The bill that would enable limited home rule townships to adopt building codes regardless of any similar codes adopted by the county in which the township resides had a proponent hearing March 21 before the Senate Local Government, Public Safety and Veterans Affairs Committee.
Testimony in support of SB43 was given by Bryan Rhoads, administrator for Blendon Township in Franklin County; and Heidi Fought, director of governmental affairs for the Ohio Township Association (OTA), on behalf of OTA and the Coalition of Large Ohio Urban Townships (CLOUT).
Rhoads said, “Our residents have to go to Franklin County to obtain building permits and inspections in order to undertake any improvements to their homes. We feel we can provide quick and efficient building services to our residents and can streamline the construction process.”
Fought said, “Clearly, Ohio law acknowledges that limited home rule townships do have the expertise and resources to effectively operate a building department to establish, revise and enforce building standard codes, for they are allowed to do so as long as the county has not adopted such. The typical limited home rule township is a large and sophisticated operation, managing police, fire and other critical operations… any such code adopted by a limited home rule township may not conflict with state-adopted codes …”
There were no questions following the testimonies.