Butler Township - Permit Officer and Township Office

Township of Butler, Pennsylvania (Adams County)

city

344 Arendtsville Road, Biglerville, PA 17307

Required

No Butler Township text this record could settle says that a reroof needs a building permit or needs none, so this record does not decide whether the Township requires a permit for an ordinary reroof. Chapter 15 of the Township Code, Building Construction, has three building-permit parts, read October 12, 2026 from the scanned code, which has no text layer (transcribed from the rendered page images). Part 1 (Ord. No. 84-1, 1985) defines "MINOR REPAIR[Amended 8-13-2001 by Ord. No. 2001-1]" as "The replacement of existing work with equivalent materials for the purpose of its routine maintenance and upkeep, to include but not be limited to the replacement of a roof and siding," and Section 15-4B says "A building permit shall not be required for minor repairs to existing buildings or structures." Part 3 (Ord. No. 2009-1) repeats that Section 15-4B sentence as Section 15-41B and defines "MINOR REPAIR" in Section 15-71 as "The replacement of existing work with equivalent materials for the purpose of its routine maintenance and upkeep," followed by the same structural, egress and piping exclusions, without the words "roof" or "roofing." The Township's land-use page also lists a 2019-3 and a 2020-1 Flood Plain Ordinance, which are scanned images and were not read for this record. This record does not decide which of these provisions applies to a house reroof. The Township's fee schedule (Resolution 2024-5, read from the rendered page image) lists under Building permits "Connected Structures" with "Garage, carport, deck, roof, etc." at ".10 per sq/ft" and says "There will be additional fees charged by the Permit Officers, MDIA, (Middle Department Inspection Agency)." It names no reroof or roof replacement line, and this record does not decide whether that line reaches a reroof. Section 1812.A of the Arendtsville Borough and Butler Township Zoning Ordinance says "A Zoning Permit shall be required prior to the erection, addition, or alteration of any Building or structure or portion thereof" and "No Zoning Permit shall be required in cases of normal maintenance and repairs which do not structurally change a Building or structure." It is a zoning permit and names no roof work, and this record does not decide whether a house reroof is an alteration under it. Under state law, Act 45 section 104(b)(5) and (6) list "Alterations to residential buildings which do not make structural changes or changes to means of egress" and "Repairs to residential buildings" among work the Act does not apply to, "except as might be required by ordinances in effect pursuant to section 303(b)(1) or adopted pursuant to section 503," and 34 Pa. Code 403.62(c) says "A permit is not required for the exceptions listed in § 403.1(b) (relating to scope) and the following, if the work does not violate a law or ordinance." Read for this answer: Chapter 15 of the Township Code (Parts 1, 2 and 3, the sections quoted above); the Township's Officials, Land Use Records and Documents and Forms pages; the agency's instruction sheet; the Township's 2024 fee resolution; the MDIA building permit application the Township posts, whose "Type of Work or Improvement" boxes include "Alteration" and "Repair" and name no roofing; and the Arendtsville Borough and Butler Township Zoning Ordinance, searched for "roof" and "reroof" (no permit provision for roof work). The Township's 2019 and 2020 flood plain ordinances and the remainder of the scanned Township Code were not read. The Township's instruction sheet says "Zoning approval is REQUIRED before applying for your building permit" and asks for a Building Permit application on the MDIA form with two sets of drawings, and a workers' compensation insurance certificate from the contractor. Ask before work starts: the Township office is open Tuesday and Thursday 8:30 AM to 11:30 AM at 717-677-6712, and the Middle Department Inspection Agency, Inc. lists an office at 717-761-5340.

