Wilmington Board of Adjustment Special Meeting – April 29, 2025
Wilmington Board of Adjustment Special Meeting – April 29, 2025
Note on date: The minutes and transcript indicate the meeting occurred on Thursday, April 24, 2025. The date above (April 29, 2025) is provided per the user's instruction; the source materials conflict on this point.
The Board of Adjustment of the City of Wilmington held a quasi-judicial public special meeting at 4:00 p.m. in Skyline Center, 929 N Front Street, Room 156.7, Wilmington, NC. Chairman Jeff Hovis called the meeting to order at 4:01 p.m. and read the procedure and conflict statement. Staff, applicants, and public were sworn in.
New Business – Item 1: 1135 Davis Sound Lane – Variance to Code Section 18-199
- Staff presented that the property is zoned R-15, contains a 1,340 sq. ft. dwelling and a 200 sq. ft. shed. Code allows accessory structures up to 100% of primary structure floor area, permitting one additional structure up to 1,140 sq. ft. The applicant proposed a 2,100 sq. ft. accessory building (combined 2,300 sq. ft., exceeding allowance by 960 sq. ft.). Staff noted no unique lot features preventing attachment to the principal structure, which would eliminate the need for a variance.
- Applicant Robert Koons addressed the board, explaining the need for a detached garage for storage, a playroom for children, and overflow from his electrical business. He cited privacy screening from a neighbor’s large home and cost savings of a metal building vs. stick-built addition.
- Board members expressed concern that the variance did not meet the four required findings of fact, noting alternatives (breezeway attachment, size reduction) and that the hardship appeared to be personal inconvenience rather than a condition peculiar to the property.
- Vote: Motion to deny carried 5-0 unanimously.
New Business – Item 2: 710 North Kerr Avenue – Variance to Code Section 18-323
- Staff presented that the 2.11-acre property is zoned R-10, with a pending rezoning to MD-17(CD) for a 48-unit senior housing development. Code Section 18-323 requires transitional buffers along property lines where districts of differing intensity abut. A southern unbuildable remnant R-10 parcel triggers the buffer requirement. The applicant requested elimination of that buffer, proposing instead streetscape landscaping and a sidewalk along New Centre Drive to close a gap between Kerr Avenue and New Centre Drive.
- No public speakers or applicant representatives were present (applicant submitted an affidavit).
- Board discussion noted that the remnant parcel is peculiar, and the proposed streetscape and sidewalk provide sufficient mitigation. Board members felt the variance met the required findings of fact.
- Vote: Motion to approve carried 5-0 unanimously.
Key Outcomes
- Variance for 1135 Davis Sound Lane was denied (5-0).
- Variance for 710 North Kerr Avenue was approved (5-0).
- The next scheduled regular Board of Adjustment evidentiary hearing is Thursday, May 15, 2025.
Meeting Transcript
We'll go ahead and call to order the Board of Adjustments special meeting for Thursday, April 24th, 2025. It is 401. Before we start to um read first, then you'll then we'll swear in. Um hearings before the board of adjustments are quasi-judicial in nature. Decisions of the board are based on the records of these proceedings. To grant a variance requires a concurrent vote of four-fifths of the members of the board. Reverse or modify the termination of administrative official requires a simple majority. Evidence submitted to the board for review becomes part of the record. Next thing we'll do is anyone that's gonna speak. Yeah, if you'll applicant staff member of the public who wishes to speak, if you might speak, stand and raise your right hand. Right. Our next item will be a new business regarding 1135 Davis Sound Lane, a variance for city code section 18-199 to allow an accessory structure to exceed the square footage for a principal structure. Thank you, Chairman Hubbis. Thank all of you for showing up for this special meeting on such short notice. Um the subject property at 1135 Davis Sound Lane is zoned R15 and contains a 1,340 square foot single family dwelling and a 200 square foot shed. City Code Section 18199 allows up to two accessory structures on a residential lot, provided the combined square footage of all accessory structures does not exceed the gross floor area of the primary structure. Based on the square footage of the existing house and the existing accessory building, City Code would allow one additional accessory structure up to 1,140 square feet in area on this property. The applicant has proposed a second accessory building that's approximately 2,100 square feet in area for a combined total area of 2,300 square feet, which exceeds the allowable area by 960 square feet. The applicant has not identified any unique features about the subject lot that would prevent attaching the proposed accessory building to the perfect the principal structure and eliminate the need for a variance. On February 11th, 2025, city staff accepted the applicant's request and set this matter for hearing before the board of adjustment on April 17th, 2025. This item was continued from that meeting to um this meeting today, April 24th, 2025. I'd like to enter the case summary and all attachments into the record. Happy to answer any questions you may have of staff and the applicant is also present. Um anybody have questions for Catherine. All right. Um we'll move on to the is the applicant is oh okay. If you like you can't come up somewhere exactly. Yes, sir. Okay. Uh Robert T. Hunts. And the address, the 1135, is your okay. All right. Um, do you have more to add in in addition? Um not really. I mean, it's basically in detached garage. Uh, two little kids at home. Our current two-car garage is turned into another playroom. So is a lawn lower the typical storage needs. Um have questions of instance. If you looked at maybe reconfigure in what you propose to do, like moving the garage a little closer to your home, because if it's attached to your home, you just agree with you don't need a variance. But what we're looking at here is two accessory structures rather than one, and almost square feet above it's allowed. Yeah. So um the future garage at the bottom of the screen. That is probably the line with a neighbor who just built a giant house with a pool. And so basically that detached structure is gonna act as of another blinding point, you know, just so we can't look in each other's backyards. And the building I propose to build is going to be just a metal garage. Financially, it's a lot cheaper than doing a stick build. Um, my house is built in the 50s and it's been added on twice. When you start feeling in the stuff like that to add on to it, it kind of turns into a nightmare.
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