Wilmington, N.C. — A New Hanover County judge has ruled that a Kure Beach condominium complex can keep its protective sandbags in place.

The Riggings has used the sandbags for more than two decades.

The ruling is a blow to a Division of Coastal Management effort to remove more than 100 sandbag walls on the coast. State officials last fall notified 21 coastal property owners that they must remove their protective sandbags.

The large sandbags were supposed to be a temporary way to protect buildings from the encroaching ocean until an alternative solution could be found. Many of the sandbags have been in place for years, and state regulators decided to enforce the temporary nature of the permits property owners had received to place the sandbags on the beach.