Week of the September 6, 2021
In This Briefing:
NCR Preparing CFA Next Week on STR Preemption
USFWS Mum on Huge, Unpredictable Habitat Designation Decision
Kitty Hawk to Consider New Accessory Rules
Manteo to Consider Amending CAMA LUP
In the Media
Upcoming Meetings
NCR Preparing CFA Next Week on STR Preemption
NCR is preparing a highly important call for action next week to mobilize support for pending language advanced by Rep. Dean Arp that would restore preemption of burdensome and invasive local short-term rental ordinances. The preemption was removed without consideration or debate when the General Assembly reorganized North Carolina’s previous land use enabling statutes, chapters 153A and 160A, into the new unified Chapter 160D. The change was made despite the General Assembly’s explicit intent to avoid substantive changes during the recodification process. Rep. Arp’s amendment would reverse the change and ensure counties and municipalities are unable to suddenly regulate significant sources of rental income out of existence, jeopardizing property owner investments in coastal communities. Rep. Arp faces opposition by powerful General Assembly members committed to exploiting the opportunity the drafting error presents them to help local interests overturn a court ruling made with the preemption in place. Coastal REALTORS® need this language in the budget, and Sen. Bob Steinburg is a budget conferee participating in negotiations to finalize the legislature’s budget proposal. When you receive the call for action please take a moment to respond. Please remind Sen. Steinburg that it is imperative that people making investment decisions know what the law is and are prepared for statutory changes affecting their most important lifetime investment decisions.
USFWS Mum on Huge, Unpredictable Habitat Designation Decision
As reported in last week’s OBAR Government Affairs Briefing, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is preparing to designate over 600,000 acres of coastal land in 13 states as critical habitat for the Rufa Red Knot, a migrating shorebird. If finalized the designation would include 37,000 acres of North Carolina coastline. Sweeping in scope due to USFWS’s employment of an extremely sensitive criticality threshold, the designation would complicate dredging operations for beach nourishment and shoaling control in ways USFWS failed to substantively project or clarify in communication with stakeholders and member of Congress. Among the designation’s likeliest impacts is project cost increases due to the necessity of demobilizing dredges in compliance with restricted seasonal operating windows that interrupt otherwise continuous deployment. Horseshoe crabs compose part of the Rufa Red Knot’s diet, and may be exposed to entrainment (getting sucked up and destroyed or displaced) by hopper dredges. Representatives Rouzer and Murphy and senators Burr and Tillis have yet to be notified whether a requested pause in the rulemaking process to permit additional information requests will be granted by the agency. In response to requests for assistance from OBAR, NAR has clarified it lacks the resources to comment on the proposed rule.
Kitty Hawk to Consider New Accessory Rules
On September 7 the Kitty Hawk Town Council scheduled for October 4 a public hearing to consider comment on a town-proposed zoning text amendment that would if enacted define accessory dwelling units and also separately define and regulate “accessory living structures”. Currently, limitations on the allowable number of dwelling units per lot, including accessory dwelling units, apply only to structures meeting the definition of dwelling unit, which requires “independent cooking facilities”. Therefore, the number per lot of accessory structures containing living space but not containing a stove hookup is regulated solely by lot coverage. The proposed amendment provides a remedy by defining accessory living structure as “any conditioned and/or finished living space that is in conjunction with and clearly subordinate to the primary structure, but does not meet the definition of ‘dwelling unit’. Accessory living structures shall have no independent cooking facilities. Accessory living structures are limited to one per parcel. Bedrooms in an accessory living structure are limited to two. An accessory living structure shall not exist on the same lot with an accessory dwelling unit.”
Manteo to Consider Amending CAMA LUP
- On September 15 the Manteo Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing to consider public comment on a proposed amendment to the Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA) Land Use Plan. If enacted the amendment would provide a definition of upland wetlands and clarify that new development and fill placement in upland wetlands is subject to permitting under CAMA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rules. The amendment is a technical clarification for statutory consistency and does not alter regulatory treatment of activities involving upland wetlands, which are governed by state and federal law.
In the Media
Monday, September 13
Town of Kill Devil Hills Board of Commissioners – 6:00 p.m.
Tuesday, September 14
Town of Manteo Planning and Zoning Board – 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday, September 15
Town of Manteo Board of Commissioners – 5:00 p.m.
Thursday, September 16
Town of Kitty Hawk Planning Board – 6:00 p.m.
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Send comments to pgraham@ncrealtors.org.