Why would a beach town draft a whole new zoning district for one fishing pier and the event hall next to it? On Oak Island, the answer goes back almost twenty years. The pier complex at 705 Ocean Drive, which most people still call the Yaupon pier, has been public property since the Town stepped in to keep it from turning into something else. Its zoning has never matched that purpose. That is now changing. In late October, the Oak Island Planning Board unanimously recommended a commercial waterfront district that would allow a pier, bait and tackle, restaurants and an event center on those parcels, and would not allow housing. Port City Daily reported the recommendation on October 30.
The district still needs a vote from Town Council. Meanwhile, the pier has switched to its fall hours, and the fish that show up as the water cools are already arriving.
The pier as it stands this week
Since Monday, November 2, the Oak Island Pier has been open daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Town's weekly newsletter, The CURRENT, says another change to a winter schedule is expected in December. The Town-run Oak Island Par 3 course moved to 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on November 1.
The pier came through a repair this year. Pilings and cross bracing damaged by Hurricane Isaias were replaced in a $283,000 project that began March 20, 2026. Work paused briefly in April and wrapped up on May 7, when the Town reopened the pier and its beach access with a new Mobi-Mat on the path down to the sand. The Town tracks the project on its Town Projects page.
Several businesses share the complex. The Town's pier page lists the Pier House as the bait-and-tackle shop, along with a restaurant, a coffee shop and the 801 Ocean Event Center next door. Ruby's Coffeehouse lists its address as 705 Ocean Drive on the pier, with posted hours of 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday. Koko Cabana also lists 705 Ocean Drive. In July, Port City Daily named the complex's tenants as a bait shop, Koko Cabana and Lazy Turtle Bar and Grill.
Walking the pier is free. Fishing passes are sold by the day, by multi-day blocks and by the season. These are the Town's FY26–27 rates:
| Pass | One rod | Two rods |
|---|---|---|
| Daily, standard | $12 | $14 |
| Daily, senior | $10 | $13 |
| Daily, military, veteran, first responder | $8 | $12 |
| 3 days | $33 | $39 |
| 5 days | $55 | $65 |
| 7 days | $77 | $91 |
| Season | $300 | $350 |
A day pass for children ages 6 to 12 is $6, and children 5 and under fish free. The one-rod season pass costs the same as 25 standard day passes. At two trips a month, 24 day passes add up to $288, which is just under the season price. The season pass only saves money for someone who fishes more often than that.
What the rails are giving up heading into November
The Fisherman's Post November report for Southport and Oak Island covers October fishing and the outlook as the month turns. Steve at Oak Island Sporting Goods reported that many bluefish and Spanish mackerel were landed from the piers, some big red drum were caught from the piers in October, and pier anglers have had speckled trout action, especially during the first hour of light. Angie at Dutchman Creek Bait and Tackle reported that bottom fishing from the surf and piers was producing spots, croakers and whiting, and that inshore trout fishing does best around lights at night and should improve as the water cools and the wind lays down.
The new 7 a.m. opening matters here. Early-morning trout fishing is the best bite the report describes from the pier, and the gate now opens later than it did all summer.
Why the Town owns a fishing pier at all
The pier and its building date to 1955, before the Town of Oak Island was incorporated. In October 2007, the StarNews reported that Council had voted to bid nearly $1.9 million for the Yaupon Beach pier because members worried a private buyer would tear it down for oceanfront condominiums. By May 2009, the StarNews reported that the Town was leasing the pier from Cooperative Bank for $250 a month while financing was arranged, and the pier was ready to reopen. At that reopening, WECT quoted Mayor Vereen describing the purchase as a way to preserve public access and a historic asset.
The event space came later. The Town acquired it in a 2018 land swap with the ELB Family Partnership. The previous owner, Ed Burnett, had turned it into a wedding venue in 2015. According to Port City Daily, the Town kept running it as an event space under a grandfathered use. The Town's Unified Development Ordinance had no category for event spaces, so the venue was technically out of compliance. A decade ago, the Town also floated plans for restaurants, retail and an arcade at the complex.
So the Town has owned this property for close to two decades to keep it public, under zoning written for other kinds of places.
One rezoning, two votes against it
In 2026, staff proposed rezoning the pier and the event center from commercial recreation to community business, which would give more flexibility for future redevelopment. On June 30, the Planning Board unanimously recommended denial. Members worried that if the land were ever sold, the new zoning would leave the oceanfront open to incompatible development. The board did approve text amendments that put event spaces and piers into the Unified Development Ordinance. Event spaces are now allowed in commercial recreation, community business and commercial low density zones.
The rezoning reached a Council public hearing in October, and Council also voted it down. The problem was what community business zoning would have permitted on a Town-owned oceanfront parcel, including fuel stations, offices and residences. Council sent the matter back to the Planning Board and suggested a new district instead.
At the September Planning Board meeting, Oak Island's new director of development, Craig Harmon, laid out three paths. One was a general rezoning, which the board had already rejected. Another was conditional zoning, which would require a professionally sealed master plan for the properties at a cost of $15,000. The third was a new district. Vice Chair Durral Gilbert backed the new district. The board's September 29 meeting notes record his reasoning that it adds flexibility "to define appropriate by-right uses, expand or restrict them as development interest materializes, and protect the public interest in these unique oceanfront parcels."
What the commercial waterfront district would allow
The district the Planning Board sent to Council starts with a short list. Board members said they chose to begin with fewer uses on purpose, and Council could add more later.
Permitted uses:
- Restaurants without a drive-through
- Restaurants with outdoor seating and without a drive-through
- Bait and tackle
- Commercial pier
- Event center
The district does not include residential use. Staff also recommended prohibiting drive-through businesses, heavy industry, outdoor storage yards and auto repair shops.
That list matches what already operates at 705 and 801 Ocean Drive. Port City Daily reported that the board used the pier complex as its "northstar" for the district. Under the proposal, both properties would move out of commercial recreation and into the new zone. The concern behind the 2007 bid was condos replacing the pier. This district would rule out residential use on those parcels in the zoning itself.
The part still open for debate
The board drafted the district with the pier in mind, but it could apply to other waterfront property too, and that is where the hour-long October discussion went. The pier faces the ocean, while marinas and restaurants line the Intracoastal Waterway. Gilbert asked whether the district should treat ICW parcels differently from oceanfront ones. Watercraft rentals, sightseeing tours and fishing charters all came up as possible future uses. Alternate board member Gene Brooks objected to one of them. "Think about water jet ski rentals on beaches," he said, according to Port City Daily's October 30 report. "It's an accident waiting to happen."
Those questions now go to Town Council, which still has to approve the district and apply it to the two parcels. Council has not set a hearing date. Because the board kept the starting list short, the uses can grow over time, and each addition would be a Council decision.
A December on the oceanfront
The pier should move to its winter schedule sometime in December, so check the Town's pier page before an early trip. The Town's holiday events are a short drive inland. The Christmas Tree Lighting runs Friday, December 4, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Middleton Park Complex, 4610 E Dolphin Drive. The Christmas By The Sea Parade steps off from Town Hall at SE 46th Street at 2 p.m. on Saturday, December 5, and runs along East Oak Island Drive to McGlamery Street, rain or shine. The Holiday Craft Market follows on Sunday, December 6, from noon to 4 p.m. back at Middleton Park.
Our team at Suzanne O'Bryant is following the commercial waterfront district as it goes to Council, because what happens on the old Yaupon oceanfront affects everyone on that part of the island. If you'd like to talk about how the pier complex fits into life along Ocean Drive, we'd be glad to hear from you.
