President's Letter - November/December

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12/01/2011 02:48 PM

HBRA President & Chairman’s Update- November/December

By Mario Di Gioia, DonMar Development Corp.

I’d like to start this update, and with the spirit of the upcoming holiday season, with a special thank you to all of our members who remain with us during down times and for those who go the extra mile and make what we do possible.  I would like to invite you to come and share in the camaraderie with fellow members and friends at our upcoming Holiday Party on Friday, December 9^th.  It will be a great night- with a 70’s theme, with plenty of food and drinks, dancing, karaoke and the USMC will be on hand to collect toys for our annual Toys for Tots collection drive.  Please make your RSVP today.

In the coming weeks, we will be making a push to sell ads and have members update and make online member directory enhancements to your profiles on our new website at www.hbranewhaven.com.  Our CEO, Alisa Batten, will be sending each member a letter that will detail how you can log-on to the site, register as a member and update your profile.  Banner ads on the site are filling in so if you’d like to be seen on the site, please contact Alisa soon.  Contact Alisa at 877.414.2537 for more information on ads and advertorials available.

I wanted to take this time to remind you that there are a lot of potential cost saving opportunities for you through the National Association of Home Builder’s Member Advantage program. You can find the most up-to-date offerings right off the following website:   http://www.nahb.org/ma. Please add that address to your favorites list and visit it often! We’ll also be featuring various member benefits at every dinner meeting starting in January.

Some ‘Save the Date’ items to plan for should include our January 19^th dinner meeting that will be our Remodeler’s Night and will feature speakers and products/services relating to new kitchen design trends from Northeast/Dream Kitchens, Art’s TV & Appliance and P.C. Richard & Son.  The NAHB International Builders Show will be in Orlando from February 8-11^th and information can be found at the show’s website at www.buildersshow.com.  Our very own New Haven County Home Show will be held on February 18-19^th at the Oakdale in Wallingford.  This is a great show and a great time of year to start jump starting your sales process for the spring to consumers.  Call our show promoter Jay Appleman at 800.294.7469 for more information.

In an effort to reinforce what the HBA does for you in the legislative universe, I included, below, a summary of successes the State HBA’s efforts at the Capitol produced this past year. I’d also like to note that our ST HBA President, and very own Liz Verna, recently held a meeting with ST Rep. David Yaccarino at The Wilows in Wallingford to discuss industry business and the state of business overall in the state.  Also in attendance were our Past President Bob Wiedenmann, Past ST HBA President George LaCava and myself.  If you would like us to set up a meeting with a legislator of yours, please contact our LGA Committee Chair Bob Wiedenmann at .

A summary of ST HBA legislative successes:

Bills the HBA supported and that were passed that will greatly help HBA members and the business community: 

• A bill to extend permit expiration deadlines for subdivision, site plan and wetland permits by four years. This bill extends to 9 years (with an additional discretionary 5 years up to a total of 14 years) for all approvals in place upon the effective date of bill (i.e., May 9, 2011 – the date the Governor signed the legislation) and for all approvals obtained up to July 1, 2011.

• A bill that allows developers to offer alternate surety in addition to performance bonds – if the form is acceptable to local commissions. The bill allows the build-down of the surety (i.e., begin development work prior to posting a bond or surety, so that the amount of bond or surety is lower when it is posted). The bill states that from the date a developer requests the return of its bond or surety, the municipality must return it within 65 days or state what needs to be done to complete improvements. Finally, the bill stops the practice of requiring cash bonds for the long-term or lifetime maintenance of roads, streets and other public improvements.

•  A bill that changes the STC threshold from 100,000 sq. ft. to over 100 homes for projects that must go to the STC for a Certificate of Operation (i.e., for any residential only subdivision or site plan containing 100 or fewer homes, you do not need an STC Certificate of Operation; requires the STC to review permit applications concurrently with local approvals to the  extent practicable; changes the prohibition on getting a building permit to getting a certificate of occupancy prior to obtaining the STC’s Certificate of Operation for only residential subdivision lots that do not directly access or abut a state highway; and clarifies what the STC/DOT can review or require of an applicant, limiting required improvements to “impacts to highway safety created by the addition of the applicant’s proposed development or activity.” Finally, DOT Encroachment Permits for direct access to state highways is no longer mandatory in all cases; they’ll be required at the discretion of DOT as DOT does not want to process encroachment permits for every little driveway on a state highway.

• The DPH, Realtors and HBA reached agreement to clarify and appropriately limit testing requirements of well water instead of giving the DPH open-ended authority to potentially order tests costing thousands of dollars.

• A bill that streamlines business registration by creating a one-stop portal at the Secretary of State to help businesses register, determine permitting and licensing requirements, and access state financial incentives and programs.

Major bills HBA opposed and successfully defeated:

• The 5th year in a row some form of this legislation appeared…a bill creating a 100’ buffer  (no-touch zone) next to all watercourses to protect upland vegetation. Envt. Committee added a not seen before new mandate on zoning commissions to also protect waterway buffer areas through zoning regulations. P&D Comm. later killed the bill.

• A bill mandating fire sprinkler installation in all new 1&2 family homes.

•  A bill mandating automatic adoption of Nat’l Electrical Code, and certain other model codes, into the State Building Code. The HBA submitted code amendment proposals to the Codes & Standards Committee on May 29 seeking changes to both NEC codes.

• A bill requiring all new residential and “certain commercial” construction to support bidirectional charging circuits (40 amp, 240 volt) in order to power all makes and models of electric vehicles.

• A bill to make mandatory home owner energy audits as pre-condition to sale, and a provision allowing municipalities to require Energy Star residential construction. Both provisions were not included in the massive 273 page energy policy bill.

• A bill changing the definition of hoisting equipment requiring a licensed operator from 5 tons and 32’ reach, to 500 lbs and 10’ reach. The bill also repealed exemptions for smaller buildings.

The HBA of CT testified in opposition to a number of P&D bills, such as, HB 5049 authorizing municipalities to regulate tree removal; HB 5479 creating greater restrictions on 8-30g applications; SB 991 requiring all subdivisions to be energy efficient subdivisions; HB 5097 requiring wetland agencies to state on record whether training requirements are met – possibly subjecting decisions to jurisdictional problems, and more. All died in committee with no vote.

Numerous bills amending, attacking 8-30g (affordable housing appeals act) in the Housing Committee died without action as well. To see a more complete legislative report as well as the extensive work the HBA does in state agencies, go to www.hbact.org and click State Gov’t Affairs – News & Updates. All members should feel free to contact the HBA of CT with any questions, comments or suggestions or if they are in need of assistance with any legislative issue.

I wish you all a very happy, safe and prosperous holiday season and New Year….and hope to see you at our holiday party on Dec. 9^th! 

Sincerely,

Mario Di Gioia, DonMar Development Corp.

President & Chairman, HBRA of New Haven County, Inc.