County Health Order Clarified to
Allow Broad Range of Construction
After a few days of evolving orders, it is now clear that all housing, commercial, office, and industrial construction are exempt from the Safer At Home Orders--but it took a few days of intensive effort.
On Thursday evening, March 19
th
, the County issued the Safer At Home
Order
for the Control of Covid-19. The County Order was issued shortly after the City issued its Safer At Home
Order
. Around the same time, the Governor issued an
Executive Order
. These orders required most businesses to close while exempting only specified essential businesses.
The City and State rules were similar with regard to an exemption for construction work, while the County’s definition of essential infrastructure appeared to be more narrow. In particular, under the County Order, only residential construction projects were clearly exempted, so it appeared that commercial or office construction projects had to cease.
As several of our clients have projects currently under construction and construction is essential for the livelihood of many people, we immediately contacted the three levels of government to seek clarification to determine if all construction could proceed, or would construction projects within the City limits have to follow the County Order.
We received immediate assurance from the Mayor’s Counsel that the City’s Order applied to projects in the City. We also learned that the Mayor’s Office was seeking clarification with the County. In fact, on Saturday, March 21
st
, the County issued a revised
Order
. Here is a
link
to the most current guidance from the Governor’s Office.
These orders, as revised, demonstrate that while we must take extreme care, construction is essential to our region. On Saturday, the Mayor also issued an
Order extending land use
and building permits through at least April 18
th
.
Like you and your business, we are complying with the Safer At Home Orders. In this era of connectivity, we are working remotely and are ready to assist you in any way we can. Our phones are forwarded, so you can use any number you have to contact us. And we are on all email and have full access to our electronic client files.
We recognize that this is a challenging period for everyone, so we have expanded our effort to aid everyone’s workflow. We have full capacity for online meetings through Zoom and, of course, we all have call in numbers.
We are all in this together. So, feel free to reach out even if just to say hello, share a thought or express a concern.
Stay Safe!
