Do I need a building permit? Or is it like building a big-assed canoe?
Wouldn’t the government charging me a fee be a violation of my religious beliefs? Namely, “God is going to make a big flood, and I’m going to die, unless I build this here ark.”
I believe churches have to pay building permit fees, and pass inspections. But this isn’t a dwelling.
Would I be in violation of my residential zoning? It’s not like I’ve created a shipyard. I’m not a commercial enterprise. I’m just building an ark for my personal use.
Would it be a violation of blight ordinances, like having a car up on blocks? Does that kick it back to my rights to practice my religion unfettered?
Do I have to register it as a boat? Have the numbers, letters and the expiration date sticker on the side? It won’t be used until there’s a flood.
Do I need to have the proper number of life jackets aboard? What about handicapped accessibility? The proper number of restrooms for health department specifications?
Well, if it’s going to be 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high, with three decks (google search on How Big was Noah’s Ark?), you’ll probably need a building permit. However, if you can afford that much cypress, that shouldn’t be a problem.
Since it would take a Great Flood to get a monster like that out of your back yard, you probably don’t need to worry about lifejackets or registration.
You’ll probably need some sort of permits et al. to gather all of the animals, especially since some of them are endangered (actually, if you’re expecting a flood, they’re ALL endangered, but that’s not the point).
So… are you saying you’ve gotten some inside information you want to tell us about, or is it just raining a lot where you are?
The serious question here, if there is one, is how much can “government” infringe upon my religious practices? Another way to say it might be, does something I do under the guise of religion somehow exempt me from laws and regulations of my jurisdiction? The short answer is no.
Although IANAL, I think I can safely say that doing something because it is part of your religion doesn’t exempt you from normal laws, codes or regulations.
If you build an Ark because God tells you to, you still have to follow the same regulations as anyone else building a large boat. For example, if your local jurisdiction has ordinances against having 400 foot boats on your property then you could be cited for that.
Certainly, anything having to do with health and welfare would be covered so having too many animals around is probably against the law unless you are registered as a ranch or farm etc.
I remember a case a few years back where someone claimed that slaughtering goats was part of their religion and as long as the health codes weren’t violated there really wasn’t much anyone could do about it…
An ark I don’t know about, but as far as building a large rectangular boat on your landlocked property, I’d bet that you could just go ahead and build the thing: zoning codes vary widely by location (in the US at least) but normally “temporary” structures are exempt. The downside to constructing a “temporary” structure is that you aren’t allowed to make permanent connections to utilities (not much of a problem, in this case), and if it is kept in the same location long enough they usually can through some process classify it as permanent, and then you’d be held responsible for conforming to all the regular building codes -so timing is critical here, but I didn’t have to tell you that.
I’ve never heard of any regulation saying how long a boat you can have on your property. And I doubt you’d have to register it as any kind of boat unless you wanted to test it out before the real deal. And it might not cost much t register anyway: river barges are essentially just big metal boxes that get filled with stuff. I never see any lifejackets on the barge anywhere, and they have no passenger accomodations, fuel capacity, electrical wiring or engines to hassle with. That’s the stuff that registration mostly concerns.
As far as the animal permits go, screw 'em. If the animals show up of their own free will I wouldn’t pay for permits myself. - MC
Um, yeah. If you get fined, just put it on your Visa card. Rack up all the bills you want!
Of course, you might consider that God specifically said that we don’t have to worry about another flood again. So perhaps going into hock isn’t such a good idea after all…
If you drive on I-68 in western Maryland, heading to/from Morgantown, West Virginia, you’ll pass an ark in progress. I first saw it in 1998, and it was there, too, in 1999, as I made bi-monthly trips to Ohio to visit my then-girlfriend.
What it was was a frame of an ark, with a big-ass sign nearby stating: Noah’s Ark Being Rebuilt Here. I don’t know if it’s still there, but I’m heading back to Ohio next month, so I’ll be sure to take a look, and hopefully a photo, too. IIRC, it’s within 2 miles of the MD/WV border, in Maryland.
My theory is that it was started by a nearby church who subsequently ran out of money. Or, they were swept away.
Milo, I recommend building a ship in a bottle. It’s just as challenging but no need for permits or registration. And the fun thing would be able to adhere letters on the back of the ship-in-a-bottle with some obsene word.
That would be up in Frostburg, MD. I went to college there and they’ve been doing it since at least the early 90s. I personally never went to look for it, nor do I know anyone who did. It was still there a couple of weeks ago when I went past as well. It’s at exit 33 or 34 off I-68.
One of my instructors said something about it once but I don’t remember what.
