If it please the crown, may I build a house that is not affordable?

To The Daily Sun,

If your town has a code enforcement officer, and you ask them a silly question such as, "Is my home a public building?" you may be surprised by the answer. As they read and interpret the statutes, they will tell you your home is a public building. Their job depends upon them seeing the law from this perspective.

Let's take a little trip back in time to see how building codes came about. It has always been the case that tragic headlines precede a need to "do something." Sometimes the right thing is done, providing a good and reasonable solution. Fire escapes in old wooden structures were, no doubt, inspired by extraordinary tragedies.

The predecessor to building codes in the early days focused around mills and manufacturing. Old wooden buildings coupled with oils used to lubricate machinery, led to fast moving fires. The laws of 1893, Chapter 40 made provisions to allow towns and cities to employ an inspector of buildings. This law allowed "an ordinance or by-law regulating the construction and maintenance of all buildings which shall be used for mercantile, commercial, manufacturing, or public purpose, or as tenement houses." You should notice the law speaks of "all buildings," but then goes on to qualify or limit the buildings to which the law applied.

It would be hard to imagine a Granite Stater in 1893 walking into the town office with a set of plans for their dream home and asking for permission to built that home. Somewhere along the way we were convinced that we must ask some authority if it would "please the crown" if we might build a home for our family.

In 1926 our public laws moved "Construction of Public Buildings" to Chapter 147. Here we see the beginning of the sleight of hand, Section 1, “By-laws” allows by-laws to require "factories, hotels, tenement houses, public halls, schoolhouses and other buildings used as places of public resort" to have health and safety issues addressed. Section 16, has the familiar wording used in 1893, "all buildings" but it shows that in 1903 the qualifying language "which shall be used for mercantile, commercial..." was removed.

The revised laws of 1942 moved ‘‘Construction of Public Buildings” to Chapter 176, with minor changes. In 1955 we moved to the Revised Statutes Annotated, where Title XII, Public Safety and Welfare holds Chapter 155, Factories, Tenements, Schoolhouses, and Places of Accommodation, Public Resort or Assembly; and Chapter 156, Inspectors of Buildings; Approval of Building Plans.

In 1964 we find the first appearance of RSA 155-A, Construction and Inspection of Public Buildings. Section 1, Construction Standards tells us this applies to, “All new construction of schools, halls, theatres or other public buildings in which more than one hundred people can be assembled.” You would have to have a rather large home if you were planning to assemble more than one hundred people.

In 2002 Governor Jeanne Shaheen signed off on a bill installing International Building Codes into RSA 155-A. That was surely the "nail in the coffin" for affordable housing. Permit fees and excessive regulations add to the cost of homes, but the tax-man smiles with glee at the valuations being driven up. And now Senator Shaheen is so very concerned with the need for "affordable housing;" problem (you caused it), reaction, solution.

Rep. Mike Sylvia

Belmont