Town to stop giving permits to nuisances
Changes in town ordinances will soon prevent owners of nuisance houses from making repairs that would allow them to be reoccupied or rented out in Nags Head.
The changes closed a loophole that had permitted repairs even though the town might have trying to force the removal of a derelict property blocking the public beach.
Before the amendments to town ordinances by the Board of Commissioners earlier this month, owners of nuisance structures still legally qualified for building permits.
Starting in the fall, they won’t be able to get one.
One problem town officials found was that owners of houses in front of the dune line could install new septic systems as long as the tanks were 50 feet from the water. Because the state health department issues septic permits, the town had no power to prevent such repairs.
The town will now have a tool to block the use of the septic system if a house is east of the mean high water line or is obstructing the public trust beach: It won’t issue a permit for the work needed to connect the septic tank to the house.
The changes took several months to iron out. They were approved July 7 and go into effect 90 days from that date.
Problems with nuisance properties are centered in South Nags Head, where severe erosion puts some houses partially in the water during the winter when prevailing winds are from the northeast. Stormy weather last fall left parts of the beach littered with debris, including exposed septic tanks.
The consequences of erosion and the lack of protection from storms are held up as evidence of an urgent need for Nags Head’s $36 million plan to pump sand onto the beach from offshore. The controversial beach nourishment project is close to getting the necessary permits but is not yet fully funded.
Much of the discussion by the Board of Commissioners and town attorneys centered on defining where to draw the line before a house falls under the new restrictions. State-owned beach is east of the mean high water line. The public trust beach covers a larger area and can reach as far west as the dune line and generally includes dry sand that is subject to occasional tidal flooding.
The dry part of the public trust beach is still private property, but it can serve as a right of way, potentially giving government legal power to order the removal of an obstruction, such as a derelict cottage.
Commissioners looked at including houses all the way to the dune line, but that was considered overly broad. The ordinance amendments were then written to include houses partially into wet-sand, or state-owned, beach. But commissioners expressed concerns about unfairly penalizing houses that were not creating problems and had a few more useful years left in them.
In the end, the board decided to apply the prohibition only to any house entirely on the east side of the mean high water line or any house that is “wholly or partially” on the public trust beach and “impedes the flow of vehicular, pedestrian or emergency services traffic at a normal high tide.”
The amendments include exceptions in cases were a building permit would be needed for work to prepare a house for removal or demolition.
Since December, 2009, 26 houses have been declared nuisances. Eighteen are now in nuisance status, according to Town Manager Cliff Ogburn. Efforts to get nuisance structures removed often end up in court.
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