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Aberdeen board loosens subdivision rules, allows limited flag lots and single-family homes on thoroughfares
Summary
The Aberdeen Town Board on Jan. 27 approved changes to subdivision rules (TA-24-06) that remove a restrictive depth-to-width lot ratio and relax limits on single-family detached dwellings along thoroughfares; the board adopted an amendment permitting one flag lot per 30 lots and voted 5-0 to pass the ordinance.
The Aberdeen Town Board on Jan. 27 approved a text amendment to its Unified Development Ordinance that removes several constraints staff said were preventing reasonable subdivision of long, deep parcels and that had limited single-family detached housing along major roads.
Planning Director Pam Graham told the board the changes stemmed from staff work with an owner of an 8.91-acre parcel who wanted to create a second detached single-family lot. Graham said staff found “arbitrary” limits—such as a provision capping lot depth at four times width and rules that limited residential uses along thoroughfares—that could prohibit legally permitted housing even when dimensional zoning standards were met. “We find these maximum lot sizes to be unreasonable restrictions with no understandable positive outcomes,” Graham said in her presentation.
Under the approved amendment, the town will remove the depth-to-width restriction that staff said blocks some logical lot divisions and will allow single-family detached dwellings in areas zoned for them even when parcels front on thoroughfares (such as US 1, US 15-501, NC 211 and NC 5). The ordinance also revises the town’s approach to flag lots: instead of the prior maximum-area limits (1 acre with public sewer; 3 acres without), the town adopted a limit on frequency, permitting one flag lot per 30 lots in a subdivision (the Board adopted the 1-per-30-lots standard during the meeting).
Board members discussed options for scaling the flag-lot limit by acreage or lot counts; Commissioner Tim Helms proposed language tied to lot counts and ultimately the Board agreed on the 1 per 30-lot approach. The Board voted unanimously, 5-0, to find the amendment consistent with the town’s 2019 Comprehensive Land Development Plan and to adopt TA-24-06 as amended.
The amendment was advanced by staff after the Planning Board unanimously recommended approval and a draft Statement of Land Use Consistency concluded the change aligns with the plan’s map and policies encouraging low-density residential uses along certain corridors. The text change also directs staff to return with subsequent UDO tweaks, including alternative open-space requirements for very small subdivisions.
The amendment takes effect immediately under the ordinance language adopted at the meeting; the Town Clerk’s minutes record the motion and unanimous vote.
