- Dare County
- Island Free Press
- Nighthawk News
- Outer Banks Free Press
- The Sentinel
- The Virginian-Pilot
- Town governments
- Bill's OBX Beach Life
- Life Beneath the Waves
- Natural Outer Banks
- Red Headed Beach Girl
- Rosie Hawthorne
- See more local blogs ยป
Fifty-foot oceanfront limit still on the table in KDH
A special committee in Kill Devil Hills will take more time to consider a recommendation to allow oceanfront hotel heights to increase to 50 feet, with even taller buildings possible under certain conditions.
The Stakeholder Group on Building Height Regulations was set to make a decision on a resolution Monday to forward to the town’s Planning Board and Board of Commissioners.
But it ran out of time after several speakers weighed in and members of the panel continued to discuss the thinking behind the proposal.
Before the committee is a draft recommendation that the town increase the maximum allowable height along the oceanfront from 42 feet to 50 feet. Exceptions for hotels taller than 50 feet would be considered under conditional use permits based on benefits to the economy, the prospects of providing more access or parking, architectural features and other factors.
An increase to 50 feet would amount to about one story. Fifty-foot buildings are already allowed in the commercial district.
The stakeholder group was appointed to come up with a recommendation. The Board of Commissioners would then consider whether to incorporate it into the land-use plan.
If it gets that far, it would need to go through yet another round of deliberations by both boards, including public hearings, to be incorporated into the town’s zoning ordinance.
A handful of speakers in an informal public hearing Monday were generally skeptical of the idea and sought assurances that it would not open the door to high rises on the oceanfront.
“Things are getting tacky, and this isn’t going to help,” said Alan Saunders.
Brandi Rheubottom said she was concerned that the town would commit itself to something it could not undo.
Chairman Bob Woodard, who is also the mayor pro tem, said committee members represented a cross-section of interests and had joined the panel with no preconceptions about building heights.
Since January, most have generally come to a consensus that changing the limit should be considered to give oceanfront property owners more flexibility in refurbishing aging motels or incentives to build new ones to generate tax revenue and jobs.
One such owner is Warren Judge, who is chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners and operates several oceanfront properties. Speaking in the public hearing, he told the panel that major hotel chains, including Marriott, had expressed interest in locating here, but the existing rules restricted his ability to redevelop his property to their specifications.
“There’s nothing evil about a hotel,” he said.
Another argument offered in favor of the change is that hotels bring in more visitors who would spend money at restaurants. Panel members also suggested that hotels offer cheaper and more plentiful oceanfront lodging for couples and small families who don’t need or can’t afford large oceanfront rental houses with six to eight bedrooms, sometimes more.
Marvin Fabrikant, a member of the stakeholders group, noted the large footprints of the Croatan Inn and First Flight Retreat that were needed to maximum the value of the property.
“I don’t want it horizontal; I want it vertical,” he said.
He argued that other factors, including zoning and state rules under the Coastal Area Management Act, would limit building heights.
Earlier in the meeting, John Cece, a state Division of Coastal Management field representative, gave a presentation on the new CAMA rules. Setbacks from the beach are now determined by square footage, he said.
Cece said the closest would be a building of less than 5,000 square feet of floor space. The rules say the oceanfront setback for a building that size is a minimum of 60 feet from the vegetation line, or 30 times the annual erosion rate, which in Kill Devil Hills is 2 feet. The rules go up to 100,000 square feet or more, for which CAMA requires a minimum of 180 feet of setback. So, depending on the required CAMA setback, the depth of a lot would limit the size of a building, vertically or horizontally.
Up until recent years, the trend has been toward tearing down older motels and cottage courts and building large oceanfront houses to maximize the use of expensive oceanfront property. Zoning regulations also discouraged or prevented renovations from being a worthwhile investment.
One way to do that, a majority of the panel seems to agree, would be to ease the height restriction.
But at least one stakeholder is not fully convinced of the rationale behind considering changes.
“It’s just too vague for me,” said Ivy Ingram.
The stakeholder’s group meets the second Monday of each month.
See what people are saying:
Join the discussion:
- MOST READ
- MOST DISCUSSED
charlie says:
If the reasons for looking into expanding the size of hotels/motels is tax generation and jobs, has anyone looked into the current wages and benefits available in the hospitality trade on the OBX now? If the businesses generate more visitors, are there sufficient wage and benefits packages available for workers to provide decent housing and living conditions for themselves and their families, or will we just see a further influx of foreign workers paid badly, housed worse and pedalling from job to job on donated bikes?
My question boils down to who reaps the benefit of an increase of building size? If our whole community gains, there is room for discussion. If a few just want to expand their own profits and further ruin the look of the OBX, then I have a problem with the increase.
fresh idea says:
Let’s not kid ourselves. The construction will be contracted out to out of town/out of state workers. Maybe we need to do more to keep the mom n pop places around and looking good. Crazy how this idea is being brought up after another fantastic rental season.
Gary says:
The developers and land owners will likely be the only ones that gain much. Based on traffic this Summer, it seems to me we have plenty of visitors. Perhaps we should concern ourselves more with improving their experience while here, and improving the quality of life for locals. I don’t see how “more, more, more, more” helps with either of these points.
