A county ordinance has been in place for many years, says Jane Daughtridge, New Hanover County planning and zoning manager.
The 1989 ordinance defines a family as “one or more persons occupying a single dwelling unit, provided that unless all members are related by blood, adoption or marriage, no such family shall contain over three persons.”
The ordinance further provides “that domestic servants employed on the premises may be housed on the premises without being counted as part of the family residing on the premises.” It also allows for foster homes as designated by the N.C. Department of Social Services “for the care of not more than five children less than 18 years of age.”
Any child less than 18 years old living with parents or a legal guardian “is not to be counted as a person in calculations hereunder,” the ordinance states.
The ordinance is similar in scope to the one adopted by the city, county Attorney Wanda Copley says.
“We don’t have a minimum housing code which some places do which would conceivably deal with square footage per person,” Daughtridge says.
Date posted: October 8, 2009
User-contributed question by:
Joyce Bakerman
Does New Hanovery County have distance limitations between “group homes” as the City of Wilminton has? And, does Wilmington’s group home distance limitation affect Foster Care homes?