City building permit fees to be reduced

At the April 5 meeting of Lancaster City council committees, economic development and neighborhood revitalization director Randy Patterson recounted how a city man recently renovated a three-unit apartment building at a construction cost of $2,100, but paid an additional $800 in fees. Now, according to Patterson, the City is doing what it can to bring those figures down.

At the April 13 city council meeting, Patterson will present council with a series of changes to the city’s building code permit fees. The most significant change will be a reduction of the minimum fee from $300 to $100.

Many of the high fees imposed on city projects owe to the charges of third-party inspectors. Patterson asserted that, while those are costs that City Hall cannot influence, the building permit fees provide at least one opportunity to ease the overall burden.

“I will tell you, I don’t think that covers our cost,” Patterson said of the minimum fee, arguing that the new bargain rate barely keeps up with in-house personnel and processing expenses incurred by the City when responding to permit requests.

The change is intended to reduce expenses for smaller improvements and renovations in the city. Larger-scale projects, Patterson said, will not be affected.

Resident complains of pit bull breeding in neighborhoods

Dean Evans, a block captain and resident of St. Joseph Street, addressed the public safety committee at Monday’s meeting to voice his concerns about “backyard dog breeding” operations in city neighborhoods. In his Cabbage Hill section of Lancaster City, Evans claimed to have witnessed excessive noise, uncleanliness, and a general damage to quality of life as a result of the increasing trend.

Since the sale of such dogs—particularly pit bulls—can yield up to $600 per animal, Evans argued that the operations have grown in recent years as a result of the recession. Profit motivations, Evans said, compel the owners to often “force breed” their dogs by locking them together in a small space. This practice often produces the sound of “a loud banshee kind of scream” from the dogs, which can be heard for blocks, according to Evans.

Citing recent breeding and pet sale restrictions introduced in other US cities, Evans asked that council consider adopting an ordinance to reign in these operations.

While city officials at the meeting acknowledged that there is no standing ordinance to specifically prohibit such breeding in Lancaster City, they stressed that a number of city ordinances can already address many of the related concerns. Neighbors can simply report noise violations as they occur, and even report owners for failing to collect dog droppings from public rights of way.

Mayor Gray asserted that the enforcement of a simple zoning ordinance could easily be enough to shut down many of these operations, if sufficient evidence is provided that a business is being run in an inappropriate area.