QUESTION IN STORY. ALSO, SHOULD NAME THE INN OWNER.

ALSO, DID THIS ISSUE COME UP AT A COUNCIL MEETING?

Note – hoping to add some actual COMMENTS from the Pine Point folks. Have e-mailed them; awaiting response. ///HOPE YOU CAN, BECAUSE STORY AS WRITTEN DOES NOT SUPPORT THE LEDE///

A Pine Point neighborhood association is up in arms over the conversion of a 22-unit motel to a condominium, but town officials say there’s nothing they can do.

The Lighthouse Inn motel has informed the town that, while it will sell rooms to private individuals rather than renting them out, it will continue to operate only six months a year, giving the town no legal grounds to object, Town Manager Ron Owens said.

“A condominium is just a form of ownership. It doesn’t have anything to do with land use,” he said. “We don’t have much choice as long as they have told us they continue to operate as a hotel.”

According to Owens, the controversy dates back to 2004, when the owners of the motel proposed tearing it down and replacing it with a six-to-eight-unit condominium. But in the ensuing hue and cry, the owners backed off the plan.

Since then, two motels have converted to apartment buildings, and were approved for year-round use by the Zoning Board.

But the Lighthouse Inn has eschewed the Zoning Board process by sticking narrowly to the same months of operation as it had as a motel. According to Owens, year-round occupancy would constitute a change of use and would require Zoning Board approval, but a mere change in the ownership status of the units would not.

“(A) condotel just means that the individual rooms are owned by individuals,” he said. “It’s really just joint ownership of the motel. Instead of having one or two investors, you have 22 owners of the motel.”

//The Pine Point Residents group ///IS THAT THE FULL PROPER NAME, WITH A SMALL G?///has lambasted the town for not implementing an ordinance that would have clarified whether a motel requires town approval to convert to condominiums. The ordinance was presented to the council last summer and has been “tabled indefinitely,” Owens said.

Council members say they expect a report from Owens and the town solicitor by the end of the month clarifying legal issues that have been raised by Pine Point residents.

“I don’t think it’s anyone’s first choice how that property should develop, but I also think that what they did was within … their rights,” said Councilor Sylvia Most. “If that isn’t the case, we’ll know after this report.”

A message left at the Lighthouse Inn was not returned.