You've Received a Summons From Your Local Building Department in NY. What Can You Do About It?

Every New York home owner working on their home, dealing with the building department or the zoning board, should know about New York's Uniform Code.  It is the NY State code that overrides any local code.  For example, my town prohibits fences over 4'.  I learned that NY State code only mentions code for fences above 6'.  Therefore, you can appeal the State to throw out a violation you receive for a fence measuring less than 6'.  

That and my introduction to New York's Uniform Code came last night at a meeting organized by Huntington Town Councilman, Eugene Cook.  His guest speakers were attorneys Lawrence Kelly and Tom Horn from Eastern Long Island.  (I believe they represent Mr. Cook in a dispute that he's having with the Town of Huntington.)

Per the attorneys: What do you do if you receive a violation? 
1) File an "immediate" appeal of a code violation through the Department of State Offices.  For Long Islanders, our regional reps are located in Hauppauge.  The appeal is free. As importantly, it takes the matter out of the hands of local decision makers. 

2) Possibly lawyer up to find out of the town is truly enforcing the code correctly.  Horn and Cook both claim that local governments routinely misinterpret code for a variety of reasons unintentionally or not.   

NYS Department of State
State Office Building
250 Veterans Memorial Highway 
Hauppauge, NY 11788-5519
(631) 952-6579 (customer service hours 8:30am - 4:30pm)

Lawrence Kelly
Tom Horn
Huntington Town Councilman, Eugene Cook