Residential and commercial neighbors of Dockside Marina and Restaurant were unsure how a recent ruling by the Wilmington Board of Adjustment would impact the dispute over how to redesign the restaurant’s parking lot.
During a July 21 hearing, the board ruled that parking on one of the lots across the street from the popular restaurant wasn’t authorized by New Hanover County ordinance prior to the city’s annexation of the property in 1999 and therefore, isn’t allowed by special exemption.
Meanwhile, it’s unclear to neighbors how this will affect future plans for Dockside parking. The Wilmington City Council recently asked the restaurant to continue working with neighbors on a parking plan, but neighbors said they haven’t heard back from owners yet regarding any changes.
The ruling affects parking on 1303 Airlie Road, which is next to 1308 Airlie Road, the lot that is used for most of Dockside’s parking. The lot at 1303 Airlie Road. is part of a proposal by restaurant owners to remodel both lots to improve the business’ parking, most of which is in the unpaved 1308 Airlie Road lot that has no markings or other safety features.
While neighbors of Dockside have said they support upgrading the restaurant’s parking, they objected to changing the zoning for the lot from residential to commercial over concerns that it would invite more growth to the neighborhood.
Though currently zoned residential, the owners of Dockside demonstrated to the board of adjustment that the parking at 1308 Airlie Road had been continuous since the annexation. The lot currently has an exemption to allow parking, despite it being zoned residential.
However, the city challenged use of the other lot, 1303 Airlie Road, for parking. Though the neighboring lot takes most of the cars, there is also space at the rear of 1303 Airlie Road for parking.
The city’s challenge of parking on the property is in review by the North Carolina Superior Court, which asked the board of adjustment to review the historical allowable use of the property. The board ruled that Dockside was not able to continue use of the 1303 Airlie Road property for parking since annexation, chairman Ronald Sparks said.
Members of the Wilmington City Council expressed frustration on May 3 that the owners of Dockside weren’t able to present a rezoning plan that had won approval of neighbors of the restaurant. During a hearing to consider rezoning the property, the council voted unanimously to postpone the request until September to give them more time to reach an agreement.
Dr. Brady Semmel, who has spoken on behalf of neighbors before the council, said that so far, they haven’t heard any new proposals from Dockside ownership.
“I haven’t heard anything from the Dockside owners,” Semmel said on Tuesday, Aug. 2.
The proposal from Dockside would have used a portion of the property at 1303 Airlie Road to expand the parking lot size at 1308 Airlie Road In addition to requiring the zoning change to commercial, the proposal also added a few smaller patio-style homes to the 1303 Airlie Road lot, sparking neighbors’ concerns about density and commercial development.
“The whole area could become one big commercial property,” Semmel said.
Semmel said neighbors believe the plans could be adopted through the “text amendment” process, allowing the city council to allow Dockside the permits to upgrade the parking area without changing the zoning to residential.
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