[Towertalk] Building Permit or Not

[kb9cry@attbi.com]

IMHO if one needs a permit then one should obtain one.  
The first thing one needs to do is to ascertain if a 
permit is required.  If it is, then one should jump 
through all the hoops that are required.  IMO if you 
don't obtain one then "you're not legal" and will not be 
in a good negotiable position in the future if needed.

Personally, I recently moved to unincorporated Will 
county, Illinois.  Discussion with the county folks 
yielded answers to my question ranging from "You can't 
do that." to "No permit is required."  I went to the 
county office and spoke at length with the folks, 
helping to educate them and we all determined that there 
was actually no requirement, that they could find.  But, 
I was insistent that they had to because, as I 
explained, "There's concrete and rebar and that needs to 
be inspected.  That's what you do!"  They agreed and I 
went through the process and voila, I obtained my 
permits.  Now one may ask why did I talk them into it?  
Well, acting under advice from my ham legal experts, all 
agreed that when I'm eventually annexed into the local 
city, who has a 50ft. max tower limit, I'll be in a 
better legal situation with buy-in from the county than 
if I had not gotten it. (My towers are 56, 72 and 120 
ft.)  Maybe money down the drain but it was comforting 
to see those permit placards in the window during 
construction and I've framed the "Certificates of 
Occupancy".  Good luck, Phil  KB9CRY

ps  I never put up a tower at the previous qth because 
there was a restrictive ordinance (satellite dish 
actually but all encompassing)in place and those sons 
of -------- in the village would have gone legal, so I 
eventually moved.