Wrightsville Beach is considering implementing new rules addressing the ongoing practice of churches allowing beachgoers to park in their lots, but the town’s intention is to regulate and monitor the situation, not shut it down by creating hardship for the churches, an April 5 vote by the town’s planning board indicates.
The planning board voted unanimously to recommend the practice be regulated, but as a permitted use rather than a conditional use. That way, the churches won’t have to go through the lengthy, expensive process of seeking a conditional use permit. The regulations should not deter the churches from opening their lots to the public on busy weekends, leaders have said. It’s a practice that’s beneficial to everyone, planning board member Jim Smith pointed out.
On holiday weekends, Smith said, drivers are “out there swarming, like a hive of bees, trying to find parking. If we can get 100 or 150 of those cars off the road, I think it’s better for everybody.”
The issue arose earlier this year during a meeting discussion on updating the town’s parking ordinance. At least four local churches have been accepting donations from beachgoers in exchange for parking spots for years, and while town leaders said it seldom causes problems, they want regulations in place to be able to address those occasional issues as they arise.
Planning board member Ace Cofer reiterated that point Tuesday night, saying he was in favor of requiring the lots be monitored because of trash issues and fender benders that occur when they’re not.
“It’s an advantage to have some eyeballs on the scene,” he said.
Making the practice a permitted use would make it easier for churches to come into compliance because they only have to seek a permit from town staff, not town government. But they would still have to obey a list of conditions the planning board specified during the April 5 vote. Conditions only apply on holiday weekends: Memorial Day weekend, Labor Day weekend and a three-day period that includes Fourth of July.
The churches would have to provide an onsite attendant at all times and if the church puts its youth groups in charge of holding signs advertising their lot or collecting donations, as several of them do, the church must also provide adult supervision.
Churches may not start advertising their lots until 10 a.m., and they can display no more than three signs.
Conditions also regulate tailgating, trash pick-up and noise. Additionally, the permit would prohibit the churches from ever charging a specific amount for parking, only allowing them to accept donations. But church representatives who attended the meeting said they already comply with that.
“We’re not in competition with the town,” Wrightsville Beach Baptist Church member Mike Edmonds said, adding that his church members display a small sign advertising their mission work and, sometimes, beachgoers will offer donations.
All four churches use the donations for mission work, representatives said Tuesday night. Wrightsville Beach Baptist Church raised $3,500 last year, Edmonds said, which provided months of food for four orphanages in Haiti.
With the planning board’s recommendation, the issue will pass to the board of aldermen, which will have the final say.
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