The City Council held a lengthy discussion Tuesday on whether to raise fees for electrical and mechanical repair permits, one part of a much larger picture of how the city runs its building inspection operations.
Elected officials were at a fairly sharp crossroads: either raise application fees to cover costs or start eliminating certain regulatory schemes that were money-losing propositions.
“Would it be smarter for us to not require a permit?” Councilman Wayne Hartman asked, referring to certain minor jobs. “If it’s already costing us money [to run the permit system], you’re not going to be making it back with more volume, you’re only going to be losing more money.”
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9 comments:
Sounds like Hartman's the only one with any sense.
FEMA does not require heat/ac units to be elevated. That statement is misleading. Flood insurance which is supplemented by FEMA requires this and if you have flood insurance and your system isn't elevated they don't have to pay for replacement. The city should not be in the position of being insurance inspectors.
OC can't keep up with their plumbing maintenance for heaven's sake. The Park n Ride handicap (ADA) facility for Men has been "out of service' for 2 weeks. The public Men's room at South Division St had been on life support for weeks, the 144th St Men's room had no running water to wash you hands for many weeks (now, the drinking fountain has more water flow). It never ends...
5:48 The idiots who run the town put it in the code over 10 years ago. If you look at their permit requirements if you replace an overhead light fixture you need a permit. If you replace your toilet you need a permit.
548, with that being said, and with only 10% compliance anyway, it's obvious that folks would be happy hiring unlicensed tech's to do their installations and risk the 100 year flood odds on a 15 year replacement.
As a licensed MHIC, I'm not stupid enough to see odds in favor and pay for the 100 year flood replacement out of pocket!
As much as I hate being underbid by unlicensed contractors, this is a law that specifically breeds them in all trades. The Home Improvement commission only can go after LICENSED contractors, and the States Attorney has absolutely no interest in going after unlicensed contractors.
It's a thick weave, in all trades, and needs addressing across the country.
OC could be a leading edge here, if it knew all the nuances.
I do consulting on the side, ask Joe who I am.
Having previously worked in OC over 15 years. I often thought about how OC could save megabucks by sub-contracting out the issuance of Building Permits and its inspections. But no - they (OC Council) would rather have the taxpayers foot the bill and subsidize their current money losing building program.
Which leads me to my second point. A few months ago I was called to pull an electrical permit to wire a small residential addition. I was informed by the General Contractor that he had already contacted (2) other licensed electricians and that they had declined to perform the work when they found out it was in OC.
Reluctantly, I went ahead and pulled the electrical permit anyway - but before I left City Hall - I walked into the Mayor's office and informed his receptionist that I was the THIRD ELECTRICIAN that had been contacted to try and wire a small addition and that the other 2 refused to work when they found out it was in OC. I did let her know how I felt - and that IMHO it was a poor poor reflection on the OC municipality in general.
Personally, I do not believe I will do anymore work in OC as it is MONEY PIT - if you know what I mean.
Hartman is a contractor and a slumlord.. of course he wants to do away with things that get into his wallet..he is also on the housing board which regulates run down properties.. first he issues regulations to close down properties then swoops in to buy them cheap..
Why not go back to the old rule, "If it's STRUCTURAL you need a permit and inspections"?
Requiring permits for regular maintenance is just wasteful greed, and does nothing but discourage regular maintenance and encourage lawlessness.
As a longtime contractor who has pulled many building permits in Ocean City all I can say is I feel your pain. You can't just walk in and apply for a permit (except on "Walk in Mondays" - can you believe that! It still makes me laugh). You have to schedule meetings with all pertinent departments separately, the meetings are 30 minutes long but usually take 10 to 15 minutes to complete, then you are sent away with homework. After awaiting period of forever (if a Trimper or a Moore or a -OK, you get the picture, comes in after you your application is put on the bottom of the list and theirs goes on top) you must come back in for more nonsense and see all departments again. That is if they haven't lost your file which has happened to me. More than once. Then, by the grace of God or in this case the code official you may walk out with building permits. The whole process is an exercise in futility. I have applied for building permits in 4 Maryland Counties as well as Sussex County Delaware and have never been through the mind numbing experience that Ocean City provides. The standard procedure in most jurisdictions is you put together a permit package that satisfies all requirements and that package is submitted AT ANY TIME YOU CHOOSE TO APPLY. The planning department then sends this to all departments and issues you a permit. Pretty simple stuff.
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