THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 27, 1996 TAG: 9609270495
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ESTES THOMPSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: SUNSET BEACH LENGTH: 48 lines
The future of hundreds of beach homes damaged by Hurricane Fran is in doubt because of rebuilding rules that were adopted after beaches were developed, a state official said Thursday.
About 759 structures were severely damaged and 356 were destroyed by storm surge and winds from the Sept. 5 hurricane on North Carolina's central coast. The damage occurred between North Topsail Beach and Kure Beach, where there are 2,679 oceanfront structures, according to state figures.
``A large percentage of these (structures) will not be in compliance with the rules,'' said Preston Pate Jr., assistant director of the state Division of Coastal Man-age-ment.
Pate's comments surprised some members of the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission, which is meeting at Sunset Beach to decide whether to adopt a temporary rule that will affect rebuilding. A vote on the rule was delayed until today.
Representatives of several beach towns urged the commission to apply the rules more loosely.
Paul Moneypenny, mayor pro tem of Topsail Beach, said nearly 90 percent of the town's oceanfront lots couldn't be used under current rules.
``We anticipate tremendous controversy over who can and can't rebuild,'' Moneypenny said. He said the town has lost at least 20 percent of its tax base.
Rebuilding has been complicated by the damage from Fran, which eliminated the beachfront vegetation used as a marker for setback rules.
Under state rules, a house that is damaged less than 50 percent can be repaired where it sits. But those damaged more than 50 percent must be rebuilt 60 feet back from the first line of stable vegetation on a beach.
The proposed temporary rule would let regulators estimate vegetation lines by using aerial photographs taken in August between Hurricane Bertha and Hurricane Fran.
``We're also seeing our rules aren't really designed to deal with devastation that is as complete as it was with Fran,'' Pate said.
Without the temporary rule, he said, homeowners would have to let beach vegetation recover naturally, a process that might take years.
One homeowner argued that the beach would replenish itself over time and that he should be allowed to rebuild where his house had sat since 1953.
``There's a lot of people who deserve a chance to rebuild,'' said Hiram Williams, a builder on Topsail Island. by CNB