CHESTERVILLE — Town officials are holding a voluntary compliance period until Sept. 12 allowing people to register a structure that lacks a required building permit without paying after-the-fact permit fines.

However, they would need to apply for a permit and if the building does not meet the town’s and state’s rules, they would need to alter, move, relocate or take down the structure, Code Enforcement Officer Brenda Medcoff said.

The person would have to pay for the permit but not the after-the-fact permit fines during this amnesty period, she said.

A first offense of doing something without a permit and then getting one after it is built is $200 and the second offense is $500, and the town goes by state regulations.

Medcoff, who works 15 hours a week in Chesterville, said that she has been tied up with bringing the town’s ordinances into compliance with state laws and other code issues and is now trying to also focus more on compliance.

“We’re seeing some illegal buildings,” Medcoff said. “A lot of them probably don’t know they need a permit. Everything within this town needs a permit except for routine maintenance.”

People can put a new roof on a structure such as re-shingling or changing shingles to metal roofing, as long as they do not change the pitch, without a permit, she said.

They also may change the siding of a structure and install new windows, she said.

“What triggers the need for a permit is if the pitch of the roof is changed or a house is jacked up to put in a foundation,” Medcoff said.

With 11 ponds and two major streams in town, there are shoreland zoning laws that need to be observed, she said.

Some people think they can demolish a building or structure and put something back up in the same footprint and they don’t need a permit.

They do need a permit, she said.

A portable garage, a lean-to and even a retaining wall needs a permit, she said.

The definition of a structure in the town’s ordinance is “Anything built, either temporarily or permanently, for the support, shelter, or enclosure of people, animals, goods or property of any kind, together with anything constructed or erected, either temporarily or permanently, with a fixed location on or in the ground, exclusive fences, driveways and roads. The term includes mobile homes and modular homes.”

“We know that some people are being malicious of the law but for the most part I don’t think people know how inclusive our land-use ordinance is,” Medcoff said.

The ordinance went into effect in the early 1990s.

You have a lot of people trying to do the right thing and come in and get a permit.

But there are some who don’t get a permit and figure that they will deal with it when they are caught, she said.

“My concern is a lot of these laws are to protect the environment, owners and neighbors,” she said.

There are also certain guidelines that need to be followed under the shoreland zoning ordinance.

Town officials would like people to come in and ask questions before they build to see if they need a permit.

“We’re just trying to get the word out, trying to educate people so everybody is treated equally,” Medcoff said.

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