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Wrightsville Beach
Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Board votes yes to hot dog chain, despite concerns

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The Wrightsville Beach Planning Board voted Aug. 2 in favor of letting a hot dog chain open in downtown Wrightsville Beach, despite residents’ concerns about how such an establishment would exacerbate existing traffic and litter issues in the business district.

Charlie Graingers, a hot dog and brisket franchise that originated in Wilmington, is applying for a conditional use permit to open inside Roberts Market at 32 N. Lumina Avenue in the space previously occupied by Rita’s Italian Ice. Plans show the establishment occupying about one-fourth of Roberts Market, a footprint slightly larger than that of Rita’s.

The Wrightsville Beach Board of Aldermen will have final approval of the application at its September meeting.

During Tuesday’s public hearing, two residents spoke in favor of Charlie Graingers and at least six were opposed. Most of those opposed were residents of neighboring Birmingham Street and were primarily concerned about the trash and traffic the restaurant would create.

Traffic congestion is already an issue in the downtown business district, they said, with pedestrians, bikers, motorists and delivery trucks vying for space around the intersection of N. Lumina Avenue and Birmingham Street, where Roberts Market is located.

One member of the audience took issue with the word “congestion,” interjecting, “The word is danger. It’s a dangerous intersection.”

The narrowness of Birmingham Street makes the heavy traffic more dangerous, the residents added.

“Birmingham Street is almost like an alley,” board member Ace Cofer agreed.

Charlie Graingers would have designated parking in Roberts’ lot, but Birmingham residents were still worried patrons would attempt to park on their street. To alleviate their concerns, the planning board agreed that one of the conditions attached to Charlie Graingers’ permit should be installing signage indicating where patrons should and should not park.

Another condition on which the planning board agreed was requiring that more trash receptacles be placed outside Charlie Graingers. The restaurant appeared to be primarily a take-out establishment, W. Henderson Street resident Neal Briggi noted, so patrons’ trash would end up outside, too.

“All of that potential litter will go right to the beach,” he said.

When Rita’s was in business, Birmingham Street resident David Lacy saw patrons stop on the way to the beach — right outside his house — to eat. They would sit on his property, he said, and leave an assortment of Italian ice cups behind.

“If people don’t live here,” resident Tim Taylor added, “they just drop [their trash] on the sidewalk or throw it in the yard.”

The discussion turned to whom should be responsible for cleaning up patrons’ litter — the town or the businesses — with Causeway Café owner David Monahan saying his employees collect trash off his property and he believes other businesses should do the same.

“If they don’t, the town should fine them,” he said.

In response, Charlie Graingers agent Blair Goodrich said his restaurant’s employees are “trained to go clean around the establishment, inside and out.”

Residents were also concerned about the potential for noise and alcohol-related issues, even though Goodrich described Charlie Graingers as a family establishment, saying that it would only be open for lunch and dinner and not serve alcohol.

Since the state, not the town, controls the sale of alcohol, Wrightsville Beach has attempted to regulate it by requiring new businesses sign an affidavit resolving to never become a bar. Board members agreed that Charlie Graingers should do the same.

Despite the many concerns raised, residents who were familiar with Charlie Graingers were supportive of the restaurant itself and the owners’ attempts to grow the business from its original location in downtown Wilmington.

Longtime Wrightsville Beach resident Scott Griffin said he’d never heard of Charlie Graingers, so he “wasn’t so sure about it” opening a Wrightsville Beach location. But a brisket sandwich from the Wilmington location changed his mind.

He encouraged others to visit the downtown Wilmington location, saying, “It’s an asset to that neighborhood, I can assure you.”

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3 COMMENTS

  1. While watching the LiveStream telecast, it was very clear trash is the main issue for the residence surrounding the WB Downtown Business District as a whole.

    It was duly noted, as a town there are current laws on the books citing patrons for littering, questions were raised inquiring about how many citations have been written in the past 12 months. Thus suggesting the rightful concerns of the adjoining neighbors may have identified a lack of enforcement issue by Department.

    Comments were made suggesting a meeting with WB Chief, Dan House in making litter policing a top priority for his officers.

    It seems as if Charlie Grangers may be the good neighbor these residents needed to ensure all downtown commercial establishments step up their efforts to portray both their commercial establishments and their neighbors properties in a tidy fashion.

    It’s refreshing to see positives come out of such a meeting.

  2. A simple canvas of the published WB Police reports is absent recent “Litter Citations”. Thus, supporting fact suggest, the litter issues presented by the neighboring streets have identified an opportunity for greater policing with regard to litter enforcement along these affected areas.

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