At the Town of Wrightsville Beach Planning Board meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 4, the board unanimously approved an amendment to the nonconforming uses segment of the Unified Development Ordinance regarding the expansion and enlargement of decks.
Discussed at the end of the board’s previous meeting on Aug.7, this section of the UDO specifically addresses the prohibition of pervious surfaces underneath a newly enlarged, pervious deck. However, the new amendment to this section allows for the presence of pervious surfaces if they were already in place before the deck expansion project is proposed.
In another continuation from the Aug. 7 meeting, members of the planning board also addressed the section of the UDO pertaining to non-reflective and non-glare roofing. At the Aug. 7 meeting, Neil Briggi raised the issue he had with his neighbor on Henderson Street, whose metal roof extends below his own roofline, which Briggi said reflects sunlight and heat into his home.
In response, planning and parks director Tony Wilson directed his staff to research what restrictions other municipalities had for non-glare roofing. Out of the city of Wilmington, Hilton Head, S.C., Craven County, Key West, Fla., Bald Head Island and the city of Laurinburg, Craven County was the only one with regulations in place regarding non-glare roofing. In that instance, Craven County restricts the use of metal roofing in its Airport District to non-glare roofing only.
Currently, the town has no way to technically determine if a proposed metal roof is non-glare other than the classification of the material assigned by the manufacturer. After driving around portions of Wrightsville Beach, Briggi said he observed more than 80 instances that would cause a similar situation to his if those homeowners wanted to install metal roofs.
Although the board took no action on this matter at the Sept. 4 meeting, the consensus was to wait until the UDO’s public hearing on Oct. 3 to determine how much concern there is about the issue. The final UDO will come before the Wrightsville Beach Board of Aldermen for approval at its Oct. 11 meeting.
