The following is a report from Wilmington Star News Online.
A housing trend that is growing in popularity across the nation could soon come to Brunswick County, North Carolina.
In July, the Brunswick County Planning Board considered and approved a text amendment to its Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), a document that guides development in the county. The amendment makes way for the construction of casitas, or small house-like structures, to be built on RV lots in outdoor RV resorts in the county.
Previously, the county’s UDO allowed site-build or modular cabins to be built on some lots within an outdoor RV resort, but not on the same lot as an RV or travel trailer. The approved text amendment will allow an RV or travel trailer to have a casita built on the same lot for accessory use.
The move adds the term “casita” to the county’s UDO, defines it and specifies that an RV and a casita can be located on the same lot. The amendment defines casita as “a small self-contained dwelling, typically unattached from a main home, but on the same property.” The amendment also directs that the RV and casita could not be rented separately from one another.
Barry Poole, a developer who brought the text amendment proposal to the county, said he and his family have been involved in the motorcoach industry for about 25 years. For the last several years, Poole said, he’s been developing motorcoach communities with lots that are sold, not rented. These communities are designed for RV living, but each lot also features a casita or camping cabin that can be used as a guest house.
“In a motorcoach, it’s difficult to have guests,” Poole said.
Poole said some of his previous developments have featured 150-square-foot casitas, while others have been up to 1,700 square feet. What he’s planning in Brunswick County, he said, is similar to a development he built in Florida — around 850-square-foot structures, of which some is enclosed and some makes up, essentially, a porch or patio area.
Poole said at his previous developments, lots are sold and operated by a homeowners association. Having the casitas, he said, is “key to what we do.”
Read the full report from Wilmington Star News here.