Nags Head Commissioners create C-5  ‘historic character’ commercial district

By Corinne Saunders | Outer Banks Voice on March 15, 2023

John Harris from Kitty Hawk Kites called the new district ‘harmful to business owners.’ (Photo credit Corinne Saunders/OBV)

By a unanimous 4-0 vote, the Nags Head Board of Commissioners passed text amendments establishing a new C-5 zoning district at its meeting on March 15. Commissioner Mike Siers was absent from the meeting.

No maps have yet been adopted, so no structures are currently formally within C-5, to be known as the “historic character commercial zoning district.”  At its March 21 meeting, the Nags Head Planning Board will consider the maps and finalize their recommendation to the board.  According to Public Information Officer Roberta Thuman, the commissioners expect to hold a public hearing on the maps at their May 3 meeting.

Generally, the new district is expected to include areas between U.S. 158 and N.C. 12 from Danube Street to Hollowell Street—formerly zoned as the C-2 General Commercial district. The text amendments adopted on March 15 include permitted uses, lot coverage limits, habitable space limits and other regulations pertaining to the C-5 district.

At the March 1 Nags Head Commissioners meeting, which included a hearing on the proposed zoning text amendments, property owners and business owners sounded off at length, and more than 80 people attended in person.

The March 15 meeting did not attract as much attention, with less than 20 members of the public showing up, and only seven speaking during public comment.

“These changes seem appropriate,” opined Basil Belsches, who owns a house in the district.

Meanwhile, three business owners and two attorneys expressed concerns over the changes. John Harris, owner of Kitty Hawk Kites, said some of the text amendments remain “harmful to business owners.” He said the allowable “lot coverage in C-5 is more restrictive than the lot coverage in C-2,” which would limit the development of property in C-5 and thereby “devalue that property.”

He also said the 75-foot setback from NC 12, would make renders some lots undevelop-able, asserting that setbacks should mirror those in C-2.

“I am increasingly concerned at the restrictive amendments being directed at commercial [properties]…and nothing at residential in that district,” Harris said. “It takes both communities to make a vibrant Nags Head community.”

Nags Head Planning and Development Director Kelly Wyatt spent about half an hour reviewing the amendment changes during the March 15 meeting. She explained that nonconforming businesses in the district, if they were to be damaged or destroyed by fire, storms or other natural disasters, are allowed to repair or to build back into the same footprint they’d previously had.

Wyatt also noted that the following uses will be permitted in the new C-5 District: Convenience stores, dormitories, fueling stations, group developments, indoor public assemblies, mixed-use developments and shopping centers.

“We do have a dormitory in this district,” Wyatt said, noting that the building next to St. Andrew’s By the Sea Episcopal Church is a dormitory use in the front of the building and apartments in the rear.

A portion of Soundside Road is also considered a historic district, and Wyatt said the adoption of 4,200 square feet of habitable building area for commercial structures on lots fronting N.C. 12 is consistent with that district.

Crouse Gray, an attorney retained by two local businesses, said during public comment that he felt the changes “penalize them,” pointing out how the lot coverage limit in both C-1 and C-2 is 55%. Town documents limit C-5 to 45% lot coverage.

While the lot coverage limit is 45% with impervious materials, Wyatt said at that meeting that lot coverage can be increased to 55% “with the use of permeable paving materials.”

“I have some heartburn with the lot coverage,” Mayor Ben Cahoon said before the vote, “but not enough to not vote for this.” Instead of limiting the intensity of use, “all we’ve done is make it a little more expensive,” Cahoon opined, since by using permeable paving materials, developers could actually cover the same amount of or more land in the C-5 district.

Cahoon also said at the meeting that he was on the committee that developed the town’s current land use plan. The goal of the setbacks from N.C. 12 and limitations on building size were made to preserve the “character we’d like to see” in the town. “We did not want large buildings looming over the beach road,” he added,

The town land use plan has been frequently referenced in discussions since rezoning was first mentioned last October, following a proposal by Woda Cooper Company—a partner with the county in its efforts to build more essential housing—to construct a 54-unit housing development on the corner of Hollowell Street and U.S. 158.

The commissioners first enacted a 150-day development moratorium in the town’s historic character area following that proposal, then voted to remove multifamily residences as a permitted use in the C-2 district in December 2022.

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