FreeBSD Clean Install nginx.pid Permissions Errors

[Viaduct Lists]

Hi folks.  Trying to get this FreeBSD nginx installation set up.  

FreeBSD 11.1-RC1
nginx version: nginx/1.12.0

3 vhosts on this box.  nginx.conf tests show the following: 

[Wed Jul 12 06:08:41 rich at neb /var/log/nginx] nginx -t
nginx: the configuration file /usr/local/etc/nginx/nginx.conf syntax is ok
nginx: [emerg] open() "/var/run/nginx.pid" failed (13: Permission denied)
nginx: configuration file /usr/local/etc/nginx/nginx.conf test failed

Here are those permissions (644):

-rw-r--r--   1 root  wheel        4 Jul 11 15:59 nginx.pid

Not sure why nginx is not happy with those restrictions.  It has read/write permissions errors on a process ID file.  Confusing.

Any ideas how I can troubleshoot this?  That nginx.pid permissions issue is halting the whole server.  

Cheers

_____________
Rich in Toronto @ VP