City of Algood has updated its building permit code to change extension fees.
Building Inspector Bob Lane said the permits have a six-month life. He said when builders were coming in to renew the permit, they faced a charge of half the original application fee.
“We felt like that was too hard on the contractors and the homeowners,” Lane said. “So what we’ve actually done is we’ve gone back and changed that to a $50 fee. Some of these building permits can be as much as $1,000, so they would be out $500. So we cut that to a $50 fee.”
Lane said they hope the change will also alleviate the burden on contractors and homeowners with the current price of materials and supply chain shortages. While it can apply to residential and commercial buildings, it will mostly affect residential.
Lane said for a second renewal, the fees will return to normal. Lane said even if material costs return to normalcy, he foresees this ordinance change to remain for the foreseeable future.
“The international building code doesn’t dictate the fees on the building permits but it does dictate the time,” Lane said. “So we kind of lined up everything with that to match the 180 days. So they changed the ordinance to match the building codes.”
