The Wrightsville Beach Planning Board voted to recommend the town make an exception to its driveway size regulations that would apply to several properties on the island.
The amended ordinance would allow combined or recombined lots to have more driveways as long as those driveways don’t impede public street parking. Mark and Deborah Mitchell requested the change so their home under construction on south Harbor Island, which spans two combined lots, can have two driveways leading to S. Channel Drive and a third leading to Trent Court.
The current ordinance allows lots to have two driveways not exceeding 12 feet each, and the amendment allows larger lots to have a third 12-foot driveway leading to a different street. Before the town’s Unified Development Ordinance was created, lots were allowed 32 feet of driveway, but that figure was reduced to 24 because, director of planning and parks Tony Wilson said, the town was running out of space for on-street public parking.
“Some of the houses had driveways from property line to property line,” he said.
The town’s concerns with losing street parking applied more to the beach strand than where the Mitchells’ property is located on Harbor Island, he added.
Parking was a greater worry for the town than stormwater runoff, Wilson explained, because all Wrightsville Beach homes must conform to stormwater runoff regulations that compensate for pervious surfaces like driveways.
Speaking for the Mitchells, attorney Joe Taylor of Murchison, Taylor & Gibson pointed out if the Mitchells’ lots were separated, four driveways would be permitted, so allowing three driveways on a combined lot creates fewer driveways.
“There’s no argument that this is special treatment to us,” Taylor said, “because it doesn’t affect the planning principal of the UDO.”
Having driveways leading to different streets creates easier access in emergency situations, Taylor added.
“When you can get to the front of the house and the back, that makes a difference,” he said.
The amended ordinance would apply to “a handful of lots” around the island, town planner Zachary Steffey said: several corner lots on N. Lumina Ave., Circle Drive, Parmele Blvd. and a few lots at the south end.
Lots must have 100 linear feet facing a public street to be eligible for the extra driveway, so Wilson said, “it would be difficult to duplicate this, but there’s a possibility.”
The planning board’s favorable recommendation will be given to the Wrightsville Beach Board of Aldermen, which will make the final decision Dec. 10.
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