After a lengthy public hearing that included nearly a dozen public comments, the Dare County Board of Commissioners (BOC) voted to table the removal of Buxton and Frisco’s Zone of Influence for 90 days until potential implications could be further studied.
The Zone of Influence text has caused waves of questions since it first popped up on the community’s radar at the April 2025 Planning Board Meeting. The zoning text applies to a roughly seven-mile-long and half-mile-wide section of Buxton and Frisco that is outside of the Buxton Woods Reserve-bordering SED-1 zone.
According to the Zone of Influence amendment, in addition to any existing restrictions that correspond with an individual zone, (like R-1, S-1, C-2, C-3, etc.), lots in this region may not be used for a multi-family developments under one roof, townhouses, or condominium projects, if the project exceeds three single-family units per acre.
It should be noted that, depending on the individual zone, other commercial uses outside of multi-family developments are allowed.
For example, properties in C-2 zones can be used for motels, hotels, restaurants, retail stores, mobile home parks, and even theaters, provided that dimensional requirements and other guidelines are met. But certain multi-family developments are singled out and are not allowed, according to the Zone of Influence ordinance.
The Zone of Influence text was added to the SED-1 zone to stop a specific 40-unit condo development from being built in 1988, and was an afterthought amendment that followed a massive effort to protect Buxton Woods.
In the late 1980s, the county, state, and local community joined forces to protect sensitive areas of Hatteras Island from development, and namely Buxton Woods, which is the largest remaining contiguous tract of maritime forest on the Atlantic coast.
At the time, a large swath of Buxton Woods was being eyed by developers as a site for a new golf course, and residents and stakeholders were concerned about the accelerating interest in development by multiple, off-island parties.
The N.C. Coastal Resources Commission (CRC), which sets development policy in the state’s 20 coastal counties, voted in 1988 to designate Buxton Woods as an area of environmental concern with state protections. Dare County also adopted special environmental district (SED) ordinances restricting development in order to protect the one-of-a-kind forest, as well as the aquifer that provides water to Avon, Buxton, Frisco, and Hatteras.
But after these protective measures for the immediate maritime forest area were implemented, and Buxton Woods was safe from development, the Zone of Influence text was added, which is documented in the August 1988 Board of Commissioners meeting minutes.
Affecting areas outside of Buxton Woods, and covering most of Buxton and Frisco Villages, the Zone of Influence text only appears in the SED-1 zoning guidelines and not in the other zones where the restrictions actually apply. So, if you owned a property zoned C-2, C-3, or any other zone, you’d never know this caveat existed unless you also researched the separate, SED-1 zoning restrictions, (and there would be no logical reason to do so.)
37 years later, after being ignored for nearly four decades, the Zone of Influence resurfaced due to a Frisco property owner’s request to convert an existing commercial space into an apartment.
Because there were already three apartments in the building, and four apartments under one roof are not allowed per the Zone of Influence verbiage, the owner could not convert the retail space to a dwelling, even though it would have no impact on the property footprint.
Dare County Planning Director Noah Gillam pointed out these zoning discrepancies at Monday’s public hearing, noting that the Zone of Influence no longer accomplished what it was designed to do.
“You could have a hotel/motel with any density limitation. You could have a campground with 28 units an acre. You could have a group development with 10 single-family houses an acre. But you couldn’t have 10 apartments under one roof,” said Gillam. “The Dare County Planning Board reviewed this in April. They voted unanimously to recommend approval of the applicant’s request. They felt that the language didn’t offer adequate protections over the last 36 years, since uses were allowed that were much more intense, and higher density, than the limitations that the Zone of Influence placed.”
The ability to enforce the Zone of Influence was also questioned, especially since several structures were constructed after 1988 that were not compliant with the recently discovered restrictions.
