Dare County Planning Board reviews several items; hearing set for commissioners meeting

Published 8:11 am Monday, September 20, 2021

: Under new rules, the Dare County Planning Board was sworn in on Monday, Sept. 13. The ceremony is now required annually. The planning board is concerned with land use in unincorporated areas of Dare County, including Hatteras Island, Roanoke Island outside Manteo, Colington and Martin’s Point. Members of the planning board on Sept. 13 are, from left, David Hines; Terry Gore; Michael Barr, who was attending his last planning board meeting after nine years of service; Chairman John Finelli; Beth Midgett and Buddy Shelton. Not pictured is David Overton. Mary Helen Goodloe-Murphy photo

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On Monday, Sept. 20, Dare County Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing about adding a permitted use to the C-3 commercial zoning district.

The proposed text amendment is to add “package distribution and delivery services” to the list of permitted uses.

The request comes from United Parcel Service, which is seeking to expand its facilities at 321 Etheridge Road on Roanoke Island. The UPS property is zoned I-1, Industrial-1. The zoning code permits uses in the C-3 commercial district be used in the I-1 district with those uses conforming to the dimensional requirements set out in the C-3 commercial district.

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The UPS property is adjacent to the Dare County Regional Airport and surrounded by properties zoned I-1 industrial zoning.

If the use is added to the C-3 district, UPS will be able to access a higher lot coverage of 60%.

The UPS request comes with a favorable action recommendation from the county’s planning board.

Look for more planning action later in the year at the Dare County Board of Commissioners meetings.

On Sept. 13, 2021, the county’s planning board reviewed a special use permit for Jeffery Aiken to build a commercial fish house and docking facility on Back Creek, 57162 Altona Lane in Hatteras village. The 5,625 square foot building will process, package, distribute and sell seafood to meet the growing demand for sustainably-sourced North Carolina seafood.

Conditions address lighting, driveways, parking and fencing abutting residential use. The hours for the retail sales operation are 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week.

The planning board reviewed the conditions set out by staff, found them to reasonable and asked that the conditions be considered by the commissioners.

Joe Thompson, founder of Koru Village in Avon, filed two requests: one amendment concerns food trucks and the other deals with buffer requirements in the travel trailer and campground ordinance.

In 2018, the county’s zoning ordinance was amended to allow mobile food units with certain conditions, such as one mobile unit per location on a site with an existing commercial business.

Thompson requests operating multiple food trucks in one location, to create a “food court.”

The planning board discussed and reviewed staff suggestions to go forward and agreed on the following:

—A maximum of five mobile food units on a site with an existing business

—Units are to be separated by 10 feet for safety

—Portable toilets shall not be used to meet a requirement for restrooms if outside seating is provided.

—A maximum of eight outdoor seats for each mobile food truck.

—If existing business parking cannot be used, then 10 parking spaces for the food court plus no more than two additional spaces for each unit is required, but can be waived by planning staff.

—Hours of operation are 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week.

With those determinations, the planning board recommended Board of Commissioners approval for an amendment to the ordinance to permit food truck courts.

A second amendment concerned buffers required by the Travel Trailer and Campground ordinance. The current ordinance permits only vegetative buffers.

Thompson asked for flexibility in an already approved 20-site campground at the Avon Pier. One perimeter adjoins a septic system which will be harmed by growing vegetation. Another other area is between parking for the Avon Pier and the campground sites.

Thompson wants to install a six-foot privacy fence between the pier parking and campground and to leave the septic system area grassed.

The planning board proposed flexibility in buffer standards, permitting six-foot high fencing with a finished side to the public side and permitting vegetation or solid fencing for the buffer. Buffers are not required along estuarine or ocean shorelines.

The planning board finally approved the Roger Hosfelt subdivision, accessed off Lighthouse Court in Hatteras village. Three lots will be developed on 2.48 acres. No parking is allowed on the easement to the subdivision. The submitted plat was revised to address the surveying concerns raised by board member Michael Barr.

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