LAPLACE — St. John the Baptist Parish residents constructing detached structures on their property that are less than 200 square feet no longer have to pay permit fees.

The Parish Council approved the change in policy last week, which saves residents $75 from their fee requirements.

As residents move forward with construction projects, they still must a pay a $50 planning and zoning inspection fee, plus a $10 tax fee.

St. John Chief Administrative Officer Michael Coburn feels the new ordinance benefits local residents.

“This is a long time coming,” he said. “Alex’s group has done a great job. We try to reduce fees and make things easier for our residents. Hopefully, this is the start of something that will continue to grow and help our residents.”

Coburn spoke of “Alex,” who is Alexandra Carter, the parish’s zoning regulatory administrator

Carter said the new ordinance mainly deals with small sheds that are detached from the house.

“Because they are less significant, they don’t go and have full blown building code review, so we don’t have to assess that fee in those cases,” she said. “People don’t get this free. They still have to pay the planning and zoning fee. We still apply the planning and zoning inspection fee.”

This new ordinance, which is active now, is a way to get rid of unnecessary permit fees, Carter said.

“There is, I think, a lot of recent public outcry about permit fees,” she said. “So, we had a targeted effort to find fees that aren’t required and then fix the code to allow us to no longer require them. We have been trying to get rid of fees, and this was one we were able to get rid of. This was a sort of a niche fee that was hidden; it was buried in the code. This allowed us to stop collecting that fee.”

Residents still need to make sure their future structures meet district regulation.

Most residential areas are zoned Residential District One. Regulations within this district require structures be setback from rear property lines a minimum of 10 feet and between five and 10 feet along side property lines.

The areas located within five and 10 feet of property lines are required to be maintained free of structures.

“Our inspectors go out, after the permit is issued, to check the placement,” Carter said. “The inspection fee applies to the planning and zoning inspector going out there, that’s the $10 tax fee supplied to every permit in the office.”

Carter said the parish should see a benefit of increased construction this come spring.

“Once the nice weather comes and people are out, they may realize they need more structures,” she said. “That’s when we see these permits come in more often to our office. It’s nice that we are sort of ahead of it for the spring.”