MISSOULA – Missoula County Commissioners voted unanimously June 9 to approve a resolution to increase building permit fees effective Sept. 1. Along with increasing fees, the building department will use the International Code Council (ICC) Building valuation to value building projects, increase fees annually as necessary based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) Mountain Area, adopt definitions as presented for finished and unfinished basements, eliminate the Footing and Foundation Waiver, eliminate the Agricultural Exemption and set the special inspections/consultations hourly division rate at $75.
The change increases building permit fees from 25% to 35% and plan review fees from $50 to $75. This is in line with state building permit fees.
The ICC is a uniform building valuation used to value projects. The county currently uses building valuation from 2009. Under the new plan the building valuations will be updated annually.
Under current rules a basement can be roughed in to be finished later. Under the new definition an unfinished basement must meet code minimums including minimal lighting, exterior foundation insulation, solely structural support members and any other work necessary to complete the storage space to code minimal requirements. A finished basement is any work exceeding code minimums will be considered “finished” and that finished space computed on a square footage basis and fees set on that calculation.
Before approving, Commissioner Chair Juanita Vero asked Building Official Dave Larkin to explain the footing and foundation waiver along with agricultural exemption, why it was implemented and how it was used in the past.
The footing and foundations waiver was originally designed to allow a builder to get a project started without all the necessary permits in place. The intent was because of long winters in Montana, the footing and foundation could be placed and then the formal permit process would be completed as explained by Larkin.
“It’s June, I did three footing and foundation claim disclaimers so far this week, it’s not the original intent,” Larkin said. “It places a lot of burden on the part of the homeowner.”
County Senior Title Attorney John Hart added the other part is people don’t always understand those permits will still have to be issued later. Recently, the board was concerned that the commissioners may not approve a land use change for storage units and the footing and foundations had been poured. The commissioners approved the zone, Hart said. In another instance the commission denied the zone change.
“If it’s found that you’re out of compliance for what you’ve been allowed [through the exemption], you may have to rip out this footing and foundation,” Hart said. “It’s not good public policy.”
The agricultural exemption was designed to allow farmers to put up a barn and put the onus of safety and meeting codes on the owner. Larkin explained they are seeing several buildings put up as a barn now being used for processing and manufacturing of cannabis or commercial RV storage. By eliminating it, all structures being built, even if planned for agricultural use such as pole barns, must get a building permit.
“That is commercial use,” Larkin said. “It’s not fair to the farmers who are legitimately using their buildings as agricultural uses.”
“I know that there are people out there that think that just because there’s a greater volume of buildings coming into the county, that we are somehow making more money because of that,” Larkin said. “It simply doesn’t play out that way.”
Larkin explained due to higher costs, certifications necessary due to code changes and time to inspect the new type of construction going on it simply takes more time, costs of fuel are going up, along with cost of vehicles. Larkin went on to state more people are necessary to keep up with the volume of inspections.
“The building department pays for the services they provide with the fees they collect. There’s no tax revenue involved,” said Josh Slotnik, county commissioner. “The cost of everything has gone up. These houses are more complex to look at and their costs have gone up. If we are to keep up with the demand and do a good job, we need to raise our fees.”
Larkin showed the national average for the cost of a building permit is 1.7% of the cost to build a home. With the increase proposed, Larkin said Missoula County’s average would match the national average.
Public comment on the proposal has leaned toward the slow speed with which permits are issued, Larkin said. The county department heads involved with the building permits have developed a team to work on speeding up the process. The team meets weekly.
“I can see some progress already,” Larkin said.
To view the document from the public hearing, visit https://www.seeleylake.com/home/customer_files/article_documents/buildingpermits.pdf
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