Carolina Beach Planning and Zoning Commission approves change to ordinance to allow for on-premise alcohol sales

CAROLINA BEACH, N.C. (WECT) - The Carolina Beach Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously approved a request brought by the owner of the Veggie Wagon to move on to city council at their meeting on Thursday, March 9.

Maxwell Sussman asks in the request for on-premise alcohol sales to be used by rights in the Neighborhood Business (NB) district. Right now, the zoning ordinance only allows for wine and beer shops with retail and off-premise alcohol sales.

Sussman wants to apply for an on-premise wine and malt beverage permit, and the existing ordinance would categorize that use as a standard restaurant, bar or brewery. But the Veggie Wagon is permitted as a retail establishment, and Sussman says that it doesn’t meet the definition of a standard restaurant or brewery, both of which are not allowed in the NB zoning district.

To solve the issue, Sussman proposes the addition of an on-premise wine shop to the allowed uses, as the current ordinance only allows for off-premise wine shops as retail.

He continues to request the ability to provide malt beverages on-premise in the district. If approved, beer shops would need to get a permit to allow for the sale of these beverages for consumption on and off premises.

The majority of Carolina Beach isn’t zoned for Neighborhood Business; the Veggie Wagon and a few businesses south of it on Lake Park Blvd S are some of the only properties in that zoning district.

The light pink sliver marked "NB" makes up most of the properties in the Neighborhood Business... — The light pink sliver marked "NB" makes up most of the properties in the Neighborhood Business zoning district in the entire town.(OpenStreetMap, Microsoft, Esri, HERE, Garmin, SafeGraph, GeoTechnologies, Inc, METI/NASA, USGS, EPA, NPS, US Census Bureau, USDA | Esri, NASA, NGA, USGS, FEMA)

The full item can be found here.

Copyright 2023 WECT. All rights reserved.