A Pine Point neighborhood association is demanding answers after learning that the Lighthouse Inn Motel, long a beacon for controversy, is making plans to convert to condominium ownership without seeking town approval.

Town officials say there’s nothing they can do.

“A condominium is just a form of ownership,” Town Manager Ron Owens explained. “It doesn’t have anything to do with land use. We don’t have much choice as long as they have told us they continue to operate (only six months a year).”

According to Owens, Lighthouse Inn owners Peter and Nicholas Truman have informed the town that, while they plan to sell their 22 rooms to private individuals rather than renting them out, the facility will continue to operate only six months a year and obey other restrictions currently in place.

That gives the town no legal grounds to object, Owens said.

Neighbors on Pine Point, however, are challenging the town’s position. After a battle with the motel owners dating back years – over fences, orange cones in the roadway, clientele, beach views and quality of life – they say they doubt the Lighthouse’s newest incarnation will be any good for the area, and they doubt that it’s strictly legal.

Reached last week, Pine Point Residents Group members John Thurlow and Judy Shirk declined to speak for attribution, saying the group prefers to remain united and not speak out as individuals. They said their concerns are clear in a Feb. 25 e-mail sent to members of Town Council and posted on the group’s Web site, www.pinepointbeach.com.

In the e-mail – a 12-page list of questions – the group raised concerns about parking, residency, who is responsible for the units in the owner’s absence and the possibility that cooking apparatus could be installed without town inspection.

Members suggested that condo owners would like to have guests over, cook and engage in other activities that short-term motel guests are unlikely to engage in.

Council Chairman Jeffrey Messer has asked town staff to come up with answers to the group’s questions by the end of this month, Owens said.

The controversy around the Lighthouse Inn dates back to 2004, when the owners of the motel proposed tearing it down and replacing it with a six-to-eight-unit condominium. In the ensuing hue and cry, the owners backed off the plan.

Since then, two other motels in the area 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 has lambasted the town in e-mails posted on its Web site 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 Town Council last summer and has been “tabled indefinitely,” Owens said.

Councilors 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.”

Owens said he does not believe any of the condo units have been sold.

A message left at the Lighthouse Inn was not returned.