Espanola councillor Ron Duplessis asked for a motion in late May that anyone doing siding on their home be exempt from a building permit, unless there were structural considerations.
He said to his knowledge, siding, also called cladding, didn’t fall under the Ontario Building Code and other communities did not charge a building permit for doing it.
Council agreed and passed the motion, but also asked for more information by other municipalities and the town’s building inspection office.
At Tuesday night’s regular meeting, building inspector Dan Rivet told council that absolutely everything and anything to do with construction of any building of any type is in the Ontario Building Code, so there are no exemptions.
Council then rescinded the May bylaw and now anyone doing any siding must apply for a permit from the municipal building inspection office.