Wrightsville Beach residents bring safety, noise concerns to mayor
WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, NC (WECT) - Residents say they are fed up with residents speeding around a curve on the south end of Wrightsville Beach and the sound of loud mufflers filling the air.
"A lot of these trucks and motorcycles just gun it. I mean, gun it," Stephen Burnett, a longtime resident, said. "It's dangerous."
Burnett and Jeannie Smith live on Waynick Boulevard near a sharp bend in the road and say the safety issues are apparent every day.
"Many times, the neighbors and weekly tenants have to quickly get out of the way of the cars and trucks speeding around the curve at Sunset and Waynick Blvd," the residents detailed in an email sent to Wrightsville Beach Mayor Bill Blair.
Smith has lived in Wrightsville Beach for more than 20 years. She says she's coming forward now because she can't continue to sit idly by while these drivers speed through her neighborhood.
"We just ask people to be respectful just like we would be in their neighborhoods," Smith said. "Just think about if they lived here and this is our backyard."
Burnett added that last week a renter living above him said she and her two children were almost hit in their front yard after a car sped around the curve.
"I don't know if I would pick this one again given the traffic," the vacationer said in a video shot on Burnett's phone. "Especially if we would come back in season, I think it would be busier out there."
The residents sent a detailed list of solutions they would like the town to consider. The list is summarized below:
- Reduce the speed limit from 35 mph to 15 mph beginning a quarter mile before the curve that turns off Waynick Blvd.
- Post a warning sign that the speed limit is being reduced.
- More police patrols on the south end of Wrightsville Beach, especially on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
- Give residents a police officer's number to call when they see a loud truck or speeding motorcycle.
- Install speed bumps along Sunset Ave., Waynick Blvd. and Lumina Ave.
- Implement a noise ordinance and install decibel sensors to monitor vehicles.
- Post signs that tell drivers a motor vehicle noise ordinance is in effect.
Town Manager Tim Owens said he plans on reaching out to the concerned residents to get a better perspective on their issues.
"I think they did have some feasible options that we can look at in the future," Ownes said. "It is a (Department of Transportation) roadway for the most part so we would have to be in concurrence with them."
Owens said there is no timetable on if or when the council will discuss the proposed solutions. Burnett and Smith said they were confident the mayor would hear them out and take their solutions into consideration.
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