Gary says:
And why does progress always seem to mean growth to politicians?
Berry says:
Don’t turn this place into just another highrise concrete jungle! After 50 feet…..what’s next? 60, 70 feet?????It will not stop there! Myrtle Beach here we become!
J.C. Towler says:
First, the committee members may have “joined the panel with no preconceptions about building heights” but by the time those same committee members had their first meeting on January 11th, 2010, it seems some preconceptions had slipped into their thoughts: Link »
Just some examples:
“He (Mr. Clough) is not opposed to slightly higher restrictions, but is not in favor of high-rise condominiums.”
“Mr. Valdivieso said he was open minded about raising height restrictions to a modest degree.”
“He (Mr. Heppert) feels that an increase in restrictions is inevitable so he is interested in forming guidelines to make as many people as possible happy.”
Happily, not everyone’s opinion shaded toward increasing the height restriction, but there were plenty moving in that direction. (Stay strong, Ivy).
Second, let’s lift the rock and shine the light on this myth of jobs creation for residents of Dare County. A few of the struggling “mom and pop” hotels have locals on staff, but if you were to wander into the chain hotels or Mr. Judge’s properties, you would find many of the employees commute in from points west. Or slightly southwest, as in southwest of the border. Or from overseas. So more jobs, yes, but jobs for residents of Kill Devil Hills or even Dare? Not so much. You can’t afford to live here on the $9.00-$15.00/hr salary the hotels offer unless you are living with seven other Ukranians into a three bedroom house.
Third, to the issue of “Exceptions would be granted under conditional use permits based on benefits to the economy”. Now that’s a hole you could drive a twenty story Marriott hotel through. The economy could always benefit from larger buildings with higher occupancy. I am usually skeptical of slippery slope theories, but how do you not slide inevitably down that one?
I’ve been visiting the Outer Banks since the 1970′s. I’ve lived here since 1993. There was a bit of drop-off in the “charm” of the area during the intervening years, but then things really started getting ugly. The family cottages fell to the hideous McMansions. The beach road (NC 12) lost it’s quaint church, restaurants, and old coast guard station (the Dianne Baum-St.Clair house). It is expedient to build large houses that rent for thousands a week and recoup their costs in a handful of seasons. It is even more expedient to build large hotels that do the same thing on a larger scale. But in the rush to make buckets of money, we lose what people come to our beach to enjoy in the first place.
The Voice published an article recently about the solid bookings for vacation rentals.
(http://outerbanksvoice.com/2010/07/27/survey-shows-solid-bookings-though-seasons-end/). This is good news and bad news for those of us who would like to tap the brakes on development. The good news is that we’re still a popular vacation destination and even in a down national economy, people will shell out hard earned dollars to come here. The bad news is that greedy developers see that number and think “how much could we make if we packed “x” number of MORE tourists on the beach?”
In every opinion poll ever taken, most residents are overwhelmingly against increasing building heights. One glance at the comments on the topic bears this out. I don’t know why this is even a discussion, but since it is, the question I would like answered is “Why do we need more growth in this direction?” The beach road and bypass are jammed packed in the summer. There are constant rumblings about increasing the size of US 158. As I go through my daily routine, it appears to me that grocery stores, restaurants, movie theaters, gas stations, retail establishments, and the beaches are already burgeoning with visitors. People clearly like coming to the Outer Banks and do so in great numbers. The problem is that if you increase the number of people, you’ll need to increase the places they need to shop, eat, and entertain.
And then what do you do with all that extra capacity in the off season when our population drops from over 80,000 in the summer months to 35,000 (including the year round population and average Nov-March monthly visitors) during the rest of the year?
What we could use here is diversity in the economy. We do not have an area that lends itself to much in the way of industry (a blessing), but I’ve seen the suggestion elsewhere and agree that trying to attract a “corporate headquarters” sort of business would be a positive step. I realize we’re a bit off the beaten trail, (and that we’re not in Money’s “Top 100″ cities to live like research triangle towns Cary and Chapel Hill), but if Citibank can have it’s headquarters in Sioux “Summer-Lasted-A-Week-This-Year” Falls, South Dakota, surely we can lure business interests here. There have been on and off talks about having an extension of one of the state universities here, another worthy idea to pursue. We have an area that is an attractive place to live, has a highly rated K-12 school system, and whose local governmental services are well regarded. Surely this would be a draw to a number of professional in most any set you aimed to attract?
Growth shouldn’t be limited to stuffing more people into large buildings.
CNTL + SHIFT + END RANT
charlie says:
gary has said it best
don't kill the golden goose says:
another short-sighted, quick money scheme that sells out our beach’s future potential — and future generations’ enjoyment of it
funny how quickly people forget why they moved here
Chuck says:
I am not hearing any discussion about increase in water use, sewer treatment, and electric useage. These are all important areas of concern. The Dare County RO Water plant was built for a reason. It has already under gone expansions. Look at the concrete power poles now being built on the bypass, they are being constructed for a reason. The Sewer plant in Kill Devil Hills most likely will have to be expanded. Where are the concerns and discussions on these important items? What about increase traffic flows and street infrastructure loading? Where is the KDH Fire Dept. and their input on fire fighting these high rise buildings? Seems to me a lot of the important items are being missed here! Of course, I just live here, so what do I know?
