OCEAN CITY — After months of back and forth, the Mayor and Council this week approved an ordinance change relaxing the permitting and inspection process for the simplest of plumbing jobs.
Last spring, the council began a debate on a proposed ordinance that would amend an outdates section of the building code that requires even the simplest of household plumbing jobs, such as replacing a toilet or dripping faucet, to be completed by a master plumber after pulling the requisite permit from the city. Naturally, all projects requiring moving lines or replacing pipes that connect into the city water and sewer system should be completed by a professional, but a simple household job still fell under the same permit and inspection process.
For several months, the council has been debating an attempt to streamline the process and remove some of the more stringent requirements. The debate resumed on Tuesday and finding common ground was no easier for the council.
Planning and Community Development Director Bill Neville presented the staff’s latest recommendations, but prefaced it by telling the council the staff would prefer to see the ordinance remain as is. However, if the council desired to streamline the process, the recommendation was to apply the code change to residential properties only and not multi-family or commercial properties.
The thinking was, if a household plumbing job completed by a weekend warrior in the multi-family, multi-story condo building went wrong, for example, the result could be flooding and property damage for all of the floors below it. Before the council even took up the debate on Tuesday, Delmarva Condominium Managers Association President Joe Groves addressed that portion of the code change.
“I think we opposed including multi-family when this first came about,” he said. “It’s very unique when a leak occurs and does $50,000 in damage to the units below it. However, I think when we do a code change, it should be uniform. The idea we’d like to support is allowing condo associations to make decisions if they want more stringent rules if they decide that’s what they want to do.”
Councilman Wayne Hartman, who had made several unsuccessful motions beginning back in March and when the debate renewed in September, attempted to clarify it again.
“Let me give this another shot,” he said. “What we’re trying to get to is not unusual in other communities. I think restricting it further is unusual. Our whole goal here is to simplify the ordinance.”
Hartman’s motion was to approve the staff’s red-lined version, which would take out the language regarding multi-family and commercial properties. His motion also included removing “shall” have the simplest of plumbing jobs inspected by the city, to “may” request an inspection. The second part would allow property owners who did their own simple plumbing jobs to request an inspection if they weren’t sure of their work, but would not require it.
Mayor Rick Meehan said the debate thus far had surrounded residential plumbing jobs and questioned why commercial properties were now part of the equation.
“I thought we were addressing residential properties,” he said. “Why would we include commercial at this point? Commercial properties are a much broader issue. They serve mass amounts of people in the same situation.”
Hartman explained he was referring to smaller commercial projects such as replacing a faucet, for example, and not large scale commercial jobs.
“I’m talking about the small, mom and pop hotel owners that want to replace a fixture in a powder room or something and they should be able to do small jobs,” he said. “For the property owner of a big chain restaurant, the same might not be true.”
Councilman Matt James said whether it was residential or commercial, the concept was to streamline the process.
“We’re talking about serving the public,” he said. “I think the public would be better served with less government overreach.”
Councilman Dennis Dare, however, pushed for commercial to be left out of the simpler process. Dare referenced an incident several years ago when two families members died and two others were ill from carbon monoxide poisoning at a Boardwalk hotel because of the faulty installation of a hot water heater.
“That’s an example of someone making a bad decision that could impact many others,” he said.
Hartman, however, said the ordinance was directed at the simple replacement of plumbing fixtures and not major systemic changes.
“I’m not talking about drains and vents,” he said. “I’m talking about the simple replacement of a fixture. A water heater is an appliance as opposed to a fixture. That’s the difference.”
Councilman Doug Cymek said the language in the ordinance should reflect that difference then.
‘If we’re talking about a toilet, a faucet or a sink, let’s strike plumbing from the language and put in fixture,” he said.
After considerable debate, the council voted 5-2 to approve the ordinance change with Dare and Cymek opposed.
