diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/parallel-netcdf/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/parallel-netcdf/package.py
index f2fac6bbea7b9d630dd5bf6aa67c5b75522eec7f..28fb4ba5bbdd3510090893bc2574913ce8c6272b 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/parallel-netcdf/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/parallel-netcdf/package.py
@@ -70,6 +70,9 @@ def configure_args(self):
         if '~fortran' in spec:
             args.append('--disable-fortran')
 
+        if spec.satisfies('@1.8.0:'):
+            args.append('--enable-relax-coord-bound')
+
         return args
 
     def install(self, spec, prefix):