Frank says:
I commented on earlier reports on this and stated that I felt that only developers and other money people would be the ones to benefit and once they have left with pockets full of $$$ we, the residents, would be left with under-used buildings and a mess. KDH and our sister towns offer the laid-back experience that our visitors want OR they would not be here in droves. Don’t you think that if they wanted “honky tonk” and to stay in a Marriott they would go to Virginia Beach?? Our roadways and utility systems are already burdened to the max and this type of construction will only add additional negative burden on them. Also I agree with the comments about who will build and work at these “vision” motels. Having been in the construction business and a civil engineer by education and a public servant for 38 years, then in a city manager’s office and 28 as an engineer in a utilities department in Virginia I know from first-hand experience who is hired. It always seems that the people who are experienced in building the “visions” never live in the local area they are built and the developers are free to hire whomever they want. Yes a few low-paying positions are local, but the $$$ are paid to those who are brought in by the construction companies. The staff of these buildings will always be the person who is willing to work, many times off the clock, at a minimum wage (or less) and these persons in most instances will not be locals. Mr Judge, the chair of the Dare County Board of Commissioners, could not have expressed any better what will happen if these restrictions are lifted.
I urge all concerned residents to flood the stakeholders meetings and remind the persons sitting before you that YOU are the stakeholder in KDH, not some developer serving generious servings of “pie in the sky”. You, we, know what we want KDH to look like, feel like and the folks we want to continue attracting to visit us. Speak up, be heard. Don’t let the silk suits sell us down the road!!
ekim says:
Well said GARY. SO I still don’t understand special committees and who has the power to start one. And they have the power to change my way of life, because they’re a SPECIAL COMMITTEE. We need to stop SPECIAL COMMITTEES!!
one vote says:
The turnout for this meeting was a complete disappointment. If you don’t show up and voice your opinions then you can only blame yourselves for what is about to go down.
ekim says:
VOTE is so right.
Stay strong KDH says:
I do not think that most people understand that the KDH Board of Commissioners will decide what to do no matter what the “special committee”/stakeholders group decides. The Board will use the stakeholders group as a scapegoat for whatever the outcome is. There are not that many Board members opposed to lifting the ban on height regulations! What do you think that means????? “One Vote” is right on: You must show up and do something or you have yourself to BLAME!
Chuck Ball says:
As former Mayor of KDH in 2005, I was opposed to increased height. I was the only vote against it then. Now, I do not believe there is one member of the board of commissioners that is against increasing height. So even though no one that I have talked to (tourist or local) wants taller buildings and no one on this blog supports it, it is going to happen. The ‘Stakeholder Committee’ is only a vehicle to get what the developers want.
J.C. Towler and the people who commented above have summarized all the reasons this should not happen. But right now the vote would be 5 – 0 to increase the height.
Hotel heights deserve careful consideration « The Outer Banks Voice says:
[...] Fifty-foot oceanfront limit still on the table [...]
Tom says:
I don’t live in KDH but what happens there affects all of us on OBX. Sure, larger hotels will bring in more tourists and “generate (more) tax revenue and jobs” – for a while. But if you want to worship at that altar, where do you stop? As others have said so well, will that lead to the type of environment we want to live in? Or that tourists will want to continue to visit? Let Myrtle Beach corner that market and start making decisions here that keep us attractive to ourselves and our summer visitors.
Stan Clough says:
I am a member of the much talked about “Stakeholder Committee.” I am on the Kill Devil Hills Planning Board and represent that board on the committee. I am a licensed General Contractor who like most builders has nothing to build in this economy, but that’s OK. I was President of the Outer Banks Homebuilders Association in 2004.
As a builder I wanted to build homes for the people that lived and worked on the Outer Banks. I built high energy efficient homes before there was a term “green building.” I have children here from high school to preschool and want to keep the Outer Banks a place they will be able to live in when they are my age of 55.
The talk of raising height limits brings up lots of emotions and imaginations. There are those that want height limits raised. 42 feet is the limit in most areas of KDH. 50 feet is the limit in I believe the commercial zone. I understand the people that want the Outer Banks to be the way it used to be. We need to be able to keep it all in perspective, and realize that the way it used to be in the 1950′s, 1960′s and beyond was that if you grew up here you had to leave to go find work. People would join the Coast Guard or other armed forces or go to college and find jobs somewhere else. I am not really in favor of raising height limits but would not be opposed to a small raise, like 52’0, similar to Dare County.
What we all need to understand is what is happening on Hatteras Island. The Park Service prompted by radical environmentalists is using a bird to destroy the lives of Hatteras Island residents. The Piping Plover has become more important than human beings. Foxes and other animals are being killed to protect birds. If we all do not get togather and help the residents of Hatteras Island, we may be the next target of the environmentalists that believe these Outer Banks belong to birds, and humans should not live here.