Brunswick County Small Business Advisory CommissionPublic Hearing Report

Brunswick County CommissionersOctober 20, 2013

Brunswick County Government Center

Background

Brunswick County Commissioners formed the Brunswick County Small Business Advisory Commission on January 22, 2013 to ensure that Brunswick County’s small business community has a strong voice, ensuring that county ordinances and policies are clear, predictable, and reasonable and that they are applied consistently.

Background

The Advisory Commission quickly formed a Committee charged to hold a public hearing to collect information from the business community on what, if any, barriers the business community is facing that would prevent or impede new and existing business investment in Brunswick County and what solutions they would recommend. This hearing was held on June 4th at 101 Stone Chimney Place, Supply.

Purpose

This report outlines input by the business community at the public hearing and in written comments including recommendations to improve these issues with the goal of making Brunswick County more business friendly. The following report and recommendations were reviewed on July 16th and approved by the BCSBAC on September 17, 2013.

Issue: Seafood & Agriculture

Local independent farmers and watermen find it difficult to trade in the County due to zoning and regulations. County residents enjoy consuming local seafood and produce.

• Recommendation 1: Review zoning to ensure appropriate

amounts of land are and remain designated for agriculture and seafood into the future.

• Recommendation 2: Revisit County roadside vendor regulations with the goal to encourage Brunswick County produce and Brunswick County seafood vending.

Issue: County & Municipal Land Use Plans

Municipal spot annexations may grow throughout the County because businesses may find the municipal land use plans and regulations more attractive. Thus, Brunswick County is losing revenues to the municipalities through voluntary annexation. Also, these spot annexations do not provide clear authoritative jurisdictions for the general public.

Issue: County & Municipal Land Use Plans

• Recommendation 3: Explore creation of an Enhanced Enterprise Zone, blending county and municipal land use development regulations within a designated radius of a municipality to utilize the more economically viable of the two land use plans depending on each situation. This would promote growth around a municipality and ensure a spirit of cooperation.

Issue: Unified Development Ordinance

Most businesses want to improve, replace or enhance their property but if improved there are several common issues within the UDO which result in a business owner confronting either a cost prohibitive venture or the total loss of their investment. Business comments centered on the rigid nature of the UDO and it’s interpretation/implementation. Issues such as setbacks, change of use, frontage designation, landscaping, and the functionally obsolete and non-conforming were most mentioned.

Issue: Unified Development Ordinance

• Recommendation 4: Creation of a Permitting Oversight Committee (volunteers), which would meet as required with any business owner who is having difficulty with the permitting process. This Committee would review the issue and make recommendations to the Planning Board and/or County staff concerning the issue. This approach would be less costly to the business owner, relieve unnecessary variances, give County staff an additional avenue to assist the business owner and make the county more business friendly. This Permitting Oversight Committee would also see patterns of issues and would make recommended changes to the County Commissioners.

Issue: Unified Development Ordinance

• Recommendation 5: Create incentives within the UDO to give those businesses who want to improve, enhance or replace their property which as been deemed functionally obsolete/non-conforming.

• Recommendation 6: Identify those properties within the county with issues created by and the dissolution of the Corridor Development Standards and work toward resolution. There is question that the TOZ/Corridor Development Standard was being used as a utility easement as well.

Issue: Taxes & Fees

Businesses are concerned with the cost of doing business in Southeast North Carolina, more specifically the layers of fees and taxes on new and existing businesses. A list of those fees and taxes include business personal property tax, beer/wine tax, privilege licenses, permit fees, fire fees, fire inspection fees, and impact fees. The concern is not only the monetary amount of these fees/taxes but also the cost of recordkeeping for reporting.

• Recommendation 7: Review where the County can streamline business reporting forms and consolidate or eliminate additional business taxes/fees.

Customer Service Issue

A common thread throughout all the comments has been the frustration of business owners who desire to upgrade their existing business or create a new business only to find unnecessary roadblocks and excessive expenditure of time and money.

• Recommendation 8: County Commissioners create and

implement a Customer Bill of Rights to ensure a level of quality customer service be provided to those using county services.

Customer Service Issue

• Recommendation 9: In conjunction with Brunswick County Small Business Advisory Commission, County Planning Staff look for ways improve and shorten the permit process between applications to completion.

Action

The Brunswick County Small Business Advisory Commission accepted these findings from the BCSBA Public Hearing Committee at its September 17, 2013 meeting. It further recommends the Brunswick County Board of Commissioners take action on these recommendations.

Respectfully Submitted by:Shannon Viera, ChairBrunswick County Small Business Advisory Commission

Presented by:Steve Candler, BCSBAC Member