Freddie Howard
July 16, 2007
Murphy Candies, Jr.
July 18, 2007Terrebonne Parish has succeeded in suspending a contentious state policy requiring soil-testing on the lot of each new house built in Terrebonne, and the certification of a new home’s foundation, or slab.
The policy, administered by a Regional Code Council of the Louisiana State Uniform Construction Code Council, has been criticized harshly by building contractors because complying with the policy is stunting construction growth in Terrebonne, they say.
Contractors are claiming that the slab engineering code is enforced excessively.
Terrebonne Parish Council members Arlanda Williams and Clayton Voisin, along with parish representative Mitch McDonald, attended a Regional Code Council meeting in Laplace last month at which the three argued successfully to have the soil-boring and foundation certification requirements suspended by the state at least until Jan.1, 2008.
By that date, Terrebonne Parish will have use of a geotechnical map showing the soil makeup of the region.
At the June 11 meeting of the Terrebonne Parish Council’s Community Development and Planning Committee, Councilman Pete Lambert questioned having to test the soil strength of a new home located next door to a house whose underlying soil had already passed inspection.
The current process for obtaining a construction permit requires applications to be approved by the Terrebonne Parish Department of Planning and Zoning, then by the South Central Planning and Development Commission in Gray. After further inspection, Planning and Zoning issues a permit to build.
Instead of agents from the SCPDC and Planning and Zoning, building contractors in Terrebonne Parish have pushed for the use of private construction inspectors, called third-party providers, to survey soil quality, slab engineering, and other phases of home construction.
Contractors argue that the use of the third-party providers will accelerate the construction of needed new housing in Terrebonne Parish.
But third party providers have not had to be registered with Terrebonne Parish government before performing inspection work.
“We don’t know who’s certified,” Voisin said.
The Terrebonne Parish Council introduced the ordinance at its regular semi-monthly meeting Wednesday requiring third-party providers to register annually with the parish’s Planning and Zoning Department.
“This will expedite the process,” Voisin said. “With the new law, we don’t have to certify providers. When someone turns in an application, we would already have the third-party provider on file.”
Prior to the June 14 Regional Code Council meeting, Voisin, State Rep. Gordon Dove, State Sen. Reggie Dupre, and several building contractors from the Houma-Thibodaux area spoke at a Louisiana State Senate Commerce Committee meeting in the Capitol requesting that the Louisiana Legislature eliminate the soil-testing and foundation certification requirements for new-home construction.
The Commerce Committee sent the issue back to the “local level, where it could be more easily handled,” Voisin said.
The Louisiana State Uniform Construction Code Council was created after the 2005 hurricanes to implement a policy making new homes more wind-resistant. The Regional Code Council is composed of the presidents, or their designees, of Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. James, St. John and Assumption parishes.
At the June 25 Terrebonne Parish Community Development and Planning Committee meeting, Williams said that SCPDC Certified Building Official Michael Wich would serve only as the “official holder of record” for builders choosing to use third-party providers.
Terrebonne Parish contractor S.P. LaRussa, who advocates the use of private building inspectors, said, “South Central Planning was checking third-party providers.” Now, “all South Central does is file papers,” he said.
“We still have to do elevations” on homes, LaRussa said. “We will live with that.”
