Recently, the city of Sedona has seen a dramatic uptick in the number of complaints from residents regarding unpermitted work being done at the homes of their neighbors.
As to why, that’s not exactly known.
“Within the last six months or so — for whatever reason — we’re being notified of more of them and spending more time on them,” Assistant City Manager and Community Development Director Karen Osburn said of unpermitted projects. “Residents are calling us and saying there’s all this construction activity going on and it doesn’t look like they have a permit. More times than not we’re finding that they don’t.”
Osburn said a building permit is required for all projects to construct, enlarge, alter, repair, move, demolish or change the occupancy or occupant content of a building. In addition, this applies to any structure or outside area being used as part of the building’s designated occupancy. This also means to erect, install, enlarge, alter, repair, remove or replace any electrical, gas, mechanical or plumbing system that is regulated by technical codes. Construction of most walls and fences also requires a building permit.
The city is seeing a lot of remodeling of homes without proper permits with many — but not all — related to short-term vacation rental activity.
“Investors are coming in, buying a home and then they’re either trying to add bedrooms or updating it in order to be as marketable as possible and be used for as many people as possible,” Osburn said. “We’re seeing a lot of additions and garage conversions to add livable space without permits.
“I don’t know if I can quantify how big of a problem it’s become because we don’t have really good numbers yet on how many. But in the longer term, I think it’s those things like healthy safety and welfare that will be impacted.”
Osburn pointed out that in many cases, it’s not a matter of residents trying to skirt the system — it may simply be lack of knowledge.
“For smaller things, your average homeowner probably doesn’t know when they need a permit,” she said. “But in many of the cases we’re seeing, they’re hiring contractors and the contractors know.”
Osburn is unsure as to why the contractors aren’t obtaining the proper permits. But what she does know is that the city is going to start reporting contractors doing unpermitted work to the state’s Registrar of Contractors. They could be fined, or worse, lose their contractor’s license.
“The Registrar of Contractors takes this very seriously,” she said.
So, the city has compiled a list of all of the certified contractors in the area and has been sending letters, putting them on notice that warnings will be issued. After that, they will be reported to the state.
Ultimately, it’s the responsibility of the homeowner to get the proper permitting from the city, Osburn said. Homeowners, too, can be issued citations for not doing so. This could include assessment of double the permit fees for after-the-fact permits.
The likelihood that walls need to be opened to verify work that can’t be viewed by inspectors is there, as is the possibility that work will have to be dismantled entirely, and civil sanctions of as much as $2,500 per violation per day can be levied.
“If you have any questions, call the city, it’s better to be safe than sorry,” Osburn said.
For information on which jobs require a permit — and those that don’t — visit the Sedona Community Development Department web page at sedonaaz.gov/cd and then click the Permits link on the menu. You can also call the department at 282-1154.
