At issue in Plourde v. Town of Casco was the non-conforming status of a dock. In 2005, the town had issued a building permit for a dock to a family that owned property in a subdivision. The permit identified the family’s lot as the relevant lot associated with the permit. In 2016, the plaintiffs, who also owned property in the subdivision, purchased the dock from the family. The family then sold their lot separately to a new owner. After the new owner filed a complaint with the town regarding the dock, the code enforcement officer (CEO) conducted an inspection. Unable to determine who owned the dock, the CEO issued a notice of violation ordering the removal of the dock and invalidating its permit. Among other violations, the CEO cited the width of the dock and fact that the permit for the dock had been issued to the prior owner of the lot. After receiving notice of the violation, the plaintiffs filed an application seeking to construct a new temporary dock in the same location as the former dock. Ultimately, the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA) denied the building permit, finding that the plaintiffs’ application was for a new dock and not a grandfathered replacement dock, and that the dock was located in a beach area in violation of the town’s ordinance.
On appeal, the plaintiffs argued that it is structures that are grandfathered, not owners, and so the dock and its location were grandfathered regardless of any ownership interest in the lot formerly associated with the dock. The Superior Court disagreed, however, pointing out that the rights conferred by a building permit attach to the land. Here, the 2005 building permit made the dock appurtenant to a specific lot. The court explained that although a change in ownership in the lot would not affect the non-conforming status of any appurtenant structure, that status may not be separated from the lot and sold in a transaction independent from a sale of the lot. Consequently, when the plaintiffs purchased the dock in an independent transaction, “they did not validly obtain any right or privilege to place the dock in its current location and never obtained any non-conforming status associated with the dock’s location.” As a result, the court found that the town’s ZBA appropriately denied the plaintiffs’ application for a building permit where the application was for a new dock and not a replacement for a grandfathered non-conforming dock.
