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Successes
Background: On July 1st of 1997 the North Carolina
Department of Environment and Natural Resources adopted a
set of temporary Buffer Rules in the Neuse River Basin which
required a 50 foot setback from water and, or, Coastal
Vegetation. These rules were later adopted as permanent
rules on August 1, 2000, and similar rules were adopted in
the Tar-Pamlico River Basin on January 1, 2000. While these
rules impacted more than two dozen counties in both river
basins, their effect was most severe in the five coastal
counties of Craven, Carteret, Pamlico, Beaufort, and Hyde
due to the fact that only these counties included areas of
coastal vegetation. At no time during the development of the
Neuse and Tar Pamlico Buffer Rules were public hearings held
in any of the coastal counties and the general public was
virtually unaware of the existence of the Buffer Rules. On
three separate occasions from 2000 to 2010 the Pamlico
County Commissioners adopted resolutions in opposition to
the Buffer Rules due to the hardship it imposed on owners of
lots created prior to the adoption of the Buffer Rules who
could no longer use their lots for their intended purpose,
since the Buffer Rules did not exempt lots created prior to
the adoption of the Buffer Rules. In an attempt to address
the hardship imposed on owners of pre-existing lots the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources made a
Variance process available for owners of old platted lots
where by a property owner could apply for a Variance to
regain a partial use of his property. The Division of Water
Quality’s guidance was that once a Variance was issued to a
property owner, that property owner could use the terms of
the variance to build his structure or transfer ownership of
his property to a new owner along with his variance and the
new owner could build the structure described in the
variance or one of lesser impact. Variances were designed to
have a five year life at which time they would expire unless
re-applied for or utilized.
Events of 2010: During April of 2010 an owner of a lot in
the Brown’s Creek Subdivision in Pamlico County contacted a
local Realtor and requested that his lot be listed for sale.
The lot was created by a developer back in 1993 and the
owner purchased it in 1997, but was not aware of the Neuse
River Buffer Rules. The Realtor explained that the lot in
question was severely impacted by the Buffer Rules and
suggested that the lot would be much more marketable if the
owner applied for and received a Variance. The property
owner agreed and a Variance was sought and granted at a cost
to the owner of about $2000. During the Variance application
process, the Realtor was informed by DWQ staff in late July
of 2000 that, due to a recent re-interpretation of the
Buffer Rules, a Variance was no longer considered to be
transferable to a new owner. This was the first time this
interpretation had been communicated and would be a severe
blow to owners of lots with Variances who had hoped to sell
their lots with the Variance in place. On August 3, 2000, a
note appeared on the DWQ web site stating that Variances
issued to the Buffer Rules were no longer to be considered
transferable. This was the first public notice of this new
interpretation.
This “new interpretation” created many problems for property
owners, some of whom had obtained variances in the past and
had in good faith sold their property along with their
Variance to a new owner. If this “new interpretation” were
to stand, the only option for a lot owner with a Variance to
sell his lot would be for him to build a home he did not
want on his lot in an attempt to sell it to a new owner.
What would happen to new property owners of old lots with
Variances was still unclear.
As the impacts of the “new interpretation” became known and
understood, NC 20 became interested and concerned about
addressing this problem. If the “new interpretation” were
allowed to stand, property owners would suffer loss of
value, lending institutions would be at risk for loans held
on devalued property, developers with unsold inventories
would be in jeopardy on their financing, and North Carolina
would develop a reputation for retroactive environmental
takings that could act to depress the real estate market
further and dampen economic activity in general.
NC 20 called a widely publicized meeting at the Convention
Center in New Bern on September 1, 2010, to inform the
public about the problems related to the DWQ’s “new
interpretation” regarding Variances. On August 30th, a few
days prior to NC 20’s scheduled meeting, DWQ posted a
revised public notice on their web site which stated that
Variance run with the land and can be transferred with
ownership and that Variances, once issued, will not expire.
The previous posting of August 3, 2010, stating otherwise
was deleted from their web site.
The September 1st NC 20 Meeting took place and there were
about 100 people in attendance, including elected officials
such as State Representatives and State Senators, county
commissioners from several coastal counties, representatives
from the Division of Water Quality, concerned property
owners and members of the general public. No other
organization is in place to focus attention on issues that
impact the 20 coastal counties that need to be addressed.
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