A rant about building permits

[avboiler11]

My wife and I bought a piece of land a year ago that is all timber and borders a highway. I called shortly after we bought the land to try and obtain a fire gate number (so if we need emergency services, they know where we are) and was told "we don't do that here", but if we have a building permit issued they'd give the property a road address.

Fast forward a year; wife and I have been talking about putting a cabin up in a couple years, and we'll obviously need a road from the highway to the cabin site. I talked to my brother, who runs a construction company, and he said it'd be easy peasy to do what I wanted to do - one weekend tops, tracked skidsteer and a small trackhoe, a bunch of triaxles of #2 and dense grade...and I provide grilled food and beer. He did say I'd probably need to get a permit Okay, easy enough...I need a permit to get the property addressed anyway, right?

I call the county Planning and Zoning office and am told I need an INDOT permit to access the highway, then I can get a building permit from them. Was told they don't like to issue a building permit for 'just a driveway', but since it would be 100+ yards long and is kind of a prerequisite for a structure they'd do it.

Easy enough, I'm not a total idiot...how hard can this be?

I use The Google and see I can apply for a driveway permit online. I start the application process and it seems easy enough...then we get to questions about pipes, driveway radii, distance from center of driveway to property line, distance from driveway location to nearest existing driveway, etc. I struggle through all that using their info and Google Maps and get to the next page, where I have to enter Bond information.

WTF do I need a bond for to build a driveway on my own effing land?!? I don't like I have to get a permit to do stuff to my own property but I'll pay their darn tax...but a bond? GTFOOH.

I'll call my brother in the morning as I'm sure he knows how to do this nonsense...but geez, what a major PITA.

 

[Moparracer89]

So forget the permits and build your driveway?

 

[Old Dog]

This is government control on your life, wait till you get ready to actually build a structure. 911 address; plumbing,electrical, structural inspections, shutdowns, extra fees for inspections, septic permit and inspection, and some places have requirements on the amount of landscaping and even the species of the plantings (and most of them ain't native plants). Then you get to pay taxes on it for the rest of your life! America- land of the free?

 

[HubertGummer]

It is big government, plain and simple. IMO, your property means you can do what you want with it.....

 

[femurphy77]

It is big government, plain and simple. IMO, your property means you can do what you want with it.....

As long as it's "Approved".

 

[HubertGummer]

As long as it's "Approved".

My answer to this is not allowed on INGO.

 

[moosehead]

IC 9-21-19-5
Bond or cash deposit
Sec. 5. The Indiana department of transportation may require,before granting a permit, that a sufficient bond be given or cashdeposit be made with the Indiana department of transportation to ensure the carrying out of the terms of the permit. The bond ordeposit shall be returned when the requirements of the permit havebeen met.
As added by P.L.2-1991, SEC.9.

 

[indykid]

Many of us were led to believe that the American Dream was home ownership, but after living in a house with my name on the title, I find that I really don't own it, but in fact am renting it from the county. Also sad is just like any apartment rent, the county is really good at raising the rent (property tax) by just raising the assessed value of my home. One percent cap on property tax my checkbook!

It is sick how many hoops you have to jump through just to do anything on your property. Just make sure that once you get the building permit that you don't change anything, otherwise you need another permit to change the permit, in order to permit you to enjoy the American nightmare of taxed home ownership.

GOOD LUCK avboiler11!!!!

 

[Cameramonkey]

My wife and I bought a piece of land a year ago that is all timber and borders a highway. I called shortly after we bought the land to try and obtain a fire gate number (so if we need emergency services, they know where we are) and was told "we don't do that here", but if we have a building permit issued they'd give the property a road address.

Fast forward a year; wife and I have been talking about putting a cabin up in a couple years, and we'll obviously need a road from the highway to the cabin site. I talked to my brother, who runs a construction company, and he said it'd be easy peasy to do what I wanted to do - one weekend tops, tracked skidsteer and a small trackhoe, a bunch of triaxles of #2 and dense grade...and I provide grilled food and beer. He did say I'd probably need to get a permit Okay, easy enough...I need a permit to get the property addressed anyway, right?

I call the county Planning and Zoning office and am told I need an INDOT permit to access the highway, then I can get a building permit from them. Was told they don't like to issue a building permit for 'just a driveway', but since it would be 100+ yards long and is kind of a prerequisite for a structure they'd do it.

Easy enough, I'm not a total idiot...how hard can this be?

