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11/01/2006: "Permit Director: "Abolish The Owner Builder Permit"!"

(file photo)
Planning & Building Director Ron Henrickson took the County Council -and the audience- by surprise on Tuesday, when near the end of his budget presentation he asked the Council to "abolish the Owner Builder Permit". Under questioning by the Council, Henrickson strongly attacked the ordinance, listing a litany of complaints, calling it "outdated, dangerous, and expensive to administer".

When it came time for questions and comments from the Council. Councilman Kevin Ranker told Henrickson that he had no interest in getting rid of the ordinance. Under questioning by Chair Lichter, it seemed that Henrickson was not overly familiar with the history of the OBO (Owner Builder Ordinance), and his responses to Lichter's questioning seemed at odds with some of the basic facts and intent of the OBO, and how it works.


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According to Henrickson, the OBO allows a house to be constructed without regard for health and safety considerations, and that when the house is sold, the new owners may be surprised to find the building was constructed without meeting code requirements. In response to a question from Councilman Bob Myhr, on what can we change in the ordinance to address Hendrickson's complaints, he said it was not possible to change it, that we were locked into it, so all we could do is abolish it. This was only one of his statements that appeared to be confused with the facts, and at odds with the history of the ordinance The current version of it is vastly different from what it originally contained, and the addition of requirements to the ordinance that have been inserted over the years would seem to be almost the same list of areas that Henrickson said were lacking.

In regard to Hendrickson's concerns about health and safety: the ordnance contains an entire section entitled "Life safety requirements", that lists many of the standard requirements one finds in a "normal" permit, such as smoke detectors, guardrails, fire walls, and clearances for stoves, to name but a few.

As for his concern that new owners may not know what they are buying, that too is hard to square with the facts, since the mechanisms for full disclosure are greater than for a normal permit. A signed statement is filed with the Auditor that the house may not meet all normal code requirements becomes part of the title search in a sale, and the ordinance also clearly states that "No structure built under an owner/builder permit shall be sold, leased or rented" until the seller has given "the prospective purchaser, tenant or renter a written notice that the structure has been completed under the provisions of this article and may not meet all UBC standards."

Hendrickson's statements on the history of the ordinance also seemed out of step with the facts of why the OBO was created. The purpose, and it is spelled out in the very beginning of the ordinance, states that the ordinance is intended to allow "maximum flexibility as to design and materials employed." One of the early proponents of the ordinance was former County Commissioner Rhea Miller, who used the Owner Builder provision to constructed a house using the now widely accepted method of using hay bales to provide inexpensive insulation, and a base for stucco and plaster walls. Another member of the club is also a former Commissioner, John Evans, who was able to use lumber cut from storm downed trees on his property to build his house. In both cases this was made possible by use of the OB permit.

As the Owner Builder ordinance evolved over the years, about the only thing that has remained is the lack of inspections and code requirements for the actual structural aspects of a house, thereby allowing the use of post-and-pier construction, or field rock and mortar foundations, without having to hire an engineer to design and approve it, and also allowing the use of re-cycled lumber or locally cut wood, which, ironically is far superior in structural integrity and resistant to rot than the farm grown trees that has become the norm. As for Hendrickson's concerns about earthquakes and windstorms.

Cliff Lowe, a highly respected and longtime builder on the island, has told the story that when a client wanted to convert one of the old farm barns into a house, they were required to hire an engineer and also spend $5000.00 on special steel brackets "so that the barn, that has withstood countless storms without any damage, would not blow away".

If Henrickson seemed to be on shaky ground with the Council as he listed all of his complaints, it was also clear he was unaware of just how much support the ordinance has had over the years. Councilman Ranker pointed out that at least three County Commissioner's have taken advantage of the ordinance, and that he had personal knowledge of a number of people that were able to build an inexpensive house because of the ordinance, and thereby remain on the island -an early form of "affordable housing".

Ron Henrickson as been the Director of CD&P (Community Development & Planning) since moving here to accept the position eleven months ago, and has in that time expressed some strong opinions about how things should be done, and what the County is doing wrong. Not all of those opinions have gone over very well with the public, or even a number of members of his staff, and any action to now abolish the right of people to try something new, or use wood from there own land, can be expected to -once again- fill the council chambers with a crowd of very unhappy people.