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Small Cabin Forum / Off-Grid Living / Yes sir, I want ta build me a little cabin.
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rayyy
Member
# Posted: 20 Feb 2011 09:49 - Edited by: rayyy
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All right,let me see your Ag/Res application in triplicate.Proof that it is not a bussiness.Your varience approval documentation signed by the varience board.Your Planning board approval documentation.Your State certified Architectural drawings.County approved application.The documents from the soil and water conservation dept.The DEC approved application.Verification of comp insurance.Health department approved plans for well and septic system with all accompanien documentation.Special use permit.Proof of 900 square foot or bigger structure.Documentation of all property line locations.Zoning permit application in triplicate.Utilities notification for digging permit.Electric companys notification of request for service paperwork.Your home owners insurance policy.And then you can get get started. :-) Please don't take me to serious but this isn't to far from reality with my experience with trying to build a cabin and small barn yard.

Gary O
Member
# Posted: 20 Feb 2011 10:15
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4 words:
Radar, get under it
(after you ply the neighbors with some home baked goods...)
IMO

bobrok
Member
# Posted: 20 Feb 2011 11:27
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Be thankful you don't have APA to deal with on top of all this, rayyy. Ever wonder why there is such an outmigration from NY? If it weren't for the drop-dead gorgeous and varied topography we are blessed with here I think many more would leave.

sm paul
Member
# Posted: 20 Feb 2011 11:41
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Around here if it has a roof on it and you cannot tow it or carry it you need a permit. The county does aerial photographs once a year looking for new structures without permits. A good friend of mine got busted last year after he put up a 12x12 playfort for his kids.
What a nightmare !!

hattie
Member
# Posted: 20 Feb 2011 12:43
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We live in the middle of nowhere and the inspection truck goes through town on a regular basis. I guess they don't have anything else to do. Every time I see them I want to throw eggs at the truck. *S*

Our place was a nightmare to build. At first the lady from the permitting office told us that because we are in a flood zone, we'd need to put in 135 ft of fill!!!!! Hubby said, "WHAT!? We'll need a ski lift just to get to the door!!" After some "discussions" she realized she had read the map wrong - translation, she didn't know how to read a map! I thought Hubby was going to have a coronary.

When we needed a variance to build our garage, Hubby and I happened to be in the town where they were doing the variance hearing. Having never attended one, we thought we'd sit in. We were told not to open our mouths because we weren't allowed to speak - we could only watch. We had been told it was really a formality.

Then some guy on the board stands up and announces he won't support this variance because of the "high density housing in the town" - HUH? There are only 50 houses in our entire town. He was looking at the lot lines on the map from 1911 and figured there was a house on every lot. Luckily for us, another member of the board (who happened to live near our town) piped up and said, "I'm guessing you have never been to that town in person because there is no high density housing". Anyway, she saved our backsides because he backed down and they approved the variance.

Good luck, rayyy. When you have a final product, it really is worth the hair pulling and heart palpations. I would recommend trying to do it legally just so you never have to worry about a knock on your door one day from a man in black telling you to tear it down.

rayyy
Member
# Posted: 20 Feb 2011 18:43
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lol,,,,,Gee-wizzze,in 81 I built an entire house with a 35 dollar (one page application)building permit.It just amazes me why so many people got to stick their noses in other peoples business.It's insane.Why would they even care?
Thanks everybody for your support and encouragement.I'm not gonna give up.I bought this land just for this reason.Recreational,and they won't even let you use that word these days.It's got to be residential or agracultural.

bobrok
Member
# Posted: 20 Feb 2011 19:29
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Good points, Hattie. We are really talking about two different issues here: one is the state & municipality regs that are in place and that you must wade through and contend with; the other is dealing with planning/zoning boards and their sometimes ineptitude. I am sure regulations are different wherever you go, but I know for a fact that while you can't easily change regulations you can change a planning/zoning board's recommendation through the appeals process. I was turned down for a carport permit in my village and I went before the appeals board armed with everything I needed to make my case and won hands down.

RnR
Member
# Posted: 20 Apr 2011 12:30
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How come so many municipalities won't let you build anything under 900 sq. ft. but meanwhile there are luxury condos going up in the cities that are only 400 sq.ft. per unit selling for half a million dollars? how come THAT's ok? it's madness. Rayyy, please don't give up, we're all rooting for you.

bobrok
Member
# Posted: 20 Apr 2011 12:46
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Quoting: RnR
How come so many municipalities won't let you build anything under 900 sq. ft. but meanwhile there are luxury condos going up in the cities that are only 400 sq.ft. per unit selling for half a million dollars? how come THAT's ok?


location,location,location
demand, demand, demand

Quoting: RnR
it's madness


It's New York State (and maybe some others). We have layer upon layer of government and bureaucracy and meddling in our lives. I've seen arguments with folks who have no concept of the federal> state> county>town>village>school organizational level that we have here, some fighting against each other with counter-regulations.
Never having lived outside of NY I've taken this as a way of life for everybody. After reading this forum I'm findinbg out how *simple* live is in other places.

