NORWICH – Chenango County code regulators are benefiting from the window of time presented by a lackluster home building market in order to catch up on a backlog of open permits.
Like most areas in the nation, the number of new housing starts here have stalled. The number in Chenango County declined steadily last year from a high of 23 in July to only eight in November and December, combined.
The Chenango County Fire and Building Code Division of the Department of Public Health reports there were 2,021 open permits in all categories at the end of 2006 versus 1,739 at the conclusion of last year. The department has been tackling a consistent backlog of about 2,000 open permits since 2005 as well as conducting new inspections and issuing new permits.
There were approximately 890 new permits issued in 2007.
“You are almost at your goal of 1,500,” Finance Committee member Wayne Outwater, R-Lincklaen, said last week following the department’s report. During year-long deliberations last year about the department’s fiscal crisis and future - which ultimately resulted in putting the government unit on the county levy - Outwater repeatedly directed Bates to whittle away the number of open permits.
Bates said each open permit is extensively reviewed and, in some cases, individuals are being issued appearance tickets in order to have them resolved in court.
There were 351 fire inspections done in 2006 versus 365 last year. Because of the slow month for housing permits, officials were able to close 45 open fire inspection permits in January alone, resulting in $1,350. Bates said there were 811 annual and bi-annual open fire inspections left to conduct.
Requests from towns for county assistance to handle code violations have also slowed, an indication that municipalities are handling their own complaints to avoid having to pay the county a fee for services. For example, Bates said the towns of Bainbridge, Afton and Plymouth are now handling more complaints on their own.
“We knew this would happen. They are opting to take care of it themselves,” Bates said. Finance Committee member Richard Schlag said the department might not meet this year’s budgeted fee income amount of $30,000.
Bates told the committee that the county’s enforcement officers are now keeping track of where calls are coming from and how much time they require; however no chargeback fee structure has been created nor bills mailed as of yet. The village and town of Greene, the town of New Berlin, the village of Earlville, and the city of Norwich have their own codes units.