Kure Beach council amends code ending fight over couple’s dream home

KURE BEACH, NC (WWAY) — The Kure Beach Town Council has voted to amend a town zoning ordinance that ends a fight over a couple’s dream home in the town.

Council voted to amend a zoning ordinance adding fireplaces to the list of architectural features that can extend 24 inches into a 10-foot set back. The rule was previously 18 inches.

The change means a couple who built a beach house more than two years ago will have a chance to actually live in it. Ann and Richard Lawing said they have spent thousands of the dollars maintaining a beach house they can’t even live in.

“It has cost us a fortune,” Ann Lawing said Tuesday before the meeting. “We can’t live in it. We can’t sell. We can’t rent it. We can’t do anything with it.”

The couple built the home on North 3rd Avenue in Kure Beach, but said inspectors told them their fireplace is set out from the house six inches more than what was allowed by the town’s zoning ordinance. They learned this after the building plans were approved and the house was already built. That meant they could not get their occupancy permit.

“At 82 and 77 (years old) we do not need this extra stress and sleepless nights and everything else,” Ann Lawing said.

But Tuesday night’s change could be an end in sight for the couple.

“The Planning and Zoning (board) did say they did recommend to council that they take the amendment to council to give us the amendment that it would be legal to have our fireplace where it is,” Lawing said.

The couple says after all this time and money, this may not be their happy ending.

“The problem is we are not nearly as interested in moving into that house,” Lawing said. “It’s kind of taken the happiness out of moving into the house.”

The Lawings say they will pick up their occupancy permit Wednesday and then decide whether to live in the home, rent it out or sell it.