§ 1618. Exemptions.

(a)

Nothing in article shall affect any project or development (i) for which a valid building permit or final site plan approval was issued prior to July 1, 1980; (ii) which, if no building permit is required for such project, including a locally approved mining operation, was commenced prior to July 1, 1980, and certified as exempt by the commission or the Wetlands Board; or (ii) approved by the city council pursuant to Ordinance No. 931, which was the coastline management ordinance in effect from March 26, 1979, to July 1, 1980. Nothing in this section excludes from regulation any activity which expands or enlarges a project already in existence or under construction.

(b)

The board shall make an ongoing determination in the Sandbridge Beach subdivision of the area bounded on the north by Dam Neck Naval Base, on the west by Sandpiper Road, and on the south by Little Island Park, to determine which structures or properties are in clear and imminent danger from erosion and storm damage due to severe wave action or storm surge. The owners of structures or properties so defined shall not be prohibited from erecting and maintaining protective bulkheads or other equivalent structural improvements of a type, size and configuration approved by the board. The board shall not impose arbitrary or unreasonable conditions upon its approval of any such bulkhead or other structural improvement but shall maintain a continuing responsibility to ensure that each bulkhead or structural improvement constructed under the authority of this section is maintained in a condition which is safe, structurally sound, and otherwise in conformity with the reasonable conditions imposed by the Wetlands Board. At the time the application is submitted, the applicant shall consent in writing to any subsequent construction which may occur whereby an adjacent property owner desires to tie in a bulkhead at no additional cost with that bulkhead proposed by the applicant. Such consent shall be considered a waiver of property line defenses relating to the bulkhead line.

(Ord. No. 1805, 8-22-88; Ord. No. 2203, 1-26-93; Ord. No. 3095, 7-7-09)

(Ord. No. 1805, 8-22-88; Ord. No. 2203, 1-26-93; Ord. No. 3095, 7-7-09)