Petersburgh Revises Its
Building Code Law
by Alex Brooks
After a Public Hearing in which no one offered any comments, The Petersburgh Town Board approved a set of amendments to the Building Code law that it first passed in 2014. The law basically adopts New York State Building Code, Fire Code, and Energy Code for use in the Town of Petersburgh, and defines enforcement mechanisms.
Some of the new provisions include:[private]• Agricultural buildings will need a “no-cost tracking permit” instead of none at all.
• All building permits are for one year and may be renewed annually, but they expire after three years. If work is to continue after that time, a new permit must be obtained.
• Rental units must be inspected when a tenant leaves, before the premises are rented to a new tenant.
• Lot lines must be marked if building is happening near property lines
• Building officials are authorized to take pictures during an inspection.
The Board also approved purchase of software for the Building Department, which will make it much easier to keep track of building permits and track the progress of building projects.
Workshop Meeting
The Board held a workshop meeting to discuss updating the Town’s manufactured homes Law and the Site Plan Review Law. In a lengthy and wide-ranging discussion, the Board came to no definite conclusions, but they came to a general consensus on several issues. Permanently installed manufactured homes are regulated by HUD, and the town should aim to simply enforce those regulations rather than trying to define any of their own.
Site Plan review laws should apply equally to manufactured homes and stick-built homes. Last year’s manufactured homes law created an imbalance there because it called for site plan review for manufactured homes, while previously the site plan review law exempted one and two family dwellings.
People living in RVs on private land for more than two weeks should get an annual (seasonal) operating permit from the Town. The board and the Building inspector noted that it is not permissible to live in an RV permanently.
Other Matters
The Board accepted a proposal from Bill Hammersmith to roll the lawn at the Town Park and the roadway going down there for $650, in an effort to make the ball field less bumpy.
The Board opened bids for mowing of Town properties an cemeteries. They accepted the bid from Adam Kaufman of A & E Landscaping, based in Eagle Bridge. It was far less than the other bid from Telford Lawn Services of Hoosick Falls. Kaufman will mow seven cemeteries once a month for $150 per mow, an annual cost to the Town of about $1,000, and he will mow the Town Park three times per month at $35 per mow, which will be an annual cost to the Town of about $700. He will also mow the lawns around the municipal complex and the water tank, and do various one-time cleanups.
The Board agreed to give the Berlin High School Inventeam $100 to help with expenses when they go to MIT to Present their invention, and agreed to change Town Justice Amy Manchester’s pay from quarterly to monthly.[/private]