COLUMN: BCBA trying to pull a fast one

Last week a spokesman for the BCBA, Terry Dunahoo, asked the board to reduce local building requirements in order to stimulate the local building economy. And, while that might sound like a good idea, the logic behind it is flawed.

According to Mr. Dunahoo, the builder’s association wants the minimum square footage requirement for a single-family home reduced from 1,600 to 1,350. They also request a reduction in buffer and sidewalk easement requirements. They want to reduce or eliminate requirements that a certain number of trees be left or planted on each lot. They are asking that current requirements for subdivision greenspace be removed. And, they want water and sewer tap fees lowered.

The reason the BCBA is making these requests, Mr. Dunahoo told the board, is that the local inventory of vacant new homes fell last year and local builders need help getting the construction industry moving again. The idea is that reducing local building regulations will stimulate construction by making it less expensive to build new homes. Mr. Dunahoo also told the board the changes would help more builders meet the market’s demand for homes that sell for under $200,000.

I’m not sure where Mr. Dunahoo and other members of the BCBA spend most of their time, but the last time I drove through Barrow County there were empty houses and half-built subdivisions in the under $150,000 price range all over the place. And, with local foreclosures at an all time high, there is also a large inventory of bank-owned homes to be had for under $200,000.

There is no shortage of affordable housing in Barrow County.

There is a shortage of qualified buyers and banks willing (and able) to lend. This is not a local problem - it is nationwide. The reason the construction industry has been brought to its knees has nothing to do with construction costs or available inventory. It is because our economy is in trouble, still showing only minor signs of recovery.

With the exception of gainfully employed, first-time buyers who can take advantage of that $8,000 federal tax credit to get a good deal on a home, no one is buying or selling right now. And, due to job loss and other financial problems, a lot of people are losing their homes.

Dumbing down local building regulations will do nothing to stimulate the local economy. It will only make it easier for builders to turn a profit selling less for more when the economy turns around. The battle for the regulations now in place was a long and hard fought one, motivated by a school system that could not afford to keep pace with ever increasing student numbers and local governments unable to afford the infrastructure and services that years of unbridled, uncontrolled housing growth brought.

Even in the current economy, the basic points remain the same: in order to support housing growth, a solid commercial tax base has to be in place. Houses – especially small ones – do not generate enough tax revenue to pay for the public and school services their residents require. The more houses you put in a subdivision, the more residents you have using services. And, without a sound commercial tax base, it’s us tax-payers – not the builders - who pay for those services.

I am not anti-growth, anti-business or anti-construction – far from it. Mr. Clark made a good living in construction software for 25 years before the bottom fell out of the economy and his industry died. I am simply pro-reality and the reality is that it is going to take a lot more than reducing minimum home square footage and lowering tap fees to get the construction industry going again.

If the BCBA and the board of commissioners want to do something to help stimulate the local economy, a better focus would be looking at ways to stimulate commercial growth – that’s jobs, that’s taxes, that’s economic recovery. There’s plenty of already developed, empty commercial space in Barrow County. Why not look at some rent deals and tax cuts and other incentives to help move business into our community?

Local builders aren’t stupid. They’re not going to start building homes again until there are buyers to buy them. All the regulation reductions in the world aren’t going to produce qualified home buyers. All the BCBA is doing is using hard times as an excuse to ensure bigger profit on down the road. I say, leave the building regulations alone and work on other ways to get the local economy going again.

Lorin Sinn-Clark is a writer for the Barrow Journal. She can be reached at lorin@barrowjournal.com.