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Aberdeen board eases subdivision rules for long parcels, limits flag lots temporarily
Summary
The Aberdeen Board approved UDO text amendment TA-24-6 to remove a depth-to-width subdivision restriction and allow detached single-family homes on certain thoroughfares; the board added a temporary limit of one flag lot per 30 lots while staff refines language.
Aberdeen’s Board of Commissioners voted Jan. 25 to amend the town’s Unified Development Ordinance, removing a restriction that had prevented realistic subdivision of long, deep parcels and clarifying where detached single-family homes may be built along major thoroughfares.
Planning Director Pam told the board the current depth-to-width rule and a provision that effectively bars detached homes on lots that front certain thoroughfares have blocked ordinary low-density subdivision in some R20 districts. Pam said staff developed TA-24-6 after working with the owner of an almost nine-acre parcel who ran into multiple barriers when trying to create one additional home site.
Why it matters: Staff said the change will better align zoning expectations with the town’s future land use map and allow property owners to subdivide in ways consistent with the R20 district without being forced into townhomes or multifamily development simply because a lot fronts a designated thoroughfare.
Steve Moore, the owner whose parcel prompted the discussion, described restoring a derelict house and his interest in building one or a small number of rental or single-family homes on the back portion of the property. He and staff described constraints from the UDO’s flag-lot limits, the 300-foot flag-pole length rule, and rules that would otherwise require building a public road to create multiple rear lots.
Board action and conditions: After discussion about alternative limits for flag lots, the board approved TA-24-6 as amended to set a temporary cap of one flag lot per 30 subdivision lots. The amendment also removes the application of the depth-to-width ratio in the scenarios outlined by staff and allows the uses otherwise allowed in an R20 district on qualifying lots. The transcript records approval by voice vote; no roll-call tallies were provided.
What’s next: Staff said they will refine the flag-lot language and return with more precise options (for example, distance-based spacing or thresholds tied to subdivision size) at a future meeting to replace the interim 1-per-30 rule.
The board adopted the accompanying statement of plan consistency at the same meeting.
