ROCKINGHAM — Two public hearings are scheduled for the City Council’s next meeting that would affect properties on the south side of town.
The first hearing will be for a text amendment “to provide a potential density bonus for the redevelopment/conversion of existing nonresidential buildings to multi-family residential housing.”
According to Assistant City Manager John Massey, the new owner of the former Woods Warehouse is considering renovating the property for a multi-family residential development.
The warehouse, at 511 S. Hancock St. (at the corner of Mill Road), would only allow for seven units under the city’s current regulation of 8.29 units per acre, at 5,250 square feet of lot area for each unit — since the property is on just nine-tenths of an acre, according to Massey, who adds that city staff and the owner agree that the expected rent from that number of units would not justify the cost of conversion or renovation.
The proposed change to the Unified Development Ordinance would allow for 25 units in the 36,333 square-foot warehouse space, with each unit being around 1,038 square feet.
Massey adds that the former county administration building, also on Hancock Street, could benefit from the change.
Based on the current density rules, only five units would be allowed in that building. However, the proposed amendment would allow for 25 units at an average size of 1,174 square feet.
However, the change would not allow for the expansion of the warehouse building footprint or height for additional residential space, according to Massey.
Massey suggests the amendment could be “a type of financial incentive” to encourage investment in older buildings across the city, “some of which of public nuisances in their current state.” The warehouse has been a “habitual public nuisance …because vagrants frequently occupy the building,” Massey said.
Changing the ordinance, according to Massey, would meet the first two goals of the city’s land use plan: to expand its tax base; and to improve the overall appearance of the community.
The second public hearing is on an amendment to allow bed and breakfast inns as a permitted use in the Highway Business zone.
The city changed the zoning for the historic H.C. Watson House in 2005 from High Density Residential to Highway Business (B-3) so the current property owner could operate an antique store from the home, according to Massey.
Now, Massey says the house is for sale and a prospective buyer is interested in turning the home — which is on the National Register — into a bed and breakfast.
Massey says that when the UDO was updated in 2003, bed and breakfast inns were left out of the permitted uses — which do include hotels, motels and extended-stay facilities — for Highway Business “because there were few if any large historic homes zoned B-3 consider desirable for such use.”
Now, Massey says, “the situation has changed.”
The city’s Planning Board has recommended the passage of both amendments, according to Massey.
Also at the next meeting, the City Council will vote on demolition ordinances for homes on East Washington and Copeland Streets.
The City Council is scheduled to meet at 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 9 at City Hall.
UPDATE: The January meeting has been canceled and all agenda items have been moved to the February meeting.
Updated 5:22 p.m. 1-8-24
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the original date of the meeting. 6:04 p.m. 1-8-24
