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Board agrees staff should draft ordinance to let building official waive after‑the‑fact fee in narrow cases
Summary
Staff told the board of a case where a misdirected notice led to an after‑the‑fact fee; supervisors asked the county attorney to research whether the board can allow one‑off waivers and how to amend the ordinance. No immediate ordinance change was adopted.
Gloucester County supervisors discussed whether to give the building official limited discretion to waive the double "after‑the‑fact" permit fee in exceptional circumstances after staff presented a recent case in which a permit notice was misdelivered.
Miss Steele, the county administrator, outlined the situation and said the goal is fairness and improved customer service when the county caused confusion. "We are saying in the spirit of fairness and good customer service, we'd like to ask the board if you would support the staff working with the county attorney to amend the ordinance," Steele said.
Supervisors expressed concern about creating inconsistent treatment and asked whether waivers should be handled only as a board‑level one‑off or through a formal ordinance change offering criteria. County Attorney Wilmot said he would research whether the board can provide case‑by‑case relief or whether the ordinance must be amended to give staff that discretion.
The board did not vote on an ordinance tonight. Instead, members asked staff and the county attorney to draft options (a narrowly defined ordinance amendment and a process for one‑off relief) and provide the relevant code citations and the current building‑code language for review at a future meeting.