I use The Google and see I can apply for a driveway permit online. I start the application process and it seems easy enough...then we get to questions about pipes, driveway radii, distance from center of driveway to property line, distance from driveway location to nearest existing driveway, etc. I struggle through all that using their info and Google Maps and get to the next page, where I have to enter Bond information.

WTF do I need a bond for to build a driveway on my own effing land?!? I don't like I have to get a permit to do stuff to my own property but I'll pay their darn tax...but a bond? GTFOOH.

I'll call my brother in the morning as I'm sure he knows how to do this nonsense...but geez, what a major PITA.

Based on a concrete drive replacement question I had here, the bond is for the road and has nothing to do with your property per se.

He only needed a bond if he had to replace the sections between the sidewalk and street.

 

[hoosierdoc]

My first house, we wanted to put a deck around the existing patio. I got my permit, took a week off work in residency to build the deck. The inspector was scheduled to be there at 10am to confirm the depth of my holes for the posts. He never showed. In my naiive state I wasted an entire day of my vacation waiting for the inspector to show. I called the city the next day and was told he usually doesn't bother to inspect post holes. Jerks.

i learned my lesson on the small stuff

 

[ATM]

Without the State, who would own everything and tell us what we are allowed to do with it?

 

[Cameramonkey]

No, crazy is trying to build in Bloomington.

Bastards asses a fee for every tree you cut down. In the thousands. And the bigger the tree, the higher the fee.

my company passed on a plot because it was so heavily wooded it would have been stupid expensive to build, even before we started building. If I recall correctly it would have been nearly 6 figures just in tree fees.

They also were telling our architect that the native species trees thy wanted to plant were not native because it wasn't on THEIR list of approved native tree examples.

 

[Rookie]

Indiana log cabin law

http://indianahomestead.com/log-cabin-rule/

 

[Dirty Steve]

You do not need a bond for a private driveway permit. The form is a "one-size fits all". Contact your local sub-district office permit investigator. They will walk you though it. I deal with INDOT all the time on driveway permits. And yes, Bloomington is a PITA. I have been doing development projects there for 27 years. The City jurisdiction is reasonable, County jurisdiction is beyond ridiculous.

Dirty Steve

 

[Dosproduction]

I was under the impression that in Indiana a man can build a home with out being within code. But not sure of permits.

 

[Bapak2ja]

I can see the importance the permits in some matters. Someone putting in a septic tank improperly puts the entire community at risk, for example. Basically, it falls within the old adage that your freedom ends at the tip of my nose. Things get even more complicated when more people arrive in the neighborhood. Daniel Boone is famous for his remark that he was moving to Missouri because Kentucky was too crowded, somebody built a cabin a few miles down the trail. I remember reading something about him saying if he could see the smoke from their chimney, they were too close, but that may be apocryphal.

I spent a bit of time in the Hyderabad-Secunderabad area in central India. Just driving through the city I could identify the waves of expansion over the last 300 years. It opened my understanding to what we are facing here. Eventually, short of nuclear war or Stephen King-type epidemic, we will see the same type of expansion here. It will be easier on the next generation if we keep things organized and safe.

Permits are a PITA, but there are advantages and benefits to the system. Of course, the system can be abused by unscrupulous inspectors and unreasonable tree-huggers, but most of the limitations placed on us are reasonable given the fact that so many of us are living in such close proximity, and the next generation will need to build on what we do.

 

[HubertGummer]

I was under the impression that in Indiana a man can build a home with out being within code. But not sure of permits.

I know from my experience that a man cannot build a 16'x20' shed without the government reaching its hands into said mans pockets.

 

[Bapak2ja]

I know from my experience that a man cannot build a 16'x20' shed without the government reaching its hands into said mans pockets.

Somebody has to pay for the roads, and the salaries of the inspectors, commissioners, state reps and senators, school superintendent, lieutenant governor, and governor. You don't expect them to tax Eli Lilly do you?

 

[avboiler11]

Somebody has to pay for the roads, and the salaries of the inspectors, commissioners, state reps and senators, school superintendent, lieutenant governor, and governor. You don't expect them to tax Eli Lilly do you?

That's a red herring considering he pays state fuel excise tax, state sales tax, state income tax, state property tax, etc.

 

[churchmouse]

Somebody has to pay for the roads, and the salaries of the inspectors, commissioners, state reps and senators, school superintendent, lieutenant governor, and governor. You don't expect them to tax Eli Lilly do you?

Well.................They tax us so deeply in both the obvious and hidden
I see them wanting to make sure we do the right things when building.
I also see them never letting us own our property outright.