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After two years of work and community input, Nags Head commissioners passed a rewritten ordinance regarding multi-family dwelling units.

In January 2023, the town removed multi-family as an allowable use throughout town for the purpose of thoughtfully creating new regulations that reflected community goals.

In February 2024, the planning board presented a draft for a rewritten ordinance for board consideration. Commissioners requested that more individuals be involved in the process, so a working group was established to review the draft and make recommendations.

According to the town memo dated September 6, the working group was charged with four tasks: (1) To consider the draft multi-family ordinance written by the Planning Board; (2) To preserve the intent of the ordinance, to protect the character of Nags Head, and to provide new alternatives for workforce/long-term housing without increasing the stock of short-term rentals. (3) To evaluate conditions/standards which would render such projects unfeasible due to financing, construction, configuration, or management; and (4) To suggest additional measures that would achieve the aforementioned goals.

After some back and forth between the working group and the planning board, as well as several public hearings and community input meetings, commissioners approved the ordinance at the October 2 meeting.

The prior multi-family ordinance was vague about specifics like the number of units per lot, number of bedrooms per acre, and usage (long-term or short-term rentals).

The goals for the new multi-family ordinance are clear. Multi-family exists to provide workforce or long-term housing – not for short-term or vacation rentals. New construction includes more units per acre to reduce land cost per unit and construction cost per unit. Attention was given to density, location and design standards to maintain town values and aesthetic standards.

Two different categories for multi-family were approved: one for large development (more than six dwelling units on a property) and one for small development (less than six units on a property), with different standards for each.

Large multi-family in townhouse style will be allowed with frontage on Hwy 158 only on lots a minimum of 26,000 square feet (0.6 acres), with a max floor area of 10,000 square feet per building.

Number of units allowed is based on a Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of 0.32. This means that, for example, a one-acre lot could sustain a max of 13,939 square feet of interior heated space (43,560 square feet x 0.32 = 13,939). No more than 25 bedrooms per acre are allowed. Lot coverage is a max of 55%, with 50% of side yards to remain as open space.

Minimum unit sizes vary from a minimum of 500 square feet for a one-bedroom; 700 square feet for a two-bedroom; and 1000 square feet for a three-bedroom; up to a max of 1700 square feet for any multi-family unit. Sixty percent of units must be for workforce, and all must be long-term rentals.

Under the new regulations, the town may not approve more than three large multi-family dwelling units after the effective date of the new ordinance.

For smaller multi-family, lots must be at least 15,000 square feet, with at least 4,000 square feet of land area per unit. (So, for example, a half-acre lot could potentially contain up to five multi-family units: 21,780 square feet/4,000 square feet = 5.4 or 5 units.) No more than six units are allowed for any property, with the same lot coverage and open space requirements as large multi-family. Small multi-family will be allowed anywhere in the C-2 General Commercial District.

The planning board adjusted the size of the buffers and the number of parking spaces, arriving at a 25-foot vegetative buffer and 2.5 parking spaces per unit plus one additional space for every four units.

At the October meeting, prior to unanimous approval of the ordinance, Mayor Ben Cahoon thanked the commissioners, the planning board, the working group, and the members of the public who were involved in the process. “It has been a long road to get to this,” he said.

As an architect in the town for more than 30 years, the mayor reminded the public of several things: there are fewer sites available for multi-family because the board rezoned some property since this moratorium was put in place; this ordinance is more restrictive than the old ordinance was; and the new ordinance is designed for housing workforce much more so than the old ordinance was.

“I do think that we’ve come a long way. It has been an uneven process but I do think the town has made a good effort,” Cahoon said.

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