During its Nov. 4 meeting, the Wrightsville Beach Planning Board heard a presentation from Russell Bennett, who was applying for an updated conditional use permit to open a new location of Poe’s Tavern at 212 Causeway Drive. The property is currently under a 2009 conditional use permit to serve as the Lumina Hall meetings and events center.
Bennett described the restaurant, which also has locations in Sullivan’s Island, S.C. and Jacksonville, Fla., as a gourmet burger spot.
“We grind our own meat every day on site, hand-cut all our French fries, so it’s a very fresh concept,” he said. “Of course we also have chicken sandwiches, shrimp and fish tacos and great salads.”
Bennett listed several accolades received by both existing locations. International restaurant critic Zagat recently called the Sullivan’s Island location the “best burger in South Carolina,” he said.
As with many other restaurants along Causeway Drive, Poe’s Tavern would need to be granted a parking exception. The restaurant requires 70 off-street parking spaces and with only 21 available on site, the applicant would need an exception for 49 spaces.
The Board of Aldermen could grant an exception based on the fact that 39 public parking spaces are available within 400 feet of Poe’s Tavern. Furthermore, the proposed establishment is consistent with the 2005 CAMA land use plan encouraging the development of commercial establishments providing basic goods and services to year-round residents and visitors.
The approval of the parking exception and the updated conditional use permit would come with five stipulations, mostly put in place so as not to disturb the nearby residents. The stipulations include no live music outdoors and no outdoor seating after 10 p.m.
Bennett assured board members he was accustomed to managing restaurants in small beach communities. In fact, he said, Sullivan’s Island was a much more confined residential community than Wrightsville Beach; it only has a two-block commercial district and is 90 percent primary residences.
Bennett said 70 percent of his sales are food and 30 percent are alcohol and merchandise, and only one percent of the restaurant’s sales occur after midnight.
Board member David Culp said residents had complained in the past about loud music from the restaurants on Causeway Drive. Bennett assuaged those concerns, saying his existing Poe’s Tavern locations only played background music outside and he would be alert to any negative feedback from nearby residents.
“We’re not a live music venue,” he said. “It’s a family place, we have kids menus…and I can tell you, 13 years, in two places, we’ve never had a noise violation.”
The planning board agreed the restaurant would be a great addition to the Wrightsville Beach community, and voted unanimously to recommend approval of the conditional use permit and the parking exception.
“If Wrightsville Beach was in the business of recruiting businesses,” vice chairman Ken Dull said, “this is the type of one we would want.”
Bennett said if he receives approval from the Board of Aldermen, he would begin demolition by the end of the year and plan to open Poe’s Tavern by summer 2015 at the latest.
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