Nags Head commissioners deny townwide change to 20-foot building separation

The Town of Nags Head Board of Commissioners voted Sept. 3 to deny a text amendment that would have reduced the required separation between multiple commercial buildings from 20 feet to 10 feet when one building serves as accessory to a principal commercial use.

Kelly Wyatt, the town’s planning and development director, told the board the 20-foot separation standard dates to the late 1970s and was carried forward into the Unified Development Ordinance to prevent the appearance of long, strip-style buildings and to preserve smaller-scale structures that characterize Nags Head. "Reducing this to 10 feet would undermine the objectives and could set a precedent that's inconsistent with our design standards," Wyatt said during the public hearing, and staff recommended denial.

Commissioners questioned whether the separation requirement applied to accessory buildings and how the ordinance’s 3-to-1 length-to-width rule interacts with the separation standard. Wyatt said the ordinance applies to properties with multiple buildings and does not distinguish principal from accessory structures in the separation language; she also noted that text amendments are townwide and not site-specific. The planning board unanimously recommended denial at its July meeting, she said.

After discussion and noting the applicant was not present to make a case, Commissioner Lambert moved to deny the amendment; the motion was seconded and the board adopted the motion by voice vote.

What happens next: The proposed text amendment will not be applied townwide. Staff and the planning board will continue work on implementation and the planning board is expected to keep exploring commercial design standards and overlay district topics at future meetings.