Don’t use the school as a guide to building permit requirements

Schools & the code office

Every now and then we will get a question regarding something concerning one of the school buildings in the Town of Webb.

The answer usually draws the same response, one of surprise.

The Code Office does NOT have any jurisdiction anywhere on school property.

This is the same throughout the state, the local Code Enforcement Office does not have jurisdiction on any public school property.

However, this office is involved with the school’s mandatory annual fire safety inspections required by the NYS Department of Education [DOE].

Although our involvement is not mandatory by law; it is a cooperative arrangement between this office and the school.

The school must comply with the annual inspection requirements of the DOE and whoever the inspectors are must be qualified to do the inspection.

The qualifications for the inspector are set by the DOE, which include certified Code Enforcement Officers.

Code Enforcement Officers must be trained by the NYS Department of State [DOS] and will only become certified after the passing of the state exam.

To maintain their certification, they must acquire the mandatory annual continued education courses offered, again by DOS, every year.

This training includes fire safety inspections for existing buildings.

A school may “contract” with a certified code enforcement official for the inspections.

Here in Webb, this office performs the annual inspections at no cost to the school as a courtesy.

So, do we have jurisdiction? Yes, but only regarding the inspections. The school does not need to obtain a building permit from this office.

The storage building recently built here by the school did not have a permit from this office… nor did it need one.

Last year someone started a small garage, with no permit, and their excuse was “if the school does not need a permit, neither do I!”

Doesn’t work like that, the school works through DOE, not the town.

Does the local Fire Department have jurisdiction on school property? No… unless there is a fire, then the Fire Chief has control of the scene until he releases his authority.

Even in this situation, after an actual fire, the local Code Officer or Fire Marshal has no authority; everything falls under the umbrella of the Dept. of Education.

This is the same for any property when the Fire Department responds to a call. They have total jurisdiction, total control until the scene is secured and the Fire Chief releases his authority.

However, on private property [not school property] the Code Enforcement Officer will have jurisdiction but again, not until the Fire Chief is done and signs off.

The Old Forge Fire Department will go into the school, by appointment only, and offer various fire safety related instructional programs usually ear marked towards the kids.

This is great and encouraged! Many Fire Departments do this in their respective communities because it’s a great idea.

Having just spent several weeks in Florida at some friends’ house, who are both teachers in the second largest school district in the United States, gave inspiration for this article.

Their school district is so large it is almost hard to comprehend. There are over 23,000 teachers! That’s right, just teachers! Ouch!! Something like eight separate high school buildings just for grades 9 -12….and each one of those is huge!

Their school bus garage facility is bigger than Old Forge! It looked like a Wal-Mart distribution center.

Reflecting on the sheer magnitude and size of all the buildings involved fire safety inspections is profound. The thought of doing all those fire safety inspections was equally overwhelming.

Obviously it’s not one or two inspectors that just do their thing once a year.

As much as there was still snow on the ground upon our return and it was really, really sunny and warm there, there is something to be said about living in our little piece of the world, right here in Old Forge.