09-09-2009, 11:01 AM
I had written the part below before Janet put up her post about the new bill. (Then held off on posting, ambivalent about feeding this debate.)
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You didn't address the main part of my reading. The governing section says that permits are required. The exceptions list tents under certain circumstances. If the governing section did not apply to tents, then there would be no need to except them in a subsection.
I disagree that motor homes are not addressed because they comply with standards. They are not addressed because they are on wheels. Take a compliant mobile home off wheels and put it on blocks and it now needs a permit.
Permits are required for structures that are going to remain put and be lived in, or even used for other projects. Permits aren't just about foundations and framing. Also required to enforce setbacks. Also a sleeping structure has to meet the code for light and ventilation, fire safety.
That said, the County turns a blind eye to all sorts of violations and even squatters. That doesn't mean they don't have any authority; they choose not to use their funding to exercise the authority.
I think it likely that if a neighbor put up a large tent and lived in it, and kept it up for six months or a year, in violation of building setbacks and too close to someone's property line, that it could get cited for being unpermitted, because at that point it's generating a complaint. I would also expect that in the case of a tent of room size being used for living while a permitted home is being built, that the inspector would have a problem with it.
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You didn't address the main part of my reading. The governing section says that permits are required. The exceptions list tents under certain circumstances. If the governing section did not apply to tents, then there would be no need to except them in a subsection.
I disagree that motor homes are not addressed because they comply with standards. They are not addressed because they are on wheels. Take a compliant mobile home off wheels and put it on blocks and it now needs a permit.
Permits are required for structures that are going to remain put and be lived in, or even used for other projects. Permits aren't just about foundations and framing. Also required to enforce setbacks. Also a sleeping structure has to meet the code for light and ventilation, fire safety.
That said, the County turns a blind eye to all sorts of violations and even squatters. That doesn't mean they don't have any authority; they choose not to use their funding to exercise the authority.
I think it likely that if a neighbor put up a large tent and lived in it, and kept it up for six months or a year, in violation of building setbacks and too close to someone's property line, that it could get cited for being unpermitted, because at that point it's generating a complaint. I would also expect that in the case of a tent of room size being used for living while a permitted home is being built, that the inspector would have a problem with it.