No action was taken, during the Thursday, March 10 meeting of the Moore County Planning Board, on a proposed text amendment to the Moore County Zoning Ordinance to reduce the setbacks to zero for accessory structures within the Gated Community-Seven Lakes Zoning district.
Joan Frost, the Community Manager of the Seven Lakes West Landowners Association [SLWLA], asked the Planning Board to table consideration of the amendment to allow for further discussion at the homeowner association level.
The Gated Community-Seven Lakes Zoning [GC-SL] district encompasses the Westside community as well as all properties in Seven Lakes North and South.
Currently, Moore County's Zoning Ordinance defines the both the setbacks for primary structures and lot dimensional requirements for parcels in the GC-SL district as "none" -- basically, zero feet -- in order to allow the restrictive covenants governing the various communities within Seven Lakes to set the standards.
In the Moore County Zoning Ordinance, swimming pools are considered "accessory structures," and must meet accessory structure setbacks of the zoning district. However, in Seven Lakes, swimming pools are not considered an accessory structure -- which are not allowed under each community’s restrictive covenants. Rather, pools are considered an extension of the single family dwelling.
As currently written the County's Zoning Ordinance requires a 50-foot setback for swimming pools and other accessory structures within GC-SL -- which can be a difficult fit on many Seven Lakes lots.
Late last year, Moore County Planning Staff met with representatives of both SLWLA and the Seven Lakes Landowners Association to develop a text amendment for accessory buildings that would close the gap, so to speak, between the restrictive covenants and county ordinances. During discussion, they determined that it would be more expedient to amend the county ordinances to allow each of the communities to set its own guidelines rather than attempt to reach a consensus ruling on setback requirements that would apply to all of Seven Lakes.
In essence, by changing the accessory structure setback in the county ordinances to "none," the county would let the covenants prevail on all GC-SL parcels that are currently governed by covenants.
