Get your permits… even if you live in the county

Get your permits… even if you live in the county

Wheeless: ‘People need to realize that the county has zoning regulations just like cities do ’

By Mark Randall

news@theeveningtimes.com

Crittenden County officials are reminding residents that if they live in the county they need to obtain a permit to build a home, fence, storage building, or any other structure, and go through the necessary planning process if they plan to subdivide a property.

Judge Woody Wheeless said the county had an issue recently with an individual moving in a mobile home in Lakeshore who did so without a permit.

“We have issues like this every day,” Wheeless said.

“People need to realize that the county has zoning regulations just like cities do. The county also has a planning commission for special situations in the county. People seem to think that just because they live in the county that they can do whate ver they want to. If you build a home, a fence, storage shed, or bring in a mobile home — anything like that — you have got to contact my office and get a permit. If not, we have a code enforcement officer and he will be coming to pay you a visit.”

Wheeless said it isn’t a matter of the county making money off of permit fees. The county only charges three cents a foot on structures. The issue is that the county wants to Judge Woody Wheeless

make sure that the structures are legal and meet the zoning codes.

In the case of the mobile home in Highland, Wheeless said the owners didn’t check to see what the easements are, or the side or rear setback requirements.

The mobile home in question was located within five feet of a fence and in the county right-of-way.

“They didn’t come in and find out about any of that,” Wheeless said. “And I added it up and found out what the permit would have cost them. It was like $38.”

As a result, the county made the owner get a permit and move the trailer out of the five foot right-ofway and set it back further on the property.

“Had they come to us, they would have know all of those things. Even in the city, if you had a vacant lot and wanted to put in a mobile home, you have to go to city hall and get a permit.”

Wheeless said most of the issues come up in Lakeshore and Highland Park with people putting in mobile homes and not getting permits.

One property owner in

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Highland Park even went to the county courthouse and recorded a new property line which ran through the middle of his home so he could subdivide the property and let a friend put a storage shed on the property and claim it was a tiny home.

“I found out about it and said no, you can’t live in a storage building,” Wheeless said. “We're not going to have that.”

Wheeless said the structure has water from Marion, but nobody had inspected it for plumbing or electrical. In fact, the electric line to the shed had been run underground through white plumbing PVC pipe, which is against the law.

Wheeless said he advised the property owner to reverse what he had recorded to the way it originally was, and then go to the planning commission.

But even then, Wheeless said the planning commission would likely not approve it because the structure is a storage shed and does not meet the requirements for a tiny home.

“I can tell you up front, we’re not going to grant permission to subdivide that because the lots there are too small,” Wheeless said. “We’re not going to allow him to live in that storage shed on that property. It’s not going to happen.”

Wheeless said the county also had a problem on South Waverly Road where a landowner subdivided the property and sold lots without going through the planning commission.

When told that the subdivision would need to build a road up to county specs and would cost about $150,000, the property owner was shocked.

“He never came before us. It was never approved by the planning commission.

And he’s already sold off lots for homes,” Wheeless said. “So we stopped him.

And when we told him how much it was going to cost for the road he said he didn't have that kind of money. Well, that’s how you find out how much you are going to have to sell your lots for when you figure out how much the infrastructure is going to cost.”

Wheeless advised residents to contact his office before they build or subdivide.

“These are the things we deal with all the time,” Wheeless said. “People need to understand that these are the types of things they need to contact us about before they just go ahead. You have got to get a permit or go through the planning process.

Otherwise, the county has a code enforcement officer that will pay you a visit.”

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