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Major rate changes approved for building permit fees

Date: 7/9/2012

July 9, 2012

By Chris Maza

chrism@thereminder.com

LONGMEADOW — Building Inspector Paul Healy recently posted new building permit fees approved by the Select Board at its July 2 meeting, marking the first significant change in rates since 2007.

The major rate changes involve increases for commercial properties, while fees for one- and two-family dwellings remain unchanged for the most part.

"I added to the base [price] on the commercial side and kept the per-square-foot price the same," he said. "I also added in a couple of things that were missing."

The minimum cost for building permits for places of business, assembly and professional services increased $150 from $500 to $650, as did the cost for multi-family elderly housing or condominiums.

Building fees for additions, repairs or alterations to commercial buildings increased.

For projects with a cost of more than $100,000, the fee increased from $500 for the first $100,000 and $10 per additional $1,000 to $650 for the first $100,000 and $10 per additional $1,000.

Projects with a cost of more than $35,000 will now require a payment of $455, a $105 increase. Projects of more than $5,000 now have a $150 fee, a $40 increase, and projects costing less than $5,000 carry a $75 fee, a $20 hike.

Permit fees for accessory buildings, new siding, solid fuel burning appliances such as wood stoves and solar collectors and additions, repairs and alterations will come with a cost of $75.

Roof replacement permitting costs jumped to $110 with a minimum of 0.08 square feet and demolitions also increased to a $200 minimum at $150 per 10,000 square feet.

Previously, all of those permits had flat fee rates consistent with the residential cost of $55.

Healy also added permits for tents that didn't exist prior and new sheet metal permits. Tents of 400 square feet or more on residential property now come at a cost of $55, while tents for business purposes cost $100.

Healy also established rates for sheet metal permits, requiring a $55 flat fee for residential projects and a $55 minimum payment, plus $5 per $1,000 of project value.

Fees for wireless communication facilities ($200 minimum or $10 per $1,000 value of the project) and large-scale ground-mounted solar photovoltaic installations ($10 per $1,000 in value of the project) were also included in the new rate sheet.

"The photovoltaic installations are in our by-laws, so I added that in just in case that ever happens," he said, adding that that fee was solely for commercial facilities and any residential solar arrays would fall under the $55 solar collectors fee.

Selectman Mark Gold questioned the move to have higher rates for commercial purposes.

"There's more inspections required for commercial," Healy responded. "The building code for commercial work is a lot more difficult to enforce. It usually requires more inspections because of scheduling with different trades, plus commercial work always costs more. It costs 25 to 35 percent more to do commercial work than residential work."

Healy went on to say that charging more for commercial permits is a common practice among cities and towns in the area.



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