Dare County delays vote on Buxton 'zone of influence' zoning rule after heated public hearing

The Dare County Board of Commissioners on May 5 voted unanimously to table action for 90 days on a proposed zoning text amendment that would remove a 1988 “zone of influence” restriction affecting lands north of Buxton Woods.

Planning Director Noah Gillum told the board that OBX Timber Trail LLC seeks removal of language that limits multifamily development to three units per acre and places vegetation-removal limits on lands within a half-mile buffer of the SED 1 Special Environmental District. Gillum said the provision was added to the county’s SED ordinance in 1988 and has applied only to multifamily development outside the SED 1 district boundary.

The amendment prompted more than two hours of public comment from Buxton and Hatteras Island residents, civic leaders and environmental attorneys who argued both that the restriction as written has not been clearly indexed or enforced and that removing the language could allow higher-density development and increase risks to the maritime forest, local water resources and evacuation capacity. Dirk Carter of the Southern Environmental Law Center described Buxton Woods as "the largest maritime forest on the Atlantic Coast" and urged that the commission deny or further study the change. Several speakers, including members of the Buxton Civic Association, asked the board to delay any change and to convene a study or advisory group.

County attorney and outside counsel outlined legal complications: the 1988 language was placed at the end of the SED ordinance and not indexed on the county zoning map, they said, which raises enforceability questions. Counsel also warned that a 2024 state law restricting local governments’ ability to downzone property could make it difficult to reimpose any restriction later: a properly codified text amendment that made the 1988 restriction enforceable today could be considered a downzoning that triggers the new statute’s property-owner consent requirement.

Planning board members and county staff said the county has in recent decades permitted uses in Buxton and Frisco at intensities higher than the 1988 text would allow; several engineers and developers told the board they had no practical way to discover the overlay because it was not indexed or mapped. Others urged preserving the vegetation-removal language and the multifamily cap as protection for groundwater recharge, wetland and dune stability, and island evacuation capacity.

After hearing the public and lengthy legal and technical discussion, the board voted to table the amendment for 90 days and directed staff to obtain a formal written legal opinion. The motion to table was made by the chairman and seconded by the vice chairman; the motion passed unanimously.

The commission’s action pauses any change to the ordinance while the county and community groups consider options, including whether to pursue a mapped, enforceable overlay, seek legislative relief from the state downzoning law, or develop local planning measures that protect Buxton Woods while addressing property-owner concerns.

The item returns to the board after the requested legal opinion and the county’s follow-up community engagement. In the meantime, staff said current SED 1 district protections remain unchanged and continue to apply within the core SED boundary; the disputed “zone of influence” language applies to lands outside that SED 1 boundary and specifically to multifamily structures.