Changes to Construction Code Alter Plans in Stone Harbor

STONE HARBOR – Just as many homeowners might be contemplating spring home repairs, the state has reclassified some common projects as ordinary maintenance, exempting the work from the requirement for a construction permit. 
A notice in the New Jersey Register March 5 reclassifies work like siding and new roofs for one- and two-family dwellings as ordinary maintenance. Permits will no longer be required for these and a large number of other tasks including alarm installation, inside sheetrock and drywall, outdoor irrigation, and the replacement of indoor plumbing fixtures. The list goes on for pages.
Stone Harbor Borough Council heard of the changes at its work session March 5. The most obvious impact on municipalities is the loss of permit fees, but for Stone Harbor, the discussion centered on enforcement of other borough ordinances.
Responding to many complaints from vacation homeowners, the borough recently put in place new ordinance regulations impacting when and how construction can occur. In a borough that sees frequent demolitions and construction of new homes, efforts to control noise, debris, construction trailer placement, and parking issues were overwhelming.
The borough’s plan was to provide copies of the new regulations to contractors as they arrived to get construction permits. With many jobs no longer requiring permits, code enforcement may be back to relying on borough construction officials driving the streets to see where projects are going on.
“We are losing our best mechanism for knowing what is going on,” said Mayor Judith Davies-Dunhour.
Efforts to enforce the ban on construction work on Sundays in the summer may be reduced to spot checking the borough’s neighborhoods or relying on resident complaints about enforcement.
Stone Harbor was one of the towns that opposed this change when the state held public hearings in November.
One issue that goes beyond revenue and enforcement of municipal ordinances is protection against fraud.
The lack of a permit process removes one more layer of protection against contractors who are not legitimate and have failed to register with the Department of Community Affairs.
Since the borough’s construction office was capable of checking a contractor’s filings with the state before issuing the permit, the homeowner had one more check on the legitimacy of the contractor.
The lack of a required permit can also mean the lack of inspections to ensure that the job was done right.
No doubt the changes are intended to benefit the homeowners, making what is now defined as maintenance tasks cheaper and faster, yet they also place a greater onus on the property owner to ensure that the contractor is legitimate and has done the job in the right way.
For municipalities like Stone Harbor, another loss of a revenue stream is never welcome, but the impact here may be larger on code enforcement, just as new regulations promised vacationers a quieter, more peaceful summer.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.