The state agency that oversees regulation of construction codes has opened an investigation into the Lower Southampton Zoning and Building Department and requested to review documents for more than two dozen projects that were the subject of a recent consultant’s report that found “irregularities.”
A Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry spokeswoman Friday confirmed its Bureau of Occupational and Industrial Safety has opened an investigation, but declined to provide additional information or comment.
Township officials confirmed that agency representatives visited the department Thursday and met with employees for several hours to review operations and policies and what procedures it has put in place as a result of an outside consultant’s review of two years of zoning and permit documents.
Township Manager John McMenamin said the township sent the state agency a copy of the Keystone Municipal Services report, which involved an analysis of 26 subdivision land development and building and zoning permit files. The review was ordered to examine the department’s processes and procedures and verify compliance with state codes and identify where improvements were needed following the retirement of longtime Zoning Officer Carol Drioli.
The state investigation will focus solely on zoning permit records looking at conformity with the Uniform Construction Code, McMenamin said. He added the agency has offered the township help moving forward in getting “back on track doing the right thing.”
The agency representatives requested to review the same zoning files as the Keystone report, Zoning officer William Oettinger said. He didn’t know if the investigation scope would be confined to the report or if additional records would be reviewed.
Oettinger said he anticipated the files would be ready for the state to review late next week.
Supervisor Kim Koutsouradis, who has been pushing for a deeper review of the zoning and related financial records, was “extremely pleased” with the state’s interest in the matter.
“I’ve been the one who has been critical with all the issues that stem from the zoning office under the direction of the former zoning officer,” he added. “I wish it could have happened sooner, but I do feel this is a positive and a step in the right direction.”
Koutsouradis was the only supervisor to respond to an email from this news organization seeking comment about the state investigation.
The supervisors have scheduled a special meeting Wednesday night to discuss the Keystone Municipal Services report, according to McMenamin. At a meeting earlier this month, supervisors approved authorizing its professional staff to prepare bid specifications for review of seven years of zoning records including fees and escrows for projects with at least a $50,000 cost.
The Keystone report findings showed a higher than usual number of common “irregularities” in zoning records reviewed, including misplaced or missing land development plans, missing inspector signatures, missing inspection reports, missing permit applications and “numerous” projects improperly issued permits without going through the land development approval process.
Also missing are physical copies of mechanical and plumbing permit inspections performed by the third-party firm the township contracts with for the plumbing, electric and mechanical, Oettinger said. The department only has physical copies of previous electric inspections, and those cards are stored in the building inspector’s office, not the property files, he said. Oettinger added that his review of zoning files found “numerous” approved permits that were not properly signed.
The report also revealed the township’s in-house building inspector, James Jones, was not properly state certified to perform energy reviews or inspections. The report recommended Jones immediately stop doing energy reviews, but did not address if re-inspection or recertification was necessary. The township has since hired a certified third-party consultant to take over energy inspections.
An invalid inspection would technically invalidate a use and occupancy certificate associated with a structure, according to zoning and building code experts. Previously, a state Labor and Industry spokeswoman stated that if an inspection were performed by a person who was not certified “that portion would need to be re-inspected by an individual who has proper certification in that area.”
If the state requires Lower Southampton to re-inspect buildings, it would add to the costs the township is already shouldering related to the third-party energy inspections and certifications. The township is charged $50 or $100 for each home or business respectively for each inspection; since the inspection is not included in the township’s current fee schedule, the cost cannot be passed onto applicants, Oettinger said.
Previously, energy certifications were part of the process for building inspection permits, rather than handled as a separate permit, he added.
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