By Tim Rowden
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
Copyright 2007 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
ST. LOUIS, Mo. — It took a Missouri Supreme Court ruling to make it happen, but Jefferson County’s fire districts on Tuesday resumed inspecting and issuing permits for new houses in the county.
County fire districts regained the statutory authority to conduct fire-safety inspections related to new construction late last year when the state Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional a 2005 law that had barred fire districts in the county from adopting fire-protection codes related to housing construction and had placed the authority to conduct inspections solely with the county building inspector’s office.
Housing contractors pushed for the legislative change in 2005 in response to the various codes and differing fee structures charged by the county’s fire protection districts.
But the court ruled that the statute represented an unconstitutional “special law” because it applied only to Jefferson County.
Matt Mayer, president of the Jefferson County Fire Protection Districts Association and chief of the Rock Community Fire Protection District, said the association established a subcommittee to propose a new fire code and specific guidelines for any fees and inspections and was working with the county and municipalities to ensure uniformity in the inspection process.
“The fire districts understand the concerns that led to the legislation being proposed in the first place and are taking steps to minimize perceived duplicity in the inspection process,” Mayer said.
The new code and fee structure are ready to be adopted, Mayer said, and are under review by the districts’ fire marshals and boards. In the meantime, he said county fire districts will require a permit and safety inspection for new construction under the rules and regulations as they existed before the change in the law in August 2005.
Jefferson County Presiding Commissioner Chuck Banks said the county is working with the fire districts to ensure that the inspection process is as trouble-free as possible.
“We want to make it as simple and easy as possible to build homes here in Jefferson County,” Banks said. “Safety is the first thing. But we don’t want people to have to face a maze of bureaucracy or exorbitant fees to build their homes.”