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Planning director outlines zoning tools to support affordable housing
Summary
Beaufort County planning director Rob Merchant briefed the committee on existing tools (density bonuses, traditional community plans, ADUs, transect/place-type overlays, family-compound and rural small-lot options) that staff can refine to promote affordable housing; Merchant cited a prior NextLoft conversion that used density bonuses tied to 25% of units kept affordable for 20 years.
Rob Merchant, Beaufort County planning director, gave the committee an overview of zoning and code tools staff see as available to promote affordable housing. He framed the comprehensive plan’s housing chapter as the county’s policy guide and urged a multi-tool approach rather than relying on a single remedy.
Merchant described current code mechanisms including density bonuses in the C5 regional center mixed-use district (citing a conversion project where the developer agreed to make 25% of units affordable for 20 years under such a bonus), accessory dwelling units (ADUs), rural options such as a ‘family compound’ (eligibility tied to long-standing family ownership, written as a 50-year requirement in the county code), traditional community plans (infill threshold ~8 acres and neighborhood-scale ~20 acres) and place-type overlays that enable upzoning under a regulating plan. He said density bonuses have been used infrequently but are an important tool alongside other programs such as low-income housing tax credits and monitoring requirements.
Committee members asked clarifying questions about minimum acreage for traditional community plans and how staff will proceed. Merchant said staff will engage the county housing trust and return with recommendations about which existing tools to expand, including what percentage bonuses to propose and how to target AMI bands. Merchant cautioned that expanding support that requires per-household income verification (for example, a 100% subsidy above 80% AMI under certain conditions) would require new administrative tracking.
The presentation set the stage for an administrative follow-up: staff said they will work with the housing trust and return to council with specific proposed code amendments or implementation steps.