I'm not ranting, just trying to explain to people who may not have an understanding of government and it's bureaucracy here.

PlicketyCat
Member
# Posted: 26 Apr 2011 06:42
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And folks wonder why we decided to move to the middle of nowhere in Alaska. All we had to do was pay the state for the land, and buy our building materials. No zoning, no permits, no regulations and no property taxes. BLISS!! As long as your outhouse/septic is 50 feet downhill from the house and your well is 100 feet uphill from the house and cased against contamination by run-off... you're good to go.

Your place could be 100 sq ft or 10,000, made out of pink marble or blue tarps, peeled logs or old phone books, and no one would give a flying fig except for you. In many municipalities, our cabin is too small to be considered a domicile (only about 780 sq ft livable space), but it's plenty big enough for us to live in (I think the 900+ law is stupid and promotes waste!).

Borrego
Member
# Posted: 26 Apr 2011 20:00
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Quoting: Gary O
(after you ply the neighbors with some home baked goods...)


Booze works a lot better..... :-)

Gary O
Member
# Posted: 26 Apr 2011 20:39
Reply 


Quoting: Borrego
Booze works a lot better..... :-)

Hideeho neighbor!

elkdiebymybow
Member
# Posted: 30 Apr 2011 19:55
Reply 


I went into the building department and said I wanted to cut some trees down and stack 'em up for a small storage building- no electrical, no water etc...

They said "oh, you are building a 'pole barn'- $5.00 permit and no inspections".

I didn't disclose I was storing my wife and myself inside and no one ever asked. :)

Fly under the radar as Gary O suggested...

toyota_mdt_tech
Member
# Posted: 7 May 2011 18:07
Reply 


Quoting: bobrok
Never having lived outside of NY I've taken this as a way of life for everybody. After reading this forum I'm findinbg out how *simple* live is in other places.


Wow, I went and drew up my site plan. That was jsut a map of my 20 acres, then the about location of where my cabin was going to set. I had to have measurements (roughly) of where things liek property line, distance from the well and that was about it. I went to the county courthouse, had to go to planning dept, for $45, got my mailing address (did this online a week before) then with a check for $90, planning dept approved it right away. Then went to the building dept, submitted my plans, they took a check for $411 and this includes to review the plans plus the building permit. All in all, took a total of about 25 minutes. I got a call in a week telling my permit has been approved and I can start anytime.

CaptainJ
Member
# Posted: 9 May 2011 11:51
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Kind of glad I live in Ohio and my cabin is in a county and township with few regulations. I checked on building restrictions before I bought it and found I can build almost anything without a permit as long as it doesn't have water/sewer hookups. If I hook up to the county water service (at the road) then I have to have a septic system. As long as I'm NOT hooked up, they don't care about 'grey' water and since I'm using a composting toilet, no problem. All that permitting just doesn't exist for rural/recreational taxed property. They're more concerned with junk cars/recreational vehicles left on property/ no trash accumulation and where to send my $350 annual property tax bill.

Don't think I'll be moving to NY, California or Colorado from some of the posts I've seen on this forum.

Ann
Member
# Posted: 10 May 2011 17:16
Reply 


It took me a year and a half to get through the approval process in Pennsylvania, including township planning commission, township supervisors, county planning commission, conservation district, state Department of Environmental Resources (they had to check for endangered species).

After finally getting the building permit I had to deal with code enforcement officers every step of the way -- one of them charged $100 per visit.

It was quite an eye-opener.

bobrok
Member
# Posted: 10 May 2011 17:26
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Must be because you are a NY "border state" and some of our lawyers are practicing in PA also.

:-) or should I say :-(

Luke
Member
# Posted: 26 Jul 2011 20:11
Reply 


For those of us living/building in New York State please see the following link: http://www.dos.ny.gov/DCEA/pdf/TBhuntfishcab.pdf
This is a code interpretation that classifies cabins under "Utility" use group rather than "Single Family Dwelling". This allows for alternate electrical, plumbing and sanitary systems- much simplified. I imagine many Building Inspectors may be unfamiliar with this technical bulletin.

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