This story first appeared on
luminanews.com on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009

Planning board chairman, Lori Rosbrugh and board member Susan Robinson arrived with amended versions of the town’s non-conforming ordinance for discussion during the Wrightsville Beach planning board’s regular monthly meeting Nov. 10.

Rosbrugh said she consolidated all the group’s wishes and thoughts discussed over the past several months. Both she and Robinson addressed the current 50 percent issue which presently mandates that renovations made to non-conforming structures may not exceed 50 percent of the value of the structure. How that value is measured—either by private appraisal obtained by the property owner or by the county’s assessed tax value—has been a sticking point for the planning board.

Rosbrugh, Robinson and the consensus of their peers recommend that the value be measured in square footage.

Rosbrugh defined a minor renovation as less than 50 percent of the structure’s square footage and a major renovation as more than 50 percent of the structure’s square footage. Renovations she said might be made all at once or over a 5-year period. She also favored averaging sideyard setbacks to encourage property owners to build up not out, which is a plan also favored by mayor elect David Cignotti during his tenure as planning board chair.

Rosbrugh’s streamlined draft was broadly categorized, eliminating the need for the many cumbersome exceptions included in the current ordinance.

Robinson’s rewording dug into the nature of renovations, voluntary versus acts of god, and she suggested that a voluntary renovation of a non-conforming structure must conform to the town’s setback and height restrictions. Exceptions she said should be treated as a variance.

Clayton Holmes agreed.

"If someone comes up with a minor situation, common sense should prevail with a variance," Holmes said. He has repeatedly stated that he feels the town should not measure value in dollars and cents but thought a 50 percent renovation was potentially too large.

Rosbrugh asked for input from those in attendance and Jim Smith said the board might consider capping the major renovation at 40 percent and offer the homeowner some trade-off opportunity to earn bonus points for wedding-caking renovations adding an element of architectural integrity to upper level additions to side-step what many planning board members feared would be the repetitious trend of oversized boxy structures.

Other trade-offs proposed by Smith would favor points for the installation of fire suppression systems and the use of environmentally sustainable methods and materials during the renovation process. Rosbrugh asked the board to consider what other trade-offs might be appropriately added to Smith’s list.

Local builders and architects have been repeatedly encouraged to attend the planning board’s meetings during the discussion of the non-conforming issue. Wright Holman was the lone local builder present. He reminded the board of the nuance between situations and uses. For example, planning and parks director Tony Wilson defined a situation as a duplex, triplex or quadraplex in a R-1 residential area that cannot be expanded at all.

Wilson was asked by Holmes what he thought about the redefinition of the 50 percent rule. Wilson said, "At first I didn’t like the idea of the square footage, but now I’m coming around to that. I think it works."

Wilson will try to arrange a joint meeting of the planning board with the board of aldermen as early as December. The planning board will cancel its previously scheduled meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 1 in favor of the joint meeting.

Planning board member Susan Howell Collins was congratulated by her peers for winning a seat on the board of aldermen. When she is sworn in at the meeting, Thursday, Dec. 10, she will vacate her planning board seat.

Whoever is appointed to replace her will fulfill her term which expires in January 2011. Terms for Rosbrugh, Darryl Mills and Dale Walker will expire in January 2010. Planning board members may serve as many as four consecutive terms. David Culp is the planning board’s designee on the town’s Hazard Mitigation Committee and Walker agreed to represent the planning board on the town’s Building Utilization Group (BUG) to determine a future use for the town’s fire station when the new public safety facility is completed next year.