§ 48-404. R-3 high-density residential district.

(a)

Intent. The R-3 high-density residential district is established as an area in which the principal use of the land is for high-density single-family and duplex residential development. The R-3 district also provides for the development of less intensive residential uses as well as compatible supporting uses.

(b)

Permitted uses. The following uses shall be permitted by right in the R-3 district:

(1)

Detached single-family dwellings (not to include trailers or mobile homes).

(2)

Duplexes.

(3)

Estuarine bulkheads.

(4)

Municipally owned public access facilities.

(5)

Customary accessory uses and structures, including private swimming pools, private docks, minor communication towers, dish antennas, roof top wind energy facilities, vertical axis wind energy facilities and home occupations.

(6)

Large residential dwellings, subject to other requirements of this chapter and provided that all the conditions are met as specified in section 48-370.

(c)

Conditional uses. The following uses shall be permitted subject to the requirements of the R-3 district and additional regulations and requirements as imposed by the board of commissioners as provided in article XIV of this chapter:

(1)

Cemeteries, subject to other requirements of this chapter and provided that the following conditions are met:

a.

All cemeteries shall have perpetual care.

b.

Any grave or burial plot shall be set back not less than 40 feet from any exterior property line.

c.

Adequate space for the parking and maneuvering of funeral entourages shall be provided within the site.

d.

Lighting shall be prohibited except for minimum lighting that may be required for security purposes.

e.

The site shall be approved by all necessary regulatory agencies including, but not limited to, the county department of environmental health and the state cemetery commission.

f.

No cemetery shall be located within a special flood hazard area as depicted on the latest FIRM.

(2)

Private parks and playgrounds, subject to other requirements of this chapter and provided that the following conditions are met: Lighting shall be prohibited except for minimum lighting that may be required for security purposes.

(3)

Municipal parks, playgrounds and facilities, subject to other requirements of this chapter and provided that the following conditions are met: Lighting shall be prohibited except for minimum lighting that may be required for security purposes.

(4)

Nursing homes, subject to other requirements of this chapter and provided that the following conditions are met:

a.

The density shall not exceed 20 beds per acre.

b.

Lighting shall be prohibited except for minimum lighting that may be required for security purposes.

(5)

Private clubs, as regulated by section 48-365.

(6)

Public utility facilities, subject to other requirements of this chapter and provided that the following conditions are met:

a.

No open storage is allowed.

b.

All utility structures requiring a building permit shall be architecturally compatible with other structures in the vicinity.

c.

The boundaries of the entire site shall be buffered in accordance with subsection 48-482(1), buffer yard A.

(7)

Religious complexes, subject to other requirements of this chapter and provided that the following conditions are met:

a.

All structures within the religious complex shall be separated by a minimum of 30 feet.

b.

No structure shall be located closer than 25 feet to a common property line, nor closer than 30 feet to an abutting street or highway right-of-way.

c.

The ratio of total floor area to total site area shall not exceed one to four.

d.

All parking areas shall be buffered from abutting residential districts or uses in accordance with subsection 48-482(4), buffer yard D.

(8)

Boardinghouse, subject to other requirements of this chapter and provided that the following conditions are met:

a.

Boardinghouses may not exceed two rooms, which are intended to be rented.

b.

Occupancy by tenants shall not exceed more than two persons per bedroom and shall be for durations of generally greater than one week.

c.

Individual rooms shall not contain independent cooking facilities; this however shall not prohibit the serving of meals to tenants or the use of a single kitchen by tenants.

d.

Boardinghouses shall be owner occupied and serve as the primary residence of the owner.

(9)

Major communication tower, subject to other requirements of this chapter and providing the following conditions are met:

a.

The maximum height of a communication tower and antenna shall be 175 feet.

b.

The applicant shall submit an engineering report and site plan that contains at least the height of the tower and antennae, building materials to be used in the tower, number of proposed antennae and location. The report shall also include a certification from a structural engineer verifying that the tower structure will meet the requirements of Volume 1, Chapter 37 of the North Carolina State Building Code concerning wind resistance and will support the proposed number of antennae.

c.

Written verification that the proposed tower complies with regulations administered by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) shall be provided, prior to the board of commissioners' review.

d.

The applicant shall submit certification that an existing tower does not meet the applicant's structural specifications and/or technical design requirements.

e.

