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Building Department

Town Board, 2/4/2012

Building Maintenance

In a 4-0 vote, the board voted on a series of budget transfers that eliminated a provision in the 2012 budget that consolidated all building maintenance staff into one budget line item under the supervision of the building inspector. The resolution put the funds for a maintenance employee back in the library budget and funds for two maintenance employees in the police department budget

Supervisor Grace explained that the change was the result of lots of discussion and the concern not to dilute the duties of the building inspector. The Winery, he said, was a perfect example of the building inspector doing what he was supposed to be doing instead of mopping floors. Councilman Murphy said the return to the deconsolidated approach offered more checks and balances and that building inspector Winter said that he was happy not to have to micro manage the other departments. In response to Councilman Patel’s questions who would keep track of things if there were leaks, Mr. Grace said he planned to have an inventory done of each building. He said that Mr. Winter would make himself available as a resource to the other departments. When asked during the second courtesy of the floor who would supervise maintenance at the YCCC and Town Hall, he said that the town’ Human Resources person would sign the time sheets for those employees.

Building Permit Fees

Town Board, 5/8/2012

Building Inspector John Winter discussed revised language and a revised fee schedule for building permit renewals that reflected the Board’s previous discussions.The new text says that work must be commenced within 12 months of the issuance of the permit and that the permit expires after 12 months but can be extended. At the suggestion of Supervisor Grace, the initial application fee will be increased for residential additions, alterations or accessory building valued in excess of $1,000 to $150 from $50, and for new single family homes or multi family units to $300 from $100. The cost for nonresidential applications remained unchanged: $150 for additions or alterations and $300 for a new structure.The application fee, which covers the cost of reviewing the plans, is subtracted from the cost of the final permit. It is nonrefundable is the applicant never proceeds to get a building permit.

The renewal fee for the first 12 month extension will be $200, or 50% of the original fee, whichever is less, and $250,or 50%, whichever is less, for all other12 month extensions.

Councilman Bianco said he had no problem with the lower renewal fees but didn’t agree that permits would never expire. With no expiration provision, there’s no incentive to complete the work, he said. Supervisor Grace said that no other municipality had a permit expiration provision and Mr. Winter said that about 50% of municipalities did have one.Mr. Winter also corrected what he called a misconception that properties were only reassessed after a CO was issued. He said that his office works closely with the assessor’s office to monitor the progress of any new construction.

The town attorney will work with Mr. Winter to make some text changes and present a revised draft to the Board for its review before advertising the law for a public hearing.

Town Board, 4/10/2012

The board reviewed a draft of proposed amendments to the existing law governing the renewal of building permits. At issue were:

a. should the permit holder be required to commence construction within a fixed period of time

b. should a permit expire after a fixed period of time

c. if a permit has to be renewed, what shouldthe renewalfee be

Commencement of construction:The existing law requires that construction begin within six months of the issuance of the permit. Initially, Supervisor Grace argued that the permit holder might need more time to begin the work and that any renewal be tied to the date construction actually started, not when the permit was issued. When Building Inspector John Winter and Councilman Paganelli pointed out the difficulty of the Town knowing when construction actually started, this provision was dropped.It was agreed that when permits are renewed, they will be back dated to the expiration date of the original permit.

Expiration period.Subject to renewals, permits are currently good for three years. Supervisor Grace preferred to return to the previous version of the law that did not include an expiration period so that permits always remained valid whether the work was ever commenced and/ or completed.

Renewal fee. As discussed in previous meetings(see below), Supervisor Grace said that the fee should just cover costs with some cushion. If the fee was too high, he said, people would wait until they sold their house to have the work inspected so that they could get the required CO. We should be encouraging people to renew their permits, he said.Mr. Winter will come back to the board with suggested fees.

Town Board, 2/28/2012

The board continued the discussion on what constituted an appropriate fee to renew an expired building permit (permits are good for one year), what to do if a permit is not renewed, and how to treat permit holders who had paid the renewal fee that went into effect in mid-2010.Supervisor Grace noted that given the current economy some jobs are not finished within a year and that sometimes people don’t bother to renew permits until they go to sell their home, at which time, they request a final inspection and get a Certificate of Occupancy. (Prior to 2010, there were no provisions in the Code dealing with expired permits.)

Supervisor Grace said that the renewal fee, currently set at 25% of the original fee for the first renewal and 50% for the second renewal was excessive. Building Inspector John Winter proposed $150 and $250 but Supervisor Grace thought that $200 and $350 was more appropriate.If the permit holder asks for a renewal after two years, Mr. Winter suggested that the fee be $350 for each year the permit wasn’t renewed.

