“The real question is, can commercial [development] survive on Wrightsville Beach?”
The answer, Wrightsville Beach Mayor Bill Blair said, could greatly affect the future landscape of the town. Meanwhile, residents debate emotionally charged issues like height regulations and alcohol sales as derelict buildings in the town continue to decay, sitting idle on valuable real estate.
Sustaining commercial development presents two challenges, Blair said during a March 3 phone interview: bringing in businesses that fulfill residents’ needs and regulating those business to preserve the quality of life residents want.
Some argue mixed-use developments would revitalize the town’s commercial districts but so far none of the proposed projects have become a reality. In August 2014, the board turned down a mixed-use proposal for the former Food Mart on West Salisbury Street due to insufficient parking. The Middle of the Island property on Old Causeway Drive already has a conditional use permit for a two-story mixed- use development, but project owner Nathan Sanders said the project is on hold until the economy improves. Two more mixed-use projects remain in limbo, unable to proceed because they exceed the town’s 40-foot height ordinance.
Tom Kievit with Coastal N.C. Real Estate, LLC hopes to build a 50-foot, four-story development behind Johnnie Mercer’s Pier with self-contained parking, shopping, 10 residential units and rooftop dining.
Jim and Helen Paliouras, owners of the South Beach Grill commercial lot, have plans to upgrade the restaurant for tenant John Andrews. The four-story mixed-use project would include a parking deck, restaurant and two stacked condominiums.
The Paliourases petitioned the town for a text amendment to the height limit but recently withdrew the request after it received strong opposition from town residents during the Feb. 3 planning board meeting.
Bill Gage, the project’s architect, said during a March 2 phone interview he couldn’t bring the project’s height below 46 feet while maintaining marketable ceiling heights. The stacked condominiums, with their potential to generate revenue, are also essential to the development, he added. The project is not dead, but merely on hold; despite the negative input from citizens, Gage said he was encouraged by the board’s reaction.
Board members said the 40-foot height limit should be reexamined, along with setbacks and lot dimensions, but as a part of a more comprehensive plan rather than with piece-meal text amendments. Such a blueprint would prove especially vital in the event of a catastrophic storm, because changes in FEMA building codes and methods of measuring structure height would make rebuilding the current landscape impossible.
The board outlined the long-range plan, which includes both streetscaping and business development, during its March 3 meeting. It will seek public input and finalize the details during the coming months.
While the mixed-use concept is struggling to take hold in Wrightsville Beach, several smaller commercial projects have received the town’s approval. Poe’s Tavern is scheduled to open in June and The Post Café was granted a conditional use permit from the town Feb. 26.
Even such seemingly straightforward requests drew public concern, not necessarily about the proposed projects but over what the business could become over time.
Residents have reason to be wary, Blair said. New businesses must apply for a conditional use permit, which, in theory, allows the town to define specific conditions under which that business must operate. Businesses escalate into something unintended, Blair said, because the town has not historically enforced the conditions it sets.
“In order to be a town that encourages good business, the town has to . . . make sure the [businesses] we do have are the ones we approved,” Blair said. “There’s no reason to have a condition if you’re not going to enforce it.”
Residents worry a lack of enforcement could cause restaurants to turn into late-night bars catering to younger crowds, most of whom don’t pay property taxes on the beach. But director of planning and parks Tony Wilson said these situations are actually the result of older restaurants — open long before the town required conditional use permits — deciding to sell alcohol until 2 a.m., which they can do by state law.
When bars stop selling food entirely, Wilson said, they become nonconforming private clubs. Even then, the town can prevent them from expanding but appears to have little power over their operations.
And while there is less fear over a retail business escalating into a bar scene, Blair said the upper floor of Red Dogs is proof it can happen. The best way to prevent retail from failing, he said, is to bring in shops residents will keep in business.
West Henderson Street resident Neal Briggi said after talking to other citizens it seems they would support a business that promotes a high quality of life with a low environmental impact, increases their property values and endures through the offseason.
Businesses hoping to meet those standards keep applying to open in town, each proposal stirring controversy over the future of development at the beach. As residents and officials debate the details, Blair said the issue still hinges on a broader question: what business — if any — that services town residents can survive at Wrightsville Beach?
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