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Surf City council adopts package of zoning changes on hotel parking, golf-cart businesses, oceanfront decks and pool decking
Summary
The Surf City Town Council approved several amendments to its land-use code, including reducing required hotel parking from 1.25 to 1 space per room, creating a permitted use for low-speed vehicle sales/rentals in the C-3 district, reincorporating oceanfront deck language and restoring a 4-foot maximum concrete limit around pools.
The Surf City Town Council on a unanimous or near‑unanimous vote this week approved a bundle of amendments to the town's land‑use code addressing oceanfront decks, hotel parking, low‑speed vehicle businesses and residential pool decking.
Sean Olds of the town planning department presented the package as a set of corrections and targeted policy changes following the town's comprehensive-code update. Olds said the oceanfront-deck language had been omitted when the ordinances were consolidated last year and that planning staff recommended adding it back to preserve dune systems and clarify setbacks. "The planning board did recommend approval of the ordinance language as submitted," Olds said.
On hotel parking, staff recommended lowering the off‑street requirement from 1.25 spaces per guest room to one space per room after comparing Surf City with other small beach towns. Olds noted that many comparable coastal towns use a 1.0 baseline and that reduced parking can preserve open space and encourage walkability. A local resident asked how suites would be handled; Olds said planning would follow a Wrightsville Beach–style table: 1.0 per guest room, 1.5 for two‑room suites and larger counts for bigger units.
The council also adopted a new use allowing sales, rentals and maintenance of street‑legal low‑speed vehicles (commonly known as golf carts) in the C‑3 central business district. Olds said North Carolina law already allows operation of low‑speed vehicles on roads with posted limits of 35 mph and under; the change establishes a land‑use category and zoning conditions (buffering, storage rules) for businesses that would rent, sell or service those vehicles. During the hearing, resident Cindy Kennedy raised insurance and child‑restraint concerns, saying, "When you rent a golf cart and you are the one that causes the accident, you have no insurance," and urging the council to ensure renters are informed of safety and legal responsibilities.
Finally, staff sought to reinstate a prior town standard limiting maximum concrete decking immediately around in‑ground residential pools to 4 feet, a provision that had been left out of the reissued land‑use code. Pool contractors urged caution; one builder said state guidance (CAMA) can allow different treatments in some cases and recommended reviewing the rule’s coastal engineering rationale. Council voted to reinstate the prior 4‑foot maximum and asked planning to reexamine the limit and report back.
Each ordinance change was introduced by staff, discussed briefly with council and the public, and carried on motions recorded in the meeting minutes. Several items referenced the town's comprehensive plan policies on island preservation and dune protection. The planning board had recommended the zoning changes.
The council directed staff and the planning board to follow up with clarifying language where needed; no of the adopted amendments immediately change where low‑speed vehicles may be driven (state law governs roadway use), and the pool change was described as restoring a prior town policy rather than creating a new restriction.
