land for part use/part sale, with the use part becoming an additional parking and ocean access park. Obviously, even in a worst-case scenario, we would look to satisfy the loan using parks grants and sales revenues.
Next week I’ll be representing the town in meetings on this issue with Senator Goolsby and Representatives McComas and Hamilton, and the following week I’ll be traveling to Raleigh to meet with the Secretary and General Counsel of NC Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (NCDENR), and the Director of the Division of Aquarium. I will continue to work toward funding and a resolution for this investment.
1710 property: To put unfounded rumors to rest, the town did not pay $200,000 for a parcel valued at $40,000. The $40,000 parcel your paper referred to was a single, narrow lot that could not be built on. The parcel the town purchased was a combination of the $40,000 parcel with an adjacent parcel, to make one larger buildable lot. At the time we purchased the 1710 parcel, the seller had obtained their CAMA permit and permission to build. At that same, time the County assessed the newly combined parcel at $848,000 and we received an additional private appraisal that valued the parcel at $975,000. The county assessment is public record.
Therefore, the Town’s purchase of this parcel not only resolved a long-standing dispute over safety concerns with neighboring land owners, but also provided us with an opportunity to build an ocean access park for special needs citizens and visitors.
Most concerns I’ve read regarding the purchase of this property are due to significant “misinformation” and other misguided attempts to paint this acquisition’s true cost and value.
I would encourage anyone concerned, not to believe rumors about this purchase, but to visit my blog at campaignforwilcox.com for a more detailed explanation and to view the assessment and appraisal.
