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Southport Board of Adjustments pauses ADU hearing after neighbors raise flood, parking and lot‑size concerns
Summary
The Southport City Board of Adjustments continued a Dec. 4 hearing on a special‑use permit for a 420‑sq.‑ft. detached accessory dwelling unit after neighbors raised stormwater, parking and nonconforming‑lot concerns; the board asked staff to arrange expert testimony and the city engineer for the Jan. 27, 2026 continuation.
The Southport City Board of Adjustments on Dec. 4 paused a quasi‑judicial hearing on a special‑use permit for a detached accessory dwelling unit and continued the matter to Jan. 27, 2026 to allow opponents and staff to present technical evidence, including testimony from the city engineer.
Planning staff introduced the application as a request by property owner William Fitzgerald for a detached ADU on a roughly 6,500‑square‑foot lot at the corner of North Atlantic Avenue and East (8th) Street. Staff said the proposed detached unit would be about 420 square feet, would meet the UDO’s small‑ADU setback allowances (units under 530 sq. ft. may sit closer to the rear line), and that tree‑mitigation rules would require nine inches of replacement diameter at breast height if a 36‑inch live oak is removed.
"Because the structure does not meet the threshold of 800 square feet or greater, they are not going to be required to do any stormwater mitigation," planning staff said, while noting the city stormwater engineer suggested the board could make approval conditional on voluntary measures such as gutters or a rain garden.
Neighbors opposed to the application told the board the property has contributed to new flooding and sewer problems near 717 North Atlantic Avenue and argued a second independent dwelling would intensify the lot’s use. A commenter who said she was speaking as power of attorney for her parents described prolonged drainage and sewer issues and the family’s hardship: "My father is having stage 4 lung cancer, and the toll ... has been added greatly by the bills that have taken place on the loss of [sic] our home," she said, asking the board to consider admissible evidence before acting.
Board members, supported by the board’s attorney, said those kinds of causation claims generally require admissible expert testimony in a quasi‑judicial proceeding. Counsel told the board lay testimony about causation is usually insufficient and explained that parties asserting stormwater impacts need an expert to link the proposed work to the claimed damages for it to be part of the evidentiary record.
Several members said they were uncomfortable deciding the SUP on the record without technical information about drainage and sewer capacity. One member moved "that we pause this hearing and continue it at the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Adjustments" so parties with standing could present further testimony and staff could arrange for the city engineer to appear; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote.
The board asked staff to provide clearer guidance and documentation at the continued hearing, including (a) UDO language about legally nonconforming lots and what the code allows for ADUs on undersized lots, and (b) the city engineer or a qualified stormwater expert to estimate whether mitigation measures would be effective and what, if any, conditions would be reasonable.
No final decision was made on the permit. The hearing will resume Jan. 27, 2026; staff said plan review and utility review would still check driveway, parking and sewer capacity as part of permit processing. The board concluded the meeting after handling routine agenda items and housekeeping.