The 2021 International Residential Code, as adopted by the State in the Pennsylvania Uniform Construction Code (UCC). 34 Pa. Code 403.21(a)(7) adopts "The 'International Residential Code of 2021,' except that:" followed by the State's list of exclusions and modifications, effective January 1, 2026 (55 Pa.B. 7701). None of the State's changes touches Chapter 9, Roof Assemblies, or Section R803, Roof Sheathing, so those apply as the International Code Council publishes them. Work on existing buildings is also pointed to the State's existing-building code: "The repair, alteration, change of occupancy, addition and relocation of existing buildings must comply with Chapter 34 of the 'International Building Code of 2021' or with the 'International Existing Building Code of 2021'" (34 Pa. Code 403.21(f)). The UCC is the minimum everywhere in the state: "no municipality may propose or enact any ordinance which is less than the minimum requirement of the Uniform Construction Code" (Pennsylvania Construction Code Act, Act 45 of 1999, section 503(b)). The Act also lists work it "shall not apply to", including "Alterations to residential buildings which do not make structural changes or changes to means of egress" or to "Repairs to residential buildings," in each case "except as might be required by ordinances" kept in force under section 303(b)(1) or adopted under section 503 (Act 45 section 104(b)(5) and (6); 34 Pa. Code 403.1(b)(8) and (9)). The Act defines a repair as "The reconstruction or renewal of any part of an existing building for the purpose of its maintenance." So whether the code's roofing rules reach a given house reroof depends on the municipality's own ordinances. Everything above is Pennsylvania state law, the same in every municipality. Locally, Butler Township's Officials page lists a Permit Officer at the Middle Department Inspection Agency, Inc., and the agency's instruction sheet for Butler Township, posted on the Township's website, says "Building Permit applications will be returned to the Township for pick up" and that "two payments will be required: 1. Butler Township fees and 2. MDIA fees for review, inspections and fees." The Township office is at 344 Arendtsville Road, Biglerville, and Section 15-33 of the Township Code adopts the Uniform Construction Code "as amended from time to time" as the building code of Butler Township. Chapter 15 changes nothing in the code's roofing provisions that this record read. Section 15-33 and the Township's pages name no edition, so this record does not decide which edition the Township applies.

Not required — No impact-resistance requirement under state law. The State's adoption of the 2021 International Residential Code (34 Pa. Code 403.21) contains no hail or impact rule, and it makes no change to the code's roof assemblies chapter, which itself has no UL 2218, Class 4 or hail-impact requirement for roof coverings. A municipality could add one only by an ordinance that equals or exceeds the Uniform Construction Code under Act 45 section 503, filed with the Department of Labor and Industry; none of the filings on the Department's register of municipal code change ordinances mentions hail or impact resistance. An owner may still choose an impact-rated roof covering. Everything above is Pennsylvania state law, the same in every municipality. Locally, Butler Township's Officials page lists a Permit Officer at the Middle Department Inspection Agency, Inc., and the agency's instruction sheet for Butler Township, posted on the Township's website, says "Building Permit applications will be returned to the Township for pick up" and that "two payments will be required: 1. Butler Township fees and 2. MDIA fees for review, inspections and fees." The Township office is at 344 Arendtsville Road, Biglerville, and Section 15-33 of the Township Code adopts the Uniform Construction Code "as amended from time to time" as the building code of Butler Township. The Township's pages and the parts of its code this record read say nothing on hail or impact resistance.

