NEW HANOVER COUNTY — A local Moose Lodge wants to continue a service for members it has had in place since the 1980s, but the county is now navigating how to grant RV camping privileges far outside of what it would normally allow.
In May, a complaint against Moose lodge #343 on Carolina Beach Road led New Hanover County planning staff to investigate the lodge’s practice of allowing RV camping and storage, as well as boat storage for members.
Per the county’s report on the issue, the lodge is in a residential area and holds a special use permit in 1980, but does not hold a permit to use the site as a campground. The lodge did come into compliance after the county issued a violation, stopping all the campground and storage use by October last year.
The lodge applied for a zoning amendment that would allow it to pick back up where it left off in October and the issue was presented to the county planning board on Thursday.
The lodge did not ask for carte blanche. It proposed allowing fraternal and benevolent organizations to offer camping and storage to members only if they:
- Limit the length of stays to two weeks
- Limit the number of camping sites to six
- Offer a minimum 1,000-square-feet per site
- Provide additional parking for separate vehicles and detailed records of campers
- Proposed vehicle storage be limited to 30
Planning staff drafted an amendment with the conditions and added a few more, notably a minimum 5-acre size for a property, that it must access to a major road, that restroom facilities may only be located inside the lodge building, limiting storage to 20 vehicles and setback requirements. However, the staff recommended denying the change.
The staff report noted fraternal organizations are allowed in several places throughout the county by-right or with a special use permit because they represent “a civic use, which typically serves nearby residents.” Yet, campgrounds are typically only allowed in commercial districts and primarily serve visitors.
“While staff is not opposed to these types of uses in general, staff has serious concerns about compatibility of this combination of uses on any one site and the potential impact on nearby areas,” the report says.
Bryan DeBose, past president at the lodge and the state chair for Moose Charities, noted providing camp sites for traveling members is a common practice for lodges country-wide. He pointed out lodge proceeds benefit local and national charities, local first responders, local schools, Red Cross and Duke Cancer Center, among others. He also noted the lodge has a standing agreement with the county as a public recycling collection site, hosting 10 dumpsters.
DeBose said the lodge believed it had been grandfathered in prior to current regulations and has had electrical hookups for the camp sites for more than 20 years. He said the lodge believes there would have been permits required to install the electrical work, but the county could not locate any.
He pointed to an example county staff found during its own research: The Wilmington Elks Lodge was annexed into the city in 1999 but offered camping and storage prior. City planning staff told the county, while there is no record of initial approval, it considers the case a “legal nonconformity.”
The Moose Lodge in Pender County is allowed to host RVs under a special use permit. Moose International maintains lists of lodges which provide RV and camping services. There are 18 locations in North Carolina that allow RVs.
DeBose said the lodge is working with Cape Fear Public Utility Authority to create a waste-disposal plan for the site. The lodge also recommended shortening the length-of-stay to one week and the restroom requirement. It already has separate restrooms on site and DeBose said it would be an issue for the lodge to keep its main building accessible outside of its regular hours.
The planning board was largely sympathetic though voiced concerns the amendment would be a broad change that could impact a large amount of the county. Member Hansen Matthews noted the site already meets many of the standards in the would-be text amendment and echoed it is well-suited for the use: It is more than 5 acres, offers direct access to a main road, has vegetation cover and appropriate setbacks surrounding it.
“They’re trying to be good members of the community and I want to see some way that we can accommodate that,” Matthews said. “I don’t know that’s going to be here tonight with the vote that we move forward, but with the planning staff’s help I’d like to come up with a way to do it.”
Board member Kaitly Rhonehouse pointed to a special use permit as an alternative that would take the specifics of the lodge into consideration but not make RV camping a standard use.
Board member Pete Avery said he would support some limited special use for camping, though he opposes storing vehicles.
County Planning Director Rebekah Roth said it would not be that simple. Campgrounds are allowed with special permits in some zoning districts, but their rules dictate they are much larger operations than what the lodge proposed.
“There may need to be some combination of a special use permit and a text amendment in order to accomplish just what they are asking for,” Roth said.
DeBose asked to table the issue so the lodge and staff can work out details on a plan. There was no follow-up date set, only that staff will bring the issue back when it has a proposal.
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