Town of Nags Head

Planning and DevelopmentPost Office Box 99Telephone 252-441-7016

DepartmentNags Head, North Carolina27959FAX 252-441-4290

MEMORANDUM

TO:Board of Commissioners

FROM:Planning Board and Planning and Development Staff

DATE:July 26, 2005

SUBJECT:Public Hearing to consider an application by Stanford and Susan White to amend zoning standards for hotels in 48-407 C-2 General commercial district and 48-167 Required parking by use.

Stanford M. and Susan B. White have submitted the attached application to amend zoning ordinance provisions for hotels. Two items are being requested:

-That the parking standard for ‘hotel conference and meeting rooms’ located in Section 48-167 be changed from “one space per every 83 square feet” to “one space per every 100 square feet.”

-That the language in Section 48-407(c)(7)(t) be removed which requires hotels west of U.S. 158 to provide direct, private soundfront access.

Staff provides the following evaluation of this proposal:

The current parking requirement for a hotel/conference facility would be calculated as follows:

1.2 parking spaces per unit

1 parking space for each four employees

1 parking space per every 83 square feet of customer service area in meeting or conference rooms

Staff researched the development of the current parking standard for meeting rooms and could not find documentation on how this standard was generated. Staff also researched hotel/meeting facility parking standards for other North Carolina municipalities.

Typically parking is tabulated based on the number of rooms to be rented, the number of employees in the hotel, and by either the square footage of the meeting facility or by the number of seats. Since the Nags Head calculation is based on the square footage of the meeting facility rather than the number of seats, ordinances were reviewed which calculated parking in a similar manner. For comparison purposes, Staff has included hotel/meeting room parking standards from three North Carolina municipalities.

1)Hotels and motels containing:

a)5,000 sq. ft. or less ancillary space (i.e. restaurant, meeting rooms, lounge, and lobby) or a restaurant and/or lounge containing 3,000 sq. ft. or less; 1.1 per rental unit

b)More than 5,000 sq. ft. of ancillary space (i.e. restaurant, meeting rooms, lounge and lobby) or a restaurant and/or lounge containing more than 3,000 sq. ft; 1.25/rental unit

2)Hotel/motel with retail, office, meetings

1.2 parking spaces for each unit, plus 1 parking space for each employee, plus 1 parking space per 200 square (secondary uses) feet

3)Motels and tourist homes:

One space for each room or space to be rented, plus one additional space for each three employees. In addition, where a meeting room is to be a part of a motel complex, there shall be one space for each 100 square feet of floor area of such room not used exclusively for storage.

The third example listed above is almost identical to the requested amendment. The two other examples would provide fewer parking spaces than the requested amendment if applied to the same scenario. Staff would concede that the proposed amendment would allow our parking standards for hotel conference and meeting rooms to remain consistent with standard zoning practice and would represent only a slight variation from the current ordinance. For example, for a hotel that contains a 5,000 square foot meeting room, the current ordinance would require 60 spaces and the proposed amendment would require 50 spaces (for the meeting room only).

Regarding the requirement that hotels provide private, soundfront access;

Last year the Board of Commissioners modified a provision which required a non-oceanfront hotel to provide a private, ocean access with parking for its guests. The Board changed this to require hotels to be within a certain distance of an ocean access (public or private) or have direct, private soundfront access. As Staff understands the purpose of these requirements; they were designed to mitigate the demand for oceanfront (or water access) parking that would be generated by a large hotel. Additionally, it is Staff’s opinion that the Board developed this language as a mechanism to control the overall hotel development potential Town-wide.

The proposed amendment, in Staff’s opinion, would have minimal impact on hotel development potential, primarily because there are few eligible sites west of U.S. 158 in the C-2 District (from the Village to the Causeway) that do not already have soundfront access. Many of these sites are developed or would most likely require the recombination of property to accommodate a hotel. Attached is a map of these parcels as well as the applicant’s proposed language.

Planning Board Recommendation

At their July 19th meeting, the Planning Board voted unanimously to recommend approval of the attached ordinance amendment.

DRAFT #1; 7/14/2005; Submitted by Stanford and Susan White

AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE CODE OF ORDINANCES
OF THE TOWN OF NAGS HEAD, NORTH CAROLINA

BE IT ORDAINED by the Board of Commissioners of the Town of Nags Head, North Carolina, that the Code of Ordinances shall be amended as follows:

PART I.That Section 48-167. Required parking by usebe amended as follows:

Sec. 48-167. Required parking by use.

Required parking by use shall be as follows:

(1) Residential and Related Uses / Required Parking
Hotel conference and meeting rooms / One parking space for every 83100 square feet of customer service area

PART II.That Section 48-407 C-2 General Commercial District (c)(7)t.be amended as follows:

t.Hotel parcels east of US 158 must be within 500 feet in a straight line distance to either a private, deeded ocean access or a public ocean access. The access must consist of a minimum five-foot wide improved pedestrian path. Hotels west of US 158 must provide direct, private soundfront access.

PART III.All ordinances or parts of ordinances in conflict with this ordinance are hereby repealed.

PART IV.This ordinance shall be in full force and effect from and after the ____ day of ______, 2005.

Robert W. Muller, Mayor

ATTEST:

Town Clerk

APPROVED AS TO FORM:

Town Attorney

Date adopted:

Motion to adopt by Commissioner

Motion seconded by Commissioner

Vote:AYESNAYS