Sunset Beach approves 10-foot height increase for hotels

SUNSET BEACH, NC (WWAY) — Sunset Beach Town Council voted to approve a change to the town’s Unified Development Ordinance, which will now raise the maximum height for hotels in the town’s mixed-use development zone from 50 feet to 60 feet. 

The change comes ahead of a request to build a Hampton Inn and Suites at one of several plots at the village at Sunset Beach. 

Kelly Stuart is with Carolinas Commercial, the company behind the hotel prototype. 

Stuart noted the project is still in its conceptual stage with final approval likely months away. 

“They’re not approving any particular hotel, they’re not approving any particular project. That comes way far down the line. At this point they are just giving the flexibility for a hotel that’s possibly looking to build in the village,” Stuart explained. 

At the meeting, some residents expressed concerns like how about how the hotel will look, whether it will impact traffic, and the visitors the hotel will attract. 

Resident Steve Margini expressed that while he lived in New York, he felt that new hotels brought crime to the area. 

“It brought prostitution, it brought overdoses, transients, suicides, homeless,” Margini said. “Also, construction crews that are contracted in the area, migrants/illegals. That’s all part of what will come in.” 

Stuart countered that argument. 

“We are a tourist community and everyone is welcome,” Stuart said. “There’s no way you can put a limit on who that is or whether or not you particularly want to be next to them.”