Lower Southampton wrongly charged for permits for a decade

Posted: Sept. 27, 2018
For more than a decade, the Lower Southampton Zoning Department improperly required building permits for some exterior home improvements, but most residents who were wrongly charged won’t get a refund.

Zoning Officer William Oettinger confirmed that a 2004 change in the Uniformed Construction Code excluded the need for permits for all residential alterations if there are no structural or egress changes. That means building permits aren’t required for replacements of residential roofs, siding, doors and windows in municipalities that did not previously require permits.

But Lower Southampton continued to require residents get the permits for the work. The township’s current fee schedule charged residents $82.50 for most door, window, siding and roofing work. It charged $97.50 for roof with “structural alterations.”

Earlier this month, the township stopped requiring building permits for those residential improvements, Oettinger said, after the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry — which oversees building code compliance — visited the zoning department and learned about the error. The agency is investigating the department’s handling of permit applications.

Acting Township Manager Joe Galdo did not immediately respond to questions emailed Thursday on the number of building permits the township has issued for roofing, window, door and siding replacement projects this year, nor did Galdo authorize Oettinger to answer.

The revelation about the zoning department error surfaced near the end of the supervisors meeting Wednesday night, after Supervisor Kim Koutsouradis mentioned a discussion on the topic he saw on a Feasterville community Facebook page.

Township Solicitor Frank Dillon said it appeared that the fee schedule was not updated to reflect the change in the state law.

“It was probably an oversight by somebody,” Dillon added.

Koutsouradis also expressed concern about whether the township could be liable to refund residents who paid for permits they didn’t need.

“I don’t know what you’d be liable for?” Dillon said, adding that claims would have to fall within a six-month statute of limitations.

The township’s zoning department past practices has come under intense scrutiny since the release earlier this year of an outside consultant report that found “irregularities” including an unusually large number of “common” errors in a two-year review of zoning records and operations. The consultant was brought in to review the department following the retirement earlier this year of longtime department head Carol Drioli.

In addition to the state review, the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office is investigating the department’s past operations.

At least one other municipality, Middletown, confirmed Thursday that it does not require building permits for roofing or siding where there is no structural change; a permit is only required for windows if the applicant is changing the size of the window, Township Manager Stephanie Teoli-Kuh said.