On Monday, June 20, the Edgartown board of selectmen will hold a public hearing on a proposed hike in the building-permit fee schedule for new construction, based on square footage rather than set rates. According to the building inspector’s office, the last rate change was July 1, 2009.
Current building-permit fees are set at flat rates. The permit fee for a home up to 900 square feet is $500; 901 to 2,500 square feet, $750; 2,501 to 5,000 square feet, $1,000; and for any home larger than 5,000 square feet, the cost is a flat $1,250, no matter the size. The building department is proposing that rates be changed to 75 cents per square foot. The same rule would apply to all additions and renovations.
According to the current fee scale, a building permit for a 2,000-square-foot home is $750; under the proposed fee scale, the cost would double to $1,500. A permit for a 5,000-square-foot home would rise from $1,000 to $3,750. The proposed rate change makes no distinction between commercial and residential buildings.
“Houses used to be 1,200 square feet,” Leonard Jason, Edgartown building and zoning inspector, told The Times in a telephone call Wednesday. “The bigger they are, the more inspections it takes.”
Also on the table is a new $75 reinspection fee. Mr. Jason explained that with larger homes, there are more inspections required, and sometimes when the inspector arrives, the builders may not be prepared, requiring him to come back multiple times to complete his work.
The public hearing on the proposed fee hikes begins at 4 pm in the selectmen’s meeting room. For more information, call the building inspector’s office at 508-627-6115.