Guy-wired towers are prohibited.

f.

Major communication towers as permitted under this subsection may be located on upon a lot with other principal and accessory structures and uses.

g.

Major communication towers as permitted under this section shall be limited to the R-3 high density residential district properties located south of Epstein Drive.

(10)

Residential group development subject to other requirements of this chapter and the following additional requirements which must be shown on a site plan submitted with the conditional use application:

a.

Residential group development shall only be allowed on a single conforming lot that has been created by the recombination of multiple pre-existing nonconforming lots which each had an area less than the minimum lot size of 15,000 square feet.

b.

The dwelling units of the residential development shall meet the zoning district's dimensional yard requirements for single family residential structures as measured from the perimeter of the lot on which the development occurs.

c.

No dwelling unit or accessory structure within a residential group development may be located within ten feet of another structure.

d.

The number of dwelling units and total bedrooms allowed per residential group are shown below. Each dwelling unit must have a minimum of three and may have no more than five bedrooms.

No. of Dwelling Units	Max. No. of Bedrooms Allowed	Area of Upland Required
1	5	7,500 sq. ft.
2	10	15,000 sq. ft.
3	15	22,500 sq. ft.
4	20	30,000 sq. ft.

 

e.

Each dwelling unit shall have access to a public street directly or via a driveway to a shared accessway. The shared accessway must be a minimum of 20 feet in width and meet the reasonable requirements of the fire marshall for access by firefighting apparatus. An accessway width less than 20 feet may be reviewed and approved by the fire marshall in conjunction with an approved alternative life safety plan.

f.

If the dwelling units in a residential group development are submitted to a condominium form of ownership, the developer shall ensure that a condominium association is created to manage and maintain the common elements shared by the dwelling units as defined by the condominium documents and by the North Carolina Condominium Act, including, but not limited to any: streets, driveways, pools, stormwater management systems, sewage systems, water systems and any other amenities and infrastructure. Upon such a submission, the town shall be provided with copies of all condominium documents and plats as well as future amendments thereof, which evidence that the condominium association has the authority and ability to manage and maintain the common elements.

g.

Any streets or accessways, other than private driveways must be dedicated to public use. However, the continuing maintenance of said streets and accessways remains the responsibility of the property owner, condominium owners and any condominium association unless and until they are affirmatively accepted for maintenance by the town's board of commissioners or otherwise accepted into the state highway system.

h.

Off-street parking and loading facilities for each dwelling unit shall be provided so as not to interfere with the shared accessway or with the access of emergency or service vehicles to the entire property. Shared parking areas may be utilized to accommodate the total parking requirements for the development.

i.

All dwelling units within a residential group development, regardless of number of bedrooms, shall provide a minimum of 75 architectural design points as prescribed by town Code subsection 48-370(d), residential design standards.

(11)

Community gardens subject to the requirements of town Code section 48-379.

(d)

Dimensional requirements. Unless otherwise specified in subsection (c) of this section, the following dimensional requirements in the R-3 district shall apply:

(1)

A minimum lot area of 15,000 square feet is required for single-family dwellings. A minimum lot area of 22,500 square feet is required for duplexes. Lots using individual wells and septic tanks shall be 20,000 square feet per dwelling unit.

(2)

Lot coverage:

a.

The lot coverage shall not exceed 30 percent plus 300 square feet or 33 percent, whichever is greater. When performing lot coverage calculations, the residential lot coverage calculation sheet included with the site development application, as amended, shall be completed and submitted for review and approval.

b.

Permeable pavement:

i.

For the purposes of determining lot coverage, the total square footage of permeable pavement materials is multiplied by 0.67.

ii.

Permeable pavement materials include porous concrete, permeable interlocking concrete pavers, concrete grid pavers, Turfstone ^TM , gravel as defined in town Code section 48-7, and other proven technologies available as covered in the NC Best Management Practices Manual and as approved by the town engineer for appropriateness to the site and existing conditions. Porous concrete shall be designed and installed in accordance with ACI specifications, or equivalent standard, with hydrological, operation and maintenance considerations. Installation shall be conducted by a contractor certified in the installation of the type of pavement system chosen.

iii.