“The problem is that in 1988, when this county adopted the ordinance, they put it at the tail end of that SED ordinance. They didn’t put it in the index, they didn’t put the overlay zone on a zoning map, and when they rezoned everything in 1993, they didn’t [add the Zone of Influence language] to any of those underlying zones referenced in the overlaying district,” said County Manager and County Attorney Bobby Outten. “So, anyone who was developing their property outside of the SED had no way to know that this overlay would or should apply to their property. Bad enough that the community didn’t know, but the staff didn’t know either. So, as staff went along over the years, they authorized development based upon the zoning that occurred in 1993.”
Outten also touched on potential legal issues, which possibly rendered the Zone of Influence unenforceable. Changing the text was not an option, due to recent state legislation that stripped local governments’ ability to “downzone,” or make more restrictive zoning changes than what already exists.
In December 2024, the state of North Carolina passed Session Law 2024-57 (S.B. 382), which significantly restricts local governments’ ability to downzone property without the written consent of all affected property owners. The law mandates that any downzoning action taken since June 14, 2024, requires this consent, and failure to obtain such consent could render the zoning action void and unenforceable.
A second bill that restores this downzoning authority for local governments was introduced in early 2025, but it is unclear when or if this bill will pass.
“We’re at a place where whatever happened in 1988 was wrong and didn’t get done correctly,” said Outten. “You’ve got an ordinance that’s not enforceable, and because of [legislation] in 2024, you got an ordinance that you can’t fix because it’s a downzoning.
“And so now you’ve got [this ordinance] that you can’t enforce, and you can’t change, other than get rid of it. If you leave it in place, then it’s there, but we can’t enforce it. If we tried to make the property owner comply with it, then I think we would lose that lawsuit.”
The Hatteras Island residents and stakeholders who spoke against the change, however, focused on the fact that the sudden removal of the nearly 40-year-old ordinance seemed rushed at best, and was being conducted without any research on the potential consequences.
“We would encourage you to either deny this, or table it, and work with these citizens of Buxton, who have now come together – again – to try to affect how their communities are developed into the future,” said Derb Carter, Senior Advisor and Attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, and an original leader in the late-1980s push to protect Buxton Woods. “We’d be glad to work with the county to look at the various options you have available.”
“This is not just about one property, it’s about the precedence we set and the values we uphold as a community,” said Buxton Civic Association (BCA) Board Member Wendi Munden during the public comments. “I urge you to pause, reconsider, and involve more comprehensive studies from groups such as the [North Carolina] Coastal Federation. The unknowns here are too great, and the potential consequences too lasting, to rush this.”
“We’re asking that you guys table this for the time being to try and find a workaround,” said BCA Board Member Brett Barley. “It was obviously put into place to protect Buxton Woods along the SED zone, and as of a couple of weeks ago, we’re told there have been no studies to see if there would be negative environmental effects by lifting this [restriction].”
“Obviously, we have one person asking for one extra apartment, but we’re looking to lift an entire seven-mile-long and half-mile-wide buffer zone,” added Barley. “What else could come of this?”’
After diving into the details, the commissioners expressed astonishment that the Zone of Influence had never been mentioned in any county department conversations since it was introduced in 1988.
“It’s frustrating. 37 years, and we have never talked about this? I’ve only been on this board since 2012, and it’s ridiculous that we have to deal with something like this 37 years later,” said BOC Chairman Bob Woodard.
At the end of the public hearing, Chairman Woodard submitted a motion to table the change for 90 days to study the potential effects and “find the workaround.” The resolution also included the retention of a formal and written legal opinion, in conjunction with the county attorney, to understand any potential legal implications.
“We will study this as a Board, and we can involve the Planning Board, and we can involve the citizens of Hatteras Island, and we can involve our Planning Director,” said Chairman Woodard. “There’s too much gray area for me to make a decision today, and I have a total respect for the citizens of Hatteras Island, and there’s too much gray area [for them] too – I’m making this motion for that very reason, out of respect for the citizens of Hatteras Island, so we can work this out, and find a workaround by tabling this for 90 days.”
The resolution was passed unanimously by the seven-member Board of Commissioners.
Click here to view the public hearing – and the complete Dare County Board of Commissioners’ May 5 meeting – on the county’s YouTube channel.
