State law requires a 15-day appeal period after the permit is approved before construction can commence. In addition, there may be other required permits (such as State Wastewater and Watersupply Permits) that must be obtained.

A site plan is a bird’s eye view of a property as if you were looking down at it from above. All permit applications must include a site plan. The site plan shows everything that is currently existing on the property and any proposed buildings or improvements. Dimensions must be included for each item on the plan and the drawing must be done to scale (ex. 1 inch on the site plan equals 25 feet on the ground).

Depending on your project, tax map boundaries may be accurate enough to obtain the required permits. In other cases, more accurate property locations are needed. Sources of survey-quality mapping may be available from: 

*The property owners records when the property was purchased;

*The Town Office IF a property survey has been recorded;

*The Town Office IF a subdivision was recorded that shows the location of buildings existing at the time of the subdivision;

*The zoning files at the Town Offices IF a previous permit is on file that used a survey.

A new survey may be needed in order to proceed with a project. A survey completed by a registered surveyor is the best source of property boundary information. It is the responsibility of the appliant to obtain accurate enough property boundary information to complete a project.

A setback (front, side, and rear) is the horizontal distance from the property line to any structure or site improvement. The front yard setback is typically measured from the road edge. All setback requirements for each zoning district can be found here.