Board of Appeals

[Energystar]

How often does your jurisdiction hear an appeal to a code official’s determination?

How well does your jurisdiction handle the appeals process?

Does it:

1. require a refundable deposit from the appellant?
2. have a time limit for appeals to be filed?
3. immediately forward an appeal to the board of appeals and schedule a hearing prior to writing their rebuttal?
4. give a time limit for appeals to be heard and resolved?
5. allow for an appeal to be heard for a “violation” that has already been corrected?

 

[tmurray]

A little different here, but this may be helpful for context.

Appeals in our province are not heard at the local level, but at the provincial level. Our system is relatively new and just started in June. So far we have only heard one appeal, but it appears to have gone well. There is no committee, just me. the appellant and respondent submit the justification on their interpretation of the code. I review the submissions, the code, and any other documentation or consult experts and render a decision.

1. No. no deposit or fee currently.
2. Appeals must be filed within 10 days of the service of the order.
3. N/A where I am the one hearing the appeal.
4. The decision for an appeal must be made within 14 days.
5. Certainly, if someone wanted to appeal after the correction, but prior to the submission deadline, they could do so.

 

[mtlogcabin]

It has been over 24 years since we had an appeal to the board.

 

[rktect 1]

We amended that section so that all appeals go only to the Village Manager. As such...

1. require a refundable deposit from the appellant? NO
2. have a time limit for appeals to be filed? YES - 30 days
3. immediately forward an appeal to the board of appeals and schedule a hearing prior to writing their rebuttal? - Not required
4. give a time limit for appeals to be heard and resolved? YES - 30 days
5. allow for an appeal to be heard for a “violation” that has already been corrected? It does not "not" include this.

 

[Energystar]

The last time I filed an appeal it was for another builder that I thought got shafted. Here is what they required:

1. require a refundable deposit from the appellant? $100
2. have a time limit for appeals to be filed? 10 days
3. immediately forward an appeal to the board of appeals and schedule a hearing prior to writing their rebuttal? Yes
4. give a time limit for appeals to be heard and resolved? No
5. allow for an appeal to be heard for a “violation” that has already been corrected? No
6. No photo evidence was allowed at the hearing (a "policy" not enumerated in the code).

The appeal was delayed for 3 months since the jurisdiction had let the terms of nearly all their board members to lapse. The council members had to appoint a new appeals board. After finally winning the appeal unanimously on all counts, the inspector still insisted that some of the "violations" be corrected and would not release the stop work order. We had to have an attorney send a letter to council members before the situation was resolved. The builder could have followed up with a lawsuit since it was the jurisdiction that was in violation of the code and the construction delay represented a significant financial injury. However, he still wanted to do work there.

 

[Mark K]

The last time I filed an appeal it was for another builder that I thought got shafted. Here is what they required:

1. require a refundable deposit from the appellant? $100
2. have a time limit for appeals to be filed? 10 days
3. immediately forward an appeal to the board of appeals and schedule a hearing prior to writing their rebuttal? Yes
4. give a time limit for appeals to be heard and resolved? No
5. allow for an appeal to be heard for a “violation” that has already been corrected? No
6. No photo evidence was allowed at the hearing (a "policy" not enumerated in the code).

The appeal was delayed for 3 months since the jurisdiction had let the terms of nearly all their board members to lapse. The council members had to appoint a new appeals board. After finally winning the appeal unanimously on all counts, the inspector still insisted that some of the "violations" be corrected and would not release the stop work order. We had to have an attorney send a letter to council members before the situation was resolved. The builder could have followed up with a lawsuit since it was the jurisdiction that was in violation of the code and the construction delay represented a significant financial injury. However, he still wanted to do work there.

What action was taken with respect to the inspector and his supervisor to assure they comply with the decisions of the appeals board in the future? Why did the building official not void the stop work order?

 

[jar546]

What action was taken with respect to the inspector and his supervisor to assure they comply with the decisions of the appeals board in the future? Why did the building official not void the stop work order?

I can only take a wild guess or two.

1) Probably no action taken. They were probably surprised they lost and figured it wouldn't happen again. No lesson learned.
2) BCO may have not retracted the SWO because of one word. Retribution.

 

[ICE]

Who's to say that the decision made by the appeal board was correct? A decision by an appeal board is not code.... it is an interpretation of code by a group from the public sector. Appeal boards are a palative to make the people feel better about the system.

In the twenty-five years that I toiled for LA County I was never aware of anything that I was involved with having gone to an appeals board. There were so many layers of management above me that the opportunity to overrule my correction came way before it landed with an appeals board.

This is not to say that I was never wrong...in fact, that wasn't all that rare. Most times I caught the mistake and corrected it myself....but I could count on management to never get it right.

 

[Mark K]

The appeals boards are part of the legal system related to the enforcement of building codes.. We have a problem when the inspectors do not feel constrained by the legal system. Such individuals should not be employed as inspectors

 

[jar546]

The appeals boards are part of the legal system related to the enforcement of building codes.. We have a problem when the inspectors do not feel constrained by the legal system. Such individuals should not be employed as inspectors

This is true. It is part of the legal system and I have taken part in several hearings, mostly related to accessibility. One was about exceeding the maximum mezzanine coverage in a warehouse. The system works as intended. It gives the owners due process.

 

[ICE]

We have a problem when the inspectors do not feel constrained by the legal system. Such individuals should not be employed as inspectors

You manage to get that into every thread that you participate in. There’s dozens of reasons why some individuals should not be employed as inspectors…. Your windmill is the least of them.

 

[Energystar]

The chief inspector was eventually fired for multiple reasons. I don't think this was so much retribution as ineptitude. The items they called out on framing inspection were easily proven to be proper using the building code. They also insisted on a significant amount of deconstruction for further inspection that was clearly not necessary. Compliance was easily demonstrated without it. The hearing was short and the 5 member board voted on each point separately. Each vote was unanimous. They did drag their feet for 2 weeks on the stop work order because they said they were waiting to look over the minutes of the hearing.