advice? info? thx...

[travis.magee]

hello everyone...

i havent been on the boards too much lately due to finishing up this semester of school and juggling work, but I have a question for you haunt owners.

If you are deciding to put on a haunt, who do you get ahold of to get the "ok" from the city? I have a location.. its small.. nothing fancy at all.. my grandfather owns the land and building. I just want to make sure I can legally do this in the city im in with permits and whatever else I need before I start planning.

Do I call the person in charge of building codes?

thanks guys

[SteveR]

Fire marshal, regional building authority, USF&WS, etc

I always start by finding the fire chief or fire marshal that responds to my area.
I review plans for fire truck access, where to hookup water or draft water, how they get in and out, how they get their rescue equipment into the haunt, how alarms will be handled, etc.

Then I work with the regional building authority (name varies by county) for any new permanent structures to be constructed. Warning - this process takes months. Most likely any new structures would be considered commercial assembly occupancy categories (A-1, A-3, etc). For my county, the regional building authority also had to approve the parking plan to make sure we wouldn't clog up the nearby roadways with all those excited patrons we hope to have.

Then I go to the city or county land use or planning boards to see if temporary change of use permits are required. Typically they also handle signage permits if you plan to erect new signs.

Tho it's never been required for me, I also hook in the Sheriff's department since they respond. Here, they don't charge any fees but appreciate the head's up and the walkthru in case they have to respond.

At every one of these places, I ask if they can know of any other approvals or permits that I need. For example, for this year's venue, I had to get approval from the US Fish & Wildlife Service, because we're adjacent to a swamp that is also "Preebles Mouse" habitat (protected little buggers). The haunt is on private property - go figure. That took a few months to get.

[travis.magee]

appcreciate your help. That gives me some ideas on who I need to call first.