The update of the Downtown Vision 2020 Plan entitled Wilmington Vision 2020: A Downtown Waterfront provided by the consultant, EDAW, Inc., is intended to provide additional policy guidance for decisions affecting downtown’s economic development, future land use, regulatory practices and capital improvements. The Plan recommends ten overall enhancement strategies which fall into the three main categories of “Celebrate the Waterfront,” “Complete the Historic Core,” and “Sustain the Momentum.” Each strategy is accompanied by prioritized “Action Implementation Steps.” These strategies and implementation steps are contained in Chapter 4 of the Plan entitled “Recommended Actions” which is the most critical component of the Plan. In conjunction with staff and Wilmington Downtown, Inc., EDAW facilitated three citywide public input meetings and followed up with four stakeholder focus groups and City Council phone interviews to receive input for the plan.

Please take a look at the PowerPoint presentation from the first meeting held on February 25th.  The presentation describes Downtown’s existing conditions.

For more information please call the Planning Division at 341-3258

Plan Background
The Wilmington Downtown Plan: Vision 2020 was completed in late 1997. It is a plan for the future of downtown Wilmington that balances the preservation of community character and natural resources with economic development. The Plan envisions the development of a living, working, learning community from “bridge to bridge".  It encourages a mixed-use environment of commercial, institutional and residential uses which characterize a vibrant downtown. The key strategies of the existing Plan focus on several different areas of downtown, but there are several overall objectives. These include:

• Preservation of historic and natural resources
• Guidance for new development
• Promotion of residential development
• Provision of sufficient parking
• Promotion of public spaces for civic and leisure activities
• Extension of the Riverwalk between the Holmes and Memorial Bridges
• Support for relocation of major industrial and shipping uses