Yvette Michelle Crabtree Davis
April 7, 2008
Cecile D. St. Amant
April 9, 2008
While Terrebonne Parish is complying with strict building codes mandated by the state, surrounding parishes are promising to do an improved job of complying with the codes, South Central Planning and Development Commission Chief Executive Officer Kevin Belanger told the Terrebonne Parish Council’s Community Development and Planning Committee at its March 24 meeting.
The commission, based in Gray, offers building inspection services for Terrebonne, Lafourche and Assumption parishes and the West Bank parts of St. Charles, St. James and St. John parishes. The commission keeps 85 percent of the fee it charges for inspection services; the remainder goes to the parish containing the building.
Building permits are issued by individual parishes.
Contractors can use private building inspectors on new construction instead of the commission, but the building’s plans still need to be approved by the commission. Private building inspectors must be registered with the parish.
Terrebonne Parish Councilman Clayton Voisin said the parish is undergoing 60 percent of the new construction in the commission’s six-parish area and is generating 95 percent of its building inspection fees.
Both he and Councilwoman Arlanda Williams said they believe surrounding parishes are not adhering as strictly to building codes as Terrebonne and, consequently, are paying much lower fees to the commission.
“It seems like Terrebonne is funding this complete project,” Williams said to Belanger. “Ninety-five percent is a lot. There are problems with other parishes. Have you made sure they’re keeping up?”
“They’re doing their own thing,” Voisin told Belanger. “We’re doing your thing. You guys have got to be more on top of this.”
Williams said some contractors have left Terrebonne to build in surrounding parishes.
Belanger acknowledged to the committee that the disparity in the number of building permits issued by Terrebonne and surrounding parishes is huge. He said that at a recent meeting of the South Central Regional Construction Code Council held in Assumption Parish, surrounding parishes came to a consensus with Terrebonne.
The council was created in 2005 to ensure compliance with construction codes following hurricanes Katrina and Rita. In November 2005, then Gov. Kathleen Blanco signed legislation mandating that the state adopt the International Building Code, a set of guidelines created by the Virginia-based International Code Council.
The code not only applies to new construction, but to home repairs costing more than 50 percent of a home’s value.
Pat Gordon, Terrebonne Parish planning director, is the chairman of the Regional Code Council.
Belanger said Terrebonne Parish has been issuing building permits longer than surrounding parishes.
“They’ve said they want to come into consistency with Terrebonne Parish,” he said. “It’s been a learning curve for them. Hopefully they will catch that disparity.”
“If we want to bring consistency to the whole region, we must stay the course,” he said. “They’re not doing their own thing. We’ve come a long way. At the Regional Code Council meeting, we saw improvement.”
Belanger also said the commission’s building inspection fees are cheaper in Terrebonne than in surrounding parishes, though the fees can seem high.
He said the commission’s use of economy of scale in Terrebonne helps keep its building inspection fees lower.
Michael Wich, a certified building official with the commission, told the committee that the commission has three certified building officials and could soon have eight. A building inspector is on call around the clock. If a request for a building inspection is made before 1 p.m., the inspection will be done the same day, Wich said.
In a later interview, Belanger said, “Terrebonne is a hot area for development, both business and residential. The number of permits issued will be substantially higher.”
“We agree with Voisin,” he said. “It can only effectively change by striving for a comprehensive approach.”
Thibodaux contractor Lea Rutter said he finds the building permitting processes in Lafourche and Terrebonne similar, but he feels that Lafourche Parish has an edge.
“It seems that Lafourche is outperforming Terrebonne as far as building goes,” he said. “Whether it’s attributable to South Central Planning or the new code, I’m not sure.”
“I thought with the permitting process, there’s something smoother in Lafourche than in Terrebonne, but I’m not sure what it is,” he said.
Construction workers take a break Monday at a job site in the Houma area. * Photo by KEYON K. JEFF