Councilman Bianco said that it should be the property owner’s responsibility to know when the permit needed to be renewed. Councilman Murphy asked if the Town could send notices out to all current permit holders advising them of the expiration date. Mr. Winter responded that while the department’s computer system had that capability to do that, the records were not currently set up in a way that would make that task doable.

On the suggestion of Supervisor Grace it was decided that permit holders who paid the 25% renewal fee in 2010 or 2011 could apply to the town for a refund on a case by case basis as it would be too complicated to make the fees refundable retroactively. Mr. Winter said that there weren’t many who fell into this category.

Town attorney Koster will draft the necessary language for the needed changes.

Town Board, 2/14/2012

The board discussed the need for amendments to the current law regarding renewals for building permits. Building Inspector John Winter explained that when the law governing building permits was changed in 2010, one of the new provisions required permit holders to pay a renewal fee when their permits expired. While permits under the previous law were also issued for a year, in practice, they were allowed to continue forever. The problem, Mr. Winter explained, was that there was no transition period, or grace period, between when the permit expired and when a renewal fee was charged. Also, the change in the law had not been explained and so some people weren’t aware that they had to renew their permits.

A second issue Mr. Winter raised was that the previous law had a provision requiring that work be started on the project within six months of the date the permit was issued. This provision was omitted from the new law and should be added, he said.

The third issue was the fee to be charged for a renewal. There was general agreement that the current charge of 25% of the original permit fee was unreasonable and that an administrative fee, based on what it cost the building department in staff time to issue the renewal should be charged. Supervisor Grace asked Mr. Winter to come up with suggestions for an administrative fee that was “rationale and reasonable based on the services provided.” Fees, he said, should not be seen as a source of revenue.

When Town Attorney Koster said she would not be able to have some draft language on the proposed changes for the board to review until its February 28^th work session, Supervisor Grace indicated that he would draft the necessary changes himself in 15 minutes. Attorney Koster then said she would work with Mr. Winter to have something sooner.

In the interim, Mr. Winter has been advising residents with expired permits but with work still to be done that they should wait until the board makes the necessary changes.

Town Board, 1/10/2012

Citing an example of a $16,000 fee to renew a building permit, Supervisor Grace called the practice “exorbitant” and “crazy,” Supervisor Grace said that changes needed to be made to the Town Code. He said that if the fees were too high people will build without a permit and there will be no incentive to renew a permit, and without a permit the town would not know about the additional construction and increase the property’s assessment. He suggested that the renewal fee should be nominal.

Councilman Murphy briefly cited an instance where a property owner couldn’t get work inspected because the building permit hadn’t been renewed and Councilman Bianco said the it should be the property owner’s responsibility to know that the permit had to be renewed. He also said that something should be done to speed up the process of issuing building permits. Councilman Paganelli said the town should be sensitive to people’s needs and not be punitive and said that the board needed to have a discussion with the building inspector.

(Editor’s note: building permits are good for one year. The renewal fee is 25% of the initial permit fee.)

Operating Permit Fees

Town Board, 4/10/2012

Although not on the agenda, Building Inspector John Winter reminded the board that when the previous board decided to hire a full time fire inspector in 2010 it did not want to impose a fee for the operating permits required for commercial establishments and places of public assembly. That board did, however, add a revenue line for operating fees in the 2012 budget, leaving it up to the current board to determine what the fee should be. He said the fee could fund the salary for the fire inspector.

Councilman Paganelli noted that he pays a fee every time an outside agency has to inspect something at his restaurant.He asked Mr. Winter to come back with a suggested fee that would reflect the time involved in doing the inspection. Taxpayers shouldn’t pay for commercial establishments, he said. Supervisor Grace added: If we do it, we should charge for it.

Code Enforcement

Town Board, 4/10/2012

Unsafe structure

On the recommendation of Building Inspector John Winter, the board authorized the Building Department to send a notice to a property owner informing him that he had to demolish his building immediately because it was unsafe and beyond repair. Under the existing Unsafe Structurelaw, if the property owner does not comply with the notice, after holding a public hearing, the Town can demolish the building and recoup the cost of the work by placing a lien on the property. The location of the building was not disclosed during the discussion.

Town Board, 4/4/2012

During Courtesy of the Floor, a Hanover St. resident asked the Town to do something about the illegal kickboxing signs that he said he has been removing himself every week. In response, Councilman Bianco explained that the Town just hired a replacement code enforcement officer and that he would be in touch with the person to take care of the problem. What the new person needs, he said, was a large pole, to reach up to the illegal signs.