Chadbourn leaders Tuesday will consider a zoning amendment to allow mobile homes in more areas of the town, as well as amending the zoning rules to allow a seafood market to remain in business.
“One of the ongoing zoning challenges since my arrival has been the placement of mobile homes within the Agricultural Districts (AG),” Town Manager David Wise wrote in his briefing to the council. “The current Unified Development Ordinance does not provide for this land use currently, and what was being adhered to per the development ordinance.”
“Changes to The Town’s Development Ordinance for manufactured homes over the years have resulted in scattered locations where manufactured homes are permitted,” the brief said. The ordinance notes that “housing affordability is a key goal of the Chadbourn Land Use Plan,” adopted in 2024.
The issue came up recently after an application for another mobile home to be placed in a district where some manufactured homes were already in use. Mobile homes are allowed in several parts of the town, and in years past some had been installed in areas now designated as AG. After meeting with the applicant, Wise wrote, “new information was discovered that information was omitted by administrative error” and mobile homes should have been included in the AG district.
The amendment will allow mobile homes to be set up in areas with manufactured homes currently in place. It also adds the AG district as an area where they can be installed.
Council will also consider text amendments that will chang the code to allow Yahya Seafood to operate as a Home Occupation for seafood retail sales in a residential district. The seafood market has been the center of an ongoing fight since the town’s zoning inspector declared the business out of compliance earlier this year.
A previous report regarding the market incorrectly stated Yahya’s was closed. The town told the owner that the business would be required to close if it did not come into compliance. Yahya’s has remained open and operating.
Antonia Hope Jackson, the owner and operator, said she has operated since 2021, and never had problems with the town until she protested a $310 water bill. She said the town retaliated against her, since a utility clerk gave her written permission to operate without a permit in 2021. Jackson said she is in full compliance with state health and safety laws. Jackson operates the business out of a structure in her front yard at 113 Enterprise Street.
Under the new rules, the seafood market will be considered a Home Occupation, with online orders being picked up at the property. The proposal also says Jackson “would need to provide a plan of action on how Yahya Seafood LLC will mitigate the (odors) emanating from the home occupation.”
Jackson said there are no odors from the seafood she sells, and all her merchandise is prepared by the wholesaler before she receives it. She denies that refuse from cleaning fish was dumped on the rear of the property.
The council will also consider a satellite zoning request for 34 acres of mixed use property along the Chadbourn Highway.
Tuesday’s meeting begins at 7 p.m. and may be attended in person or viewed online.
