Molly Murray

The News Journal

DEWEY BEACH -- Two years after Superstorm Sandy ravaged the Bruhl family's Dewey Beach bayside home, they are working to rebuild with a house raised eight feet above the ground, just as flooding experts suggest.

But some in the town are fighting them, all the way to the Delaware Supreme Court. They claim the house now is too tall for the neighborhood.

"All we wanted to do was raise our house so we wouldn't go through this again," said Martin Bruhl said of the 2012 flooding. They didn't expect the drawn-out battle over a building code fine point.

It's a saga that began when Rehoboth Bay started to rise, flooding Read Avenue in Dewey Beach, days before Superstorn Sandy passed by the Delaware Coast.

At the Bruhl home near the bay end of the street, high winds peeled back the roof, and 18 inches of rain filled the living room. A shed in the back yard blew apart. The water line reached the electrical panel.

By the time the bay receded and the living room drained, the Bruhls, like many of their bayside neighbors, were looking at a huge loss.

Almost two years later, the story of Bruhl family's effort to rebuild a more storm resilient beach house is still not over.

While work continues – the house has new windows and siding is going up – they face a Supreme Court challenge, likely to be heard later this year or next, and a Dewey Beach Board of Adjustment hearing set for Sept. 10 at 6 p.m.

During the process of rebuilding a house that totals less than 1,000 square feet of living space, the family patriarch, Walter Bruhl, died. His wife and children carry on.

"I'm not stopping," said Martin Bruhl, a son and family spokesman. "It's incredible. It's so borderline harassment."

For neighbors who oppose the construction, the issue is one of height, procedure and having a say in municipal decisions.

They challenged a town Board of Adjustment decision to allow the home to be built 8-feet above grade, lost in Sussex County Superior Court, and have now appealed that ruling to the Delaware Supreme Court.

"We think the Board of Adjustment got it wrong," said David Ferry, an attorney for a group of neighbors who have challenged the reconstruction permits. At issue, Ferry said, is whether the building could legally be raised to eight feet. Opponents say town code limited the new height to five feet above grade.

Meanwhile, the opponents have also asked the Dewey Beach Board of Adjustment to reconsider a municipal building permit issued to the Bruhls on July 8. That permit allows for installation of siding, completion of the interior work and securing the house to its new foundation.

Even with the higher foundation, the house doesn't stand out in a neighborhood of homes where some are tall and others sit on a couple of layers of concrete block. A pine tree that remains in the Bruhls' back yard is higher than the new roof line.

Nor does the house exceed the total height limit for residential construction in Dewey Beach.

The reason for the conflict is complicated. The Bruhl home is one of a group of houses on a large, bayfront lot. Years ago, the homes on the lot were turned into condo units and sold to individual property owners.

Prior to Superstorm Sandy, the two bedroom, 854-square-foot house sat a little above ground level. It included the basics plus a family room, a kitchen and a front porch.

It was a place for family to gather. When everyone was there, they blew up air mattresses so everyone would have a place to sleep, Martin Bruhl recalled.

The house wasn't an issue until it was damaged by Sandy.

Since the house was on a non-conforming lot, the Bruhl family could not expand the building footprint in reconstruction.

They were required to raise the house if they rebuilt to meet flood requirements, but some contend that raising the house more than required increased its footprint.

Superior Court Judge E. Scott Bradley concluded that "you can't logically have it both ways," on the building elevation. He found little difference between the footprint of a building that was one foot higher than base flood elevation.

The Bruhls opted to elevate the house to base federal flood levels and then some, to get a break on the annual premiums. Depending on how much a house exceeds the basic height requirements, homeowners can get as much as a 50 to 60 percent reduction in flood insurance rates.

So Martin Bruhl's dad, Walter, went to town hall and got a building permit to raise the house 8 feet.

As a house mover was jacking the house up and laying concrete blocks for the new foundation, the town issued a stop-work order, reconsidered the earlier building permit and said the house could only be raised five-and-a-half feet. At issue was whether the additional height expanded the building footprint. The size and shape of the house was to remain the same.

The Bruhls appealed to the Board of Adjustment, which ruled 4-1 that the code allowed the house to go to eight feet.

A group that included neighbors and other area property owners appealed to Superior Court. The court upheld the Board of Adjustment decision. That court ruling is now on appeal.

Ferry said there are two main issues. First, there is no complete record of the Board of Adjustment hearing. The reason: the board's tape recorder used that night didn't work. The neighbors want a new hearing to be conducted so there is a complete record. The second issue is the building height.

Since the Bruhls got their first building permit, Dewey Beach has revised some of it's flood ordinances. It now requires all new construction and substantial reconstruction to meet the base federal flood requirement and include one-foot more of height, called freeboard.

Freeboard is considered an additional safety measure by flooding experts. Some communities in Delaware require no additional freeboard, while others require two to three feet. Henlopen Acres, where flooding from the Lewes & Rehoboth Canal is an issue, required three feet of freeboard for new homes or reconstruction.

The Bruhls have spent about $20,000 on legal fees so far and have lost two summers at the house on Read Avenue.

"I've been told to continue at my own risk," he said of the family decision to move ahead with construction.

"We can't look at what's happened," he said. "We just have to look to the future."

Contact Molly Murray at (302) 463-3334 or mmurray@delawareonline.com.Follow her on Twitter @MollyMurraytnj.