New Permit Rule Reflects Long Build Times
The East Hampton Village Board closed its fiscal year on Friday with an amendment to the village code regarding building permits and the appointment of an ordinance officer. Building permits are now valid for one year, and can be extended by one year. The amendment allows them to be extended for up to three additional one-year periods.
Ken Collum, the village fire marshal and one of its ordinance officers, told the board that contemporary construction often extends beyond two years, making the old law, which required an applicant to resubmit plans and pay a renewal fee after two years, impractical. The term ordinance officer has replaced the code enforcement officer under Civil Service rules.
“We felt that the code should be changed because we have been extending” permits, he said. “The houses have become very complex, and products are being brought into this country from afar to complete them.” Houses now often require, he said, “a lot more rebar, a lot more concrete,” and foundations once poured in a few days may now take months.
The amendment also streamlines the process, he explained. “A lot of times we’ll issue a permit, then they come in and want to add a garage, a pool. At one point . . . we were seeing projects, sometimes, with nine open building permits.” Closing out permits and issuing a certificate of occupancy within that framework was “very difficult at best,” he said, while under the amendment “we have one set of papers, one set of plans . . . and we close out one single permit instead of chasing nine permits and all of these bits and pieces that we need to make them whole.”
Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr. said the village had received correspondence from one resident objecting to the amendment. “But based on what Kenny indicated, this was the right way to go.” The amendment was adopted unanimously.
The board appointed Robert Jahoda, who was the village’s traffic control specialist, to the position of ordinance officer at an annual salary of $60,000. The new position was effective Monday. Mr. Jahoda is replacing Dan Reichl, an ordinance officer and building inspector, who will soon retire, Becky Molinaro, the village administrator, said after the meeting.
The board also approved an estimated $83,340 for the removal of seven trees that Ms. Molinaro said are “severely infested” with Dutch elm disease. The cost will be shared with the Ladies Village Improvement Society. Seven other trees must be pruned, Ms. Molinaro said, to protect neighboring trees from the disease. “Apparently, there’s a statewide outbreak, that has become very severe, especially upstate,” she said.