City of Sanford v. Dandy Signs, Inc.

EAGLES, Judge.

The issue on this appeal is whether the defendants’ structures existing on the effective date of the 1980 zoning ordinance were lawful under the 1965 zoning ordinance. If so, they are protected by section 26-10-1A of the 1980 ordinance which allows continuation of nonconforming uses that were “lawfully existing on the day before the effective date of this Ordinance.”

Ordinances like the ones in this case must be strictly construed because they are in derogation of the common law. See Jones v. Georgia-Pacific Corp., 15 N.C. App. 515, 190 S.E. 2d 422 (1972). Everything not clearly…