No Butler Township text this record could settle says that a reroof needs a building permit or needs none. Chapter 15 of the Township Code, Building Construction, has three building-permit parts, read October 12, 2026 from the scanned code, which has no text layer (transcribed from the rendered page images). Part 1 (Ord. No. 84-1, 1985) defines "MINOR REPAIR[Amended 8-13-2001 by Ord. No. 2001-1]" as "The replacement of existing work with equivalent materials for the purpose of its routine maintenance and upkeep, to include but not be limited to the replacement of a roof and siding," and Section 15-4B says "A building permit shall not be required for minor repairs to existing buildings or structures." Part 3 (Ord. No. 2009-1) repeats that Section 15-4B sentence as Section 15-41B and defines "MINOR REPAIR" in Section 15-71 as "The replacement of existing work with equivalent materials for the purpose of its routine maintenance and upkeep," followed by the same structural, egress and piping exclusions, without the words "roof" or "roofing." The Township's land-use page also lists a 2019-3 and a 2020-1 Flood Plain Ordinance, which are scanned images and were not read for this record. This record does not decide which of these provisions applies to a house reroof. The Township's fee schedule (Resolution 2024-5, read from the rendered page image) lists under Building permits "Connected Structures" with "Garage, carport, deck, roof, etc." at ".10 per sq/ft" and says "There will be additional fees charged by the Permit Officers, MDIA, (Middle Department Inspection Agency)." It names no reroof or roof replacement line, and this record does not decide whether that line reaches a reroof. Section 1812.A of the Arendtsville Borough and Butler Township Zoning Ordinance says "A Zoning Permit shall be required prior to the erection, addition, or alteration of any Building or structure or portion thereof" and "No Zoning Permit shall be required in cases of normal maintenance and repairs which do not structurally change a Building or structure." It is a zoning permit and names no roof work, and this record does not decide whether a house reroof is an alteration under it. Under state law, Act 45 section 104(b)(5) and (6) list "Alterations to residential buildings which do not make structural changes or changes to means of egress" and "Repairs to residential buildings" among work the Act does not apply to, "except as might be required by ordinances in effect pursuant to section 303(b)(1) or adopted pursuant to section 503," and 34 Pa. Code 403.62(c) says "A permit is not required for the exceptions listed in § 403.1(b) (relating to scope) and the following, if the work does not violate a law or ordinance." State law sets no square-footage or percentage threshold for roof work; any threshold is set locally. The Uniform Construction Code "does not apply to" "Alterations to residential buildings which do not make structural changes or changes to means of egress, except as required by ordinances in effect under sections 303(b)(1) or 503 of the act" or to "Repairs to residential buildings, except as required by ordinances in effect under sections 303(b)(1) and 503 of the act" (34 Pa. Code 403.1(b)(8) and (9)), and "A permit is not required for the exceptions listed in § 403.1(b) (relating to scope) and the following, if the work does not violate a law or ordinance" (34 Pa. Code 403.62(c)). For houses the regulation adds: "An ordinary repair does not require a permit." Its list of work that is not an ordinary repair names cutting away a load-bearing wall, "The removal or cutting of any structural beam or load-bearing support," changes to a required means of egress, and new or relocated piping, wiring or mechanical work (34 Pa. Code 403.62(d)); roofing is not named. A municipality may require more: under Act 45 section 503(c) it "may enact ordinances pursuant to this section which adopt additional code requirements for alterations or repairs to residential buildings," after a public hearing and after filing the proposed ordinance with the Department of Labor and Industry. These rules concern a "Residential building," which the regulation defines as "Detached one-family and two-family dwellings and townhouses which are not more than three stories above grade plane in height with a separate means of egress and their accessory structures" (34 Pa. Code 401.1). Everything above is Pennsylvania state law, the same in every municipality. Locally, Butler Township's Officials page lists a Permit Officer at the Middle Department Inspection Agency, Inc., and the agency's instruction sheet for Butler Township, posted on the Township's website, says "Building Permit applications will be returned to the Township for pick up" and that "two payments will be required: 1. Butler Township fees and 2. MDIA fees for review, inspections and fees." The Township office is at 344 Arendtsville Road, Biglerville, and Section 15-33 of the Township Code adopts the Uniform Construction Code "as amended from time to time" as the building code of Butler Township. The Township sets no area or cost threshold for roof work that this record read.

Two layers at most where the state code reaches the job. Pennsylvania adopts the 2021 International Residential Code without changing its reroofing section, R908 (34 Pa. Code 403.21(a)(7); the State's list of changes names no Chapter 9 section). Section R908.3.1.1 says "A roof recover shall not be permitted where any of the following conditions occur," and the third condition is "Where the existing roof has two or more applications of any type of roof covering." So one existing layer may be covered once, and a roof that already has two layers is torn off to the deck. The same section also bars a recover "Where the existing roof or roof covering is water soaked or has deteriorated to the point that the existing roof or roof covering is not adequate as a base for additional roofing" and "Where the existing roof covering is slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile." The existing-building code the State also adopts, the 2021 International Existing Building Code (34 Pa. Code 403.21(f)), carries the same three conditions in Section 705.2.1.1. These rules bind work the Uniform Construction Code reaches. The Act does not apply to "Repairs to residential buildings" or to alterations that make no structural change, "except as might be required by ordinances" (Act 45 section 104(b)(5) and (6)), so whether R908 binds a particular house reroof turns on that exclusion and on the municipality's own ordinances. Everything above is Pennsylvania state law, the same in every municipality. Locally, Butler Township's Officials page lists a Permit Officer at the Middle Department Inspection Agency, Inc., and the agency's instruction sheet for Butler Township, posted on the Township's website, says "Building Permit applications will be returned to the Township for pick up" and that "two payments will be required: 1. Butler Township fees and 2. MDIA fees for review, inspections and fees." The Township office is at 344 Arendtsville Road, Biglerville, and Section 15-33 of the Township Code adopts the Uniform Construction Code "as amended from time to time" as the building code of Butler Township. The Township's pages and the parts of its code this record read say nothing on roof layers; Section 15-33 names no edition, so this record does not decide which edition the Township applies.

