Aerial Surveillance On Building Permits

[phazer]

So I working up in the mountains the other day when i stopped to talk to one of my like minded customers. He was in the middle of building a chicken coop and what got to talking about Jefferson County, CO and the inspectors hes had to deal with up there.

He lives on a dead end road in the mtns and around ten years ago, he decided to build a shed/ art studio. He built it with his carpenter friend without any permits. He figured its a quite road, only 3 neighbors on the road and they all got along, hows the county gonna find out? Well about 6 months after building the shed and using it, one day he came home to find a large notice from the county saying he was not allowed to use this building until further notice.

He contacted the counties head inspector and they called him out on not having a permit to build it. He asked them how they found out, and they said that every ten years they fly over the county with and aerial camera and take pics of the landscape. Then they spend all summer looking over theses pics trying to bust people for illegal structures. Of course once they inspected it, they gave him the hardest time with every little detail, cost him double what it originally would have, took forever, was a major headache, and almost had to tear the whole thing down.

So my reason for posting this was for a few reasons. 1) Hear from anyone else that knows if their county or state does it. (im assuming they all do to some extant) and 2) give heads up to anyone out there that have done the same. You may be good for now but who knows next year or the year after, could be the year that start knockn on some off the grid sheds. who knows, but better to be informed of the possibility i figure

 

[meadowman]

they did it to people in my parts for above ground swimming pools mostly. they used google earth. baaastards!

 

[armedoldhippy]

neighbor of mine built his workshop on an old trailer frame. they came bitching about him not getting a permit and he told them to fuck off, its a trailer! he unplugged the extension cord, hooked it to his truck & moved it to the other side of his house...he's dead now, but he was a cool old fucker. city hated him...

 

[stoned-trout]

theres always someone trying to pee in your corn flakes....yeehaw

 

[Crusader Rabbit]

With Google Earth it's just the way the world works now. If they haven't updated your location with the new high resolution imagery, then you'd better hurry putting up that back porch roof you always wanted.

 

[resinryder]

The town I live in has been using aerial images for years. I can build a 200sqf building, as many as I want for that matter as long as they are separated by 10 foot without a permit and no tax increase. But I can't add a lean to typew structure, say like for hay storage, onto an existing structure without a fuckin permit. Can also put all the conex type boxes anywhere I want with not and increased

 

[HipsterDoofus]

They want to get the taxes. He screwed with them, they screwed him back. You guys never retaliated when someone screwed with you?

cost him double what it originally would have, took forever, was a major headache,

There's an old spanish saying which translates as "the cheap comes out the expensive". Or, in English, we say penny wise and pound foolish. Not saying that any of this is right. It's just how it is. Where I live, the assessors come out in person to inspect the property about every ten years. Even the insurance company comes around every so often to take pictures and do an inspection.

 

[Green lung]

Camouflage netting would work good concealing buildings, you would have to leave it up considering who knows when the satellites take photos

https://livingwithinsects.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/x-atl-camo-net-3682_02_lg.jpg




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[blastfrompast]

The building inspector for my area lives around the corner from me.... No issues here, he throws up more "temp" structures for his critters than anyone....

He doesn't ruffle anyone's feathers, they don't ruffle his....

Same as the guy at the dump, everyone knows when he says "need" a reciept...he really means "I'm gonna put this $15 in my pocket"...my response is always NOPE, have a great day before I toss his dog a biscuit (im a sucker for dogs, so I always bring his dog one)...


Permits are for GARAGES, etc.... outbuildings not so much when you own 80 acres and live where i do...

 

[Obsidian]

With Google Earth it's just the way the world works now. If they haven't updated your location with the new high resolution imagery, then you'd better hurry putting up that back porch roof you always wanted.

that's def not true, those are googles frebbie pics, go pay for the pro account and you get the most current data sets plus more.
plus there is the time slider which allows you to review several decades of images.

 

[amanda88]

neighbor of mine built his workshop on an old trailer frame. they came bitching about him not getting a permit and he told them to fuck off, its a trailer! he unplugged the extension cord, hooked it to his truck & moved it to the other side of his house...he's dead now, but he was a cool old fucker. city hated him...

This is correct, your buddy had only to bolt 2 tires to the building in order to qualify as a trailer,
whether or not it could/would move at all as a trailer is up to an automotive engineer not a building engineer