sugar house building permit

[lew]

Sappy steamer,

I have just gone through the building permit hassle with Chenango County, NY. My building inspector told me I might be exempt from the building permit if I was actually in production. Well, why would I build a sugarhouse or barn to not be in production? Any way, he sent me a copy of the code and the code states that if the building is to be used soley for agricultural purposes, the building is exempt from the permit process. Well, this wasn't good enough for him. I told him the barn we were building was for goats and maple equipment storage. He kept persisting that we needed a permit. I refused on the basis of the paperwork he sent me saying that I didn't need a permit. Well, you know how this story goes, he said, I said, etc. Finally I called up our local Farm Bureau office and the president of Chenango County Farm Bureau went and saw the county code enforcement guy and read him a copy of the state building code. The County backed off once they saw I wasn't giving in and had an advocate. Three other points of interest for you are that there is no minimum amount of money you have to make in order to be in production, you simply just have to be in production. The second thing is that New York is going to officially recognize Maple Syrup Production in their laws now. Sugaring will be mentioned by its name and not just implied the laws. Hopefully this will eliminate some gray areas. Third, any new agricultural buildings built now can be exempt from property taxes for up to 10 years (I am still looking into this one). I have been a member of FArm Bureau and The New York State Maple Producers Assoc. for many years now and this is the first time I have had reason to call on them for help and they came through with flying colors. I've never been a person to try and get others to join orginizations, but these two have done a lot for sugaring and agriculture. The more members we have the larger our voice will be.

[Fred Henderson]

I am also a member of St Lawerence county and the state Maple Producers assoc. The only other Ag that I do is grow blueberries and we are just starting into that.

[The Sappy Steamer]

Lew,
I called the Dept. Of Agriculture And Markets in Albany last week about ag. buildings being exempt from the building permit process. The man was very clear that the policy in N.Y. as far as the state is concerned is that "We do not advocate the exemption of the permit process based on an agricultural status" He continued that individual municipalities may or may not require a permit for an ag. use structure. I could, however, file for a tax exemption which would require me to genenerate $10000 gross sales per year. My local assessor told me that would automatically turn my property into a commercial tax rate which would be about triple the taxes per year. The man in Albany said that isn't right. So basically all the rules are through the king that sits on your local thrown in the assessor's office. There isn't just a blanket state rule or anything in the Constitution. Other states have it covered under their "Right To Farm" law, but not here. The tax exempt law is very clear, but the exemption from permits is real fuzzy because it's left up to the discretion of the local municipality. I'll be applying for my permit this week I guess. I've had enough of the bureaucracy, but I'm sure there's more coming.