Edge restraints shall be provided on all concrete grid pavers, permeable interlocking concrete pavers, and similar type installations to confine the pavement installation. The pavement surface course structural properties shall be designed to withstand the applied vehicular loading pursuant to the specified application.

iv.

No porous concrete shall be used east of NC 1243 (South Old Oregon Inlet Road) or NC 12 (South Virginia Dare Trail). Compacted gravel shall not be considered permeable pavement.

c.

In the case of an oceanfront lot, only that area landward of the first line of stable natural vegetation (as defined by CAMA) shall be used for calculating lot coverage. Where an oceanfront lot has little or no stable natural vegetation, the line of such vegetation shall be a line extending between the nearest such vegetation existing north and south of the lot. In the case of lots abutting estuarine waters (as defined by division of marine fisheries and used by CAMA), lot coverage shall be in accordance with the standards listed above, except that in the area waterward of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 404 fill line, lot coverage shall not exceed 30 percent. If the Corps of Engineers 404 fill line is not evident or located within the estuarine AEC, as defined by CAMA, lot coverage within the estuarine, AEC shall not exceed 30 percent. Lot coverage allowances shall not be transferred from one portion of the lot to another.

d.

Two hundred square feet of lot coverage may be excluded from the lot coverage calculation for individual lots that utilize a shared driveway with an adjoining lot to provide the sole means of access to the lot. In these instances, a shared access easement must be recorded for each lot that utilizes the shared driveway.

e.

For residential uses, the total lot coverage may be increased by three percent when all runoff from the project's built-upon area is directed into an approved stormwater management system designed to accommodate the volume of runoff generated by a 3.5-inch design storm. The approved stormwater management system shall be designed in accordance with the standards included in chapter 34 Stormwater, Fill, and Runoff Management.

(3)

The minimum lot width shall be 60 feet.

(4)

The minimum depth of the front yard shall be 30 feet.

(5)

The minimum width of the side yard shall be eight feet. In the case of a corner lot, to ensure adequate sight clearance, the minimum width of the side yard adjacent to the right-of-way shall be no less than 15 feet, except in the case of pre-existing nonconforming lots that are less than 10,000 square feet in lot area and 60 feet or less in lot width, in which case the minimum setback shall be 12 feet. For large residential dwellings, the minimum width of the side yard shall be regulated in accordance with subsection 48-370(d).

(6)

The minimum depth of the rear yard shall be 20 percent of the lot depth but need not exceed 30 feet.

(7)

Maximum height of structures shall be 35 feet. However, the maximum height of a structure may be increased to 42 feet if the structure utilizes an eight-twelfths roof pitch as specified in the Town of Nags Head Residential Design Guidelines. For large residential dwellings, height shall be regulated in accordance with subsection 48-370(d).

(8)

All lots in subdivisions in the R-3 high-density residential zoning district, containing lots fronting on US 158 (South Croatan Highway), created after January 8, 1997, and recorded in the county registry, shall provide a 15-foot buffer (buffer yard E) in accordance with subsection 48-482(e)(1) and subsection 48-485(b)(1). Such buffer yard shall be maintained in accordance with section 48-486.

(Code 1990, § 22-304; Ord. No. 03-08-040, §§ 7, 8, 32, 8-20-2003; Ord. No. 03-10-046, § 4, 10-1-2003; Ord. No. 04-10-041, § I, 10-6-2004; Ord. No. 08-02-008, § IV, 2-6-2008; Ord. No. 09-08-029, Pt. I, 8-5-2009; Ord. No. 10-03-009, Pt. IV, 3-17-2010; Ord. No. 11-03-010, Pt. III, 3-2-2011; Ord. No. 11-07-025, Pt. III, 7-6-2011; Ord. No. 11-11-041, Pt. V, 11-2-2011; Ord. No. 14-01-002, Pt. IV, 1-8-2014; Ord. No. 14-06-018, Pt. I, 6-18-2014; Ord. No. 14-11-029, Pt. I, 11-5-2014; Ord. No. 15-03-009 , Pt. IV, 3-4-2015; Ord. No. 15-08-029 , Pts. VII, VIII, 8-19-2015; Ord. No. 15-09-031 , Pt. III, 9-2-2015; Ord. No. 17-07-012 , Pt. V, 7-5-2017; Ord. No. 18-03-004 , Pt. III, 3-14-2018)