Township introduces building ordinance update

By RICHARD JENKINS

[email protected]

Ironwood Township — The Ironwood Township Board of Trustees introduced a new ordinance Monday night designed to update the township’s building code ordinance.

Ordinance No. 58 would repeal and replace the existing Ordinance No. 14, which was enacted in 1975.

“The old ordinance lacked a number of things, so what this does is update (the language),” said LeRoy Johnson, the township’s deputy supervisor and zoning administrator.

He told the board there were a number of changes in the new ordinance, including eliminating the language in the township’s zoning regulations regarding building permits

“That shouldn’t be in there, it’s not a zoning issue,” Johnson said.

Among the other things the new ordinance addresses is: adding the Michigan Building Code and Michigan Residential Code to the ordinance so the requirements in those codes can be enforced, places the fees for permits into the ordinance, provides for civil infractions as a penalty for violating the ordinance rather than a misdemeanor and adds the required construction board of appeals.

In other action, the board:

—Approved seeking bids for a new roof on the township’s fire hall.

—Discussed what can be done about problem chickens on Sunset Road. Increasingly, chickens are getting into neighboring yards, make noise and the waste is both unpleasant and a possible health hazard, according to complaints from some board members.