State rules from the base code, where the state code reaches the job. Pennsylvania adopts the 2021 International Residential Code without changing Section R803, Roof Sheathing (34 Pa. Code 403.21(a)(7); the State's changes to Chapter 8 are to ridge framing and attic ventilation). Lumber roof sheathing follows Table R803.1: over rafters or beams 24 inches apart it must be at least 5/8 inch net thick. Wood structural panels "shall be identified for grade, bond classification and performance category by a grade mark or certificate of inspection issued by an approved agency," and their spans "shall not exceed the values set forth in Table R503.2.1.1(1) or APA E30." For shingles, "Asphalt shingles shall be fastened to solidly sheathed decks" (R905.2.1), and on any reroof "The structural roof components shall be capable of supporting the roof covering system and the material and equipment loads that will be encountered during installation of the roof covering system" (R908.2). These rules bind work the Uniform Construction Code reaches; the Act does not apply to "Repairs to residential buildings" or to alterations that make no structural change, "except as might be required by ordinances" (Act 45 section 104(b)(5) and (6)). Act 45 section 104(b)(5) excludes alterations "which do not make structural changes or changes to means of egress" and says only that "a structural change does not include a minor framing change needed to replace existing windows or doors"; 34 Pa. Code 403.62(d)(2) lists "The removal or cutting of any structural beam or load-bearing support" as not an ordinary repair. Neither names roof sheathing; this record does not decide whether replacing it is either. Everything above is Pennsylvania state law, the same in every municipality. Locally, Butler Township's Officials page lists a Permit Officer at the Middle Department Inspection Agency, Inc., and the agency's instruction sheet for Butler Township, posted on the Township's website, says "Building Permit applications will be returned to the Township for pick up" and that "two payments will be required: 1. Butler Township fees and 2. MDIA fees for review, inspections and fees." The Township office is at 344 Arendtsville Road, Biglerville, and Section 15-33 of the Township Code adopts the Uniform Construction Code "as amended from time to time" as the building code of Butler Township. The Township's pages and the parts of its code this record read draw no separate line for roof sheathing; Section 15-33 names no edition, so this record does not decide which edition the Township applies.

6% Pennsylvania sales and use tax, with a local tax added on purchases made in Allegheny County (1%) and Philadelphia (2%). On a reroof the roofer pays the tax on the materials and does not add it to the homeowner's bill. The Department of Revenue says: "The Pennsylvania sales tax rate is 6 percent. By law, a 1 percent local tax is added to purchases made in Allegheny County, and 2 percent local tax is added to purchases made in Philadelphia." Roof work is a construction activity: the rule's list of items "presumed to become a permanent part of real estate" includes "Roofing (repairs)" (61 Pa. Code 31.11). For construction activities, "A contractor shall pay tax upon the purchase price ... of all property, including materials, equipment, components and supplies, which he furnishes and installs" (61 Pa. Code 31.12(a)(1)), and the rule's example says the contractor "does not charge sales tax on this transaction to his customer. The contractor may include the tax he must pay in his bid proposal but not as a separately stated item." Apart from limited exceptions set out in the rule, the same holds on jobs for tax-exempt owners: "a contractor erecting a building, repairing a roof, replacing a door for a governmental agency, ... school district, charitable or religious organization, and the like, shall pay tax upon the property which he consumes" (61 Pa. Code 31.13(a)). Everything above is Pennsylvania state law, the same in every municipality. Butler Township is in Adams County. The Township's permit pages and fee schedule say nothing on sales tax.