ON OCTOBER 10, 2016, Michael and Cathy Zito’s beach home at Nags Head, North Carolina, burned to the ground. Luckily no one was hurt, but as the Zitos were about to discover, the sadness of losing their dream home was nothing compared to the bureaucratic nightmare that followed.
Michael and Cathy loved everything about their modest beach house, and no fire could change that. So they planned to rebuild with the same layout on the same footprint as their previous house. But when they asked city officials for a permit to begin repairs, their request was denied for reasons that defied logic.
The Zitos’ rebuilt house wouldn’t be any different than the one that had stood there since 1982. But since 1982, the legal setback line for coastal buildings had moved closer inland. Since the Zitos’ rebuilt house would no longer meet the setback requirements, town officials refused to grant them permission to rebuild, even though the houses on either side of the Zitos are the same distance from the water.
The Zitos then asked the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission for an exception, but were denied based on the ludicrous conclusion that being barred from rebuilding their home wasn’t an “unnecessary hardship.” According to the commission, losing almost all your property’s value and being stripped of future family memories is no big deal.
Suddenly bureaucracy—not fire—had transformed the Zitos’ property from the site of their dream home to a charred ocean campground. Now the Zitos have nothing except continuing tax bills and a vacant, unusable lot.
But the Zitos’ story is not one of defeat. This government overreach is unconstitutional. The First Amendment and the North Carolina Constitution say the government can’t take your property or enforce laws that regulate the use and value of your property out of existence without paying a fair price.
PLF is fighting alongside the Zitos in federal court against the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission to protest this absurd, unfair, and unconstitutional land grab.
Michael and Cathy Zito lost their beach home to fire. But because of their bravery in standing up for their property rights, they are refusing to let bureaucrats take those rights away.