Douglas Wolf stood up during the October 2024 meeting of the Beverly Shores Building & Site Committee to give an update on his home at 438 East Myrtle. His original building permit had been issued in June 2021. A second permit followed in May 2023. Now, with the current permit set to expire that December, he told the committee he was not sure the project would be finished in time. The Building Commissioner noted that if the work ran past the expiration date, Wolf would need a new full permit to keep going.
That timeline is not an outlier. It is what the town's own permit record looks like when a house is built or rebuilt on a dune lot inside Beverly Shores' steep-slope zone. The ordinance that governs this kind of construction says the goal is to finish within a single season. The committee minutes tell a different story, and anyone planning a renovation budget or a closing timeline around the ordinance text alone is planning against a rule the town does not actually hold projects to.
What the Ordinance Actually Asks For
Beverly Shores' zoning code defines a steep slope as a rise or fall of at least one foot of elevation for every three feet of horizontal distance, on a dune at least 20 feet tall measured from the lowest point on the lot. If your lot has that kind of grade, and your project sits on it or within 10 feet of it, you fall under Chapter 155's steep slope provisions, and the standard permitting process gets a second layer.
That layer includes a geotechnical engineering report from an engineer licensed in Indiana, Illinois, or Michigan, estimating how much sand or soil the project will move. It includes design review against a list of criteria: the plan has to fit the existing topography and soil conditions, grading has to be kept to a minimum, terracing is prohibited, and any disturbed ground has to be stabilized with native, non-invasive plantings within five business days of construction wrapping up. The applicant also carries the burden of proving there is no better site on the same lot that would spare the dune.
Buried in that same section is the line that gives the ordinance its aspirational shape: development should be completed within one construction season so that graded areas are not left bare and exposed through the winter and spring. It is a reasonable goal for dune stability. It is not a deadline anyone in the permit record has actually met.
The Sand Limits Are Precise. The Calendar Isn't.
The part of the ordinance that reads most like an engineering spec is the cap on how much material can move. If work happens on or within 10 feet of a steep slope, the limits are fixed:
| Component | Cubic yard limit |
|---|---|
| Septic system excavation | 120 cubic yards |
| Dwelling and other structures, including driveway | 180 cubic yards |
Those numbers are exact, and they are the easy part of the process. What they do not capture is how long it takes to get from application to closed permit once the geotechnical report is filed, the Building Commissioner reviews it, the Building & Site Committee schedules a site visit, and the file either clears or gets flagged for the Board of Zoning Appeals.
Two Files, Same Season
The June 2025 committee meeting shows what that pipeline looks like in a single month. Before the meeting, committee members Mark Lies, Jim Nolan, and Brian O'Neil conducted an on-site inspection at 204 Quigley Avenue, walking the scope of the project with owner John Mackin directly. In the same meeting, the Building Commissioner reported that a separate permit application at 302 Myrtle had been appealed to the Board of Zoning Appeals over a dispute about whether the proposed structure complied with the steep slope requirements.
Neither of those is a crisis. Both are routine committee business, on the same night, for two different addresses. One project got a site walk with the owner present. The other got kicked to a second body for review. Multiply that by every steep-slope application the town processes in a given year and you start to see why "one season" describes an intention more than an outcome.
A rule written to protect a dune and a rule written to protect a construction schedule are not the same rule, even when they share a paragraph.
What This Means If You're Planning a Renovation
If you are buying a lot in Beverly Shores with plans to build or substantially rebuild, or you already own one and are ready to start, the ordinance gives you the technical requirements. The permit record gives you the realistic timeline. A few things worth doing before you submit:
- Get the geotechnical report commissioned early. It has to come from an engineer licensed in Indiana, Illinois, or Michigan, and it needs to estimate cubic yards of material to be moved. This document drives the rest of the review, so starting it after you've already picked a contractor start date builds in delay from day one.
- Treat the Building & Site Committee's meeting calendar as a scheduling input, not a formality. The committee meets on a regular cycle, with meetings recorded and posted on the town's site, and a project's timeline runs on that cadence, not on your contractor's.
- Budget for at least one permit renewal. The Wolf project at 438 East Myrtle needed a second permit two years after the first. If your project touches a steep slope, plan financing and any lease or interim housing arrangements around a multi-year window rather than a single build season.
- Ask whether your specific slope condition might draw a BZA referral, the way 302 Myrtle's application did. If there is any ambiguity about compliance, it is better to know before you're mid-project than to find out at a committee meeting.
What This Means If You're Selling Mid-Project
A house with an open or recently renewed building permit on a steep-slope lot carries information a buyer will want before closing, not after. If a permit was issued in 2021 and renewed in 2023, as happened at 438 East Myrtle, a buyer's attorney or lender is going to ask what stage the project is actually at and whether the current permit is still active. Sellers in this position are better served by pulling the permit history directly from the town before listing, rather than letting a buyer's inspection period surface it as a surprise.
This is also where a broker with construction background earns the fee. Reading a set of committee minutes and translating "permit issued, contingent approval, renewed twice" into a plain answer about what a buyer is actually taking on is not something every agent does as a matter of habit. It should be.
FAQ
Does every renovation in Beverly Shores trigger steep-slope review? No. The steep-slope provisions apply specifically when work occurs on, or within 10 feet of, a slope that meets the ordinance's definition: at least a one-foot rise per three feet of horizontal run, on a dune at least 20 feet tall. A flat interior lot or a project that stays well clear of any qualifying slope follows the standard building permit process instead.
Is the 20,000 square foot minimum parcel size related to this? It's a separate requirement, but it comes from the same underlying concern. The town's comprehensive plan ties its low-density character to a 20,000 square foot minimum building parcel with soil conditions adequate for drainage. Steep-slope review is about protecting the dune during construction. Parcel size is about protecting the dune's long-term drainage and density pattern. Both come out of the same set of priorities.
Who actually reviews and approves these applications? The Building Commissioner handles the initial review, the Building & Site Committee (currently including members Mark Lies, Jim Nolan, and Brian O'Neil) conducts site review and approval, and the Board of Zoning Appeals hears cases where compliance is disputed, as happened with the 302 Myrtle application.
If you are weighing a renovation or a rebuild on a Beverly Shores dune lot, or you are selling a property with construction history that needs to be explained clearly to a buyer, this is exactly the kind of technical groundwork Mark Hull has spent two decades doing before it ever became a real estate conversation. Book a complimentary consultation and get a straight read on what a property's permit history actually means for your timeline.
