Christopher Peak Photo
Worker leaves illegal work site during Newhallville sweep.
New Haven’s building code inspectors are asking state lawmakers to give them back the power to stop contractors from doing work without permits.
New Haven inspectors catch over 100 contractors a year doing work without permits. Until 2016, they could impose fines that deterred such behavior. They lost that ability under the new state building code that went into effect that same year.
Now, they’re asking lawmakers to restore that ability by passing House Bill 5182.
Last week, city building inspector Jim Eggert went up to Hartford to tell the members of the legislature’s Joint Planning and Development Committee that the 2016 change in the code is leaving property owners unprotected, putting tenants in dangerous situations, and leaving the city to straighten out the mess with costly civil suits.
House Bill 5182, which was raised by the committee, would allow cities like New Haven, with 50,000 or more residents, to once again impose a fee on anyone “who commences work on a building or structure or electrical, gas, mechanical or plumbing system before obtaining the necessary permits.”
City Building Offical Jim Turcio said that fee would be what it was before the new building code went into effect: double the permit fee up to $1,000.
“We are tasked with implementing the state building code, and sometimes we’re looked at as the enemy by all parties,” Eggert testified. “But in actuality, we are the owner’s first line of defense to have the proposed work on their property done in a manner which complies with the requirements of the building code.”
Eggert said every time the city issues a permit there are procedures and requirements that contractors must follow to be in compliance with the law.
“Where does the penalty fee enter this process?” he asked. “When no permit is taken out, all bets are off. The possibility of poor or incorrect work is dependent on not only who does it, but who actually does the work without any oversight or inspections. So this underground economy skirting the state building code causes multiple problems.”
Eggert said penalty fees protect contractors, property owners, and municipalities. Trying to enforce building codes without the big stick of penalties for non-compliance ups the chance that owners and contractors would take risks that could be dangerous. And that’s bad for some of the most vulnerable people in the city, according to written testimony from Mayor Toni Harp.
LCI’s Rafael Ramos checks out the backyard of 687 Winchester during sweep of unpermitted work.
“The poor, the elderly, and non-native English speakers are most vulnerable to being unknowingly subjected to illegally poor conditions created by unpermitted construction – not to mention the workers themselves who may not be protected from basic health and safety hazards,” Mayor Toni Harp wrote in a letter to the committee. “Local enforcement is a critical tool to protect our residents.”
She noted that the city’s inaugural foray into its new Clean Sweep initiative, which took department heads into the Newhallville section of the city, turned up several active unpermitted construction sites in a single day. (Read more about what city officials found here.)
“New Haven’s inspectors catch well over a hundred contractors working without a permit every year and, without the authorization to assess this fee, the City’s only recourse is to pursue a civil case in state court,” she wrote in her letter to the committee. “Doing so is costly, laborious, and can take months to resolve. A Building Official fee is a direct deterrent and a quick remedy for a current construction project.
“Since the fee authority was removed, New Haven inspectors have seen an increase in unpermitted activity – even catching the same contractors multiple times for unpermitted work,” she added. “This trend is a direct challenge to the health, safety, and quality of life of New Haven residents.”
Turcio said in a follow-up interview that the year before the ability to apply penalty fees stopped, the city received about $121,000 in penalty fees on construction valued at $4.2 million. But in 2017, inspectors caught about 140 permit violations but had no ability to penalize those contractors financially. They were able to resolve some of the issues without sending a violation letter but others might have to be resolved in the court system.
“That is no windfall because it entails 10 state licensed inspectors,” Eggert told the committee. “This is not a retaliatory bit of legislation, but rather it’s a common sense requirement to simply follow the adopted building code. This is not an add-on fee. It’s a resultant penalty for not following state statutes. We need this legislation to continue keeping Connecticut buildings safe.”
Delphine Clyburn.
Newhallville Alder Delphine Clyburn also submitted written testimony to the committee. She said that during her seven years in office, she has also discovered contractors working without proper building permits.
“These contractors have been working in these houses without permits and throwing debris into the backyard,” she wrote. “I personally had advised these contractors that they needed a permit and a dumpster. However, since the power of the local building official to enforce permit compliance was removed (in 2016), many contractors blatantly disregard the law knowing they will likely not face any consequences.”
Ramos and LCI are making New Haven a police state.
It is getting ridiculous to live here and do business. This measure is less about protection for tenants and more about revenue and illegal search and seizure of funds by the "LCI Gestapo".
LCI should be defunded and the federal tax $ be used for productive purposes.