Seven Amish men are ticketed over new house lacking permit

HEUVELTON — Seven members of the Amish community face code violation charges after allegedly building a home without obtaining a building permit in the town of Oswegatchie.

The house belongs to Mosie J. Miller, 8 Mount Alone Road, town of Oswegatchie, who was accused Aug. 11 of constructing a home without a building permit and failing to comply with the stop-work order. Mr. Miller also charged Aug. 13 with living in a home without a certificate of occupancy.

Failure-to-comply tickets also were issued to six other members of the community who allegedly continued working on the home despite warnings from Code Enforcement Officer Timothy C. Tuttle that they would be charged.

Elli J. Yoder, 5812 Route 812, Rensselaer Falls; Joe A. Hostetler, 5470 County Route 10; Dan J. Miller, 560 Line Road; Ben J. Yoder, 4225 Route 812; John E. Miller, 1498 West Lake Road, and Joe J. Zook, 380 Yankee St. Road, Hammond, all received tickets Aug. 11.

The state building code, adopted by the town in 2006, requires engineered plans for any building of more than 1,500 square feet. Mr. Miller's building exceeds 1,500 square feet, but according to town records, an engineering plan was never filed with the town's code enforcement officer.

Mr. Tuttle said that prior to issuing any tickets, he explained to Mr. Miller what needed to be done in order to comply with the law.

If convicted of the charges, Mr. Miller could face thousands of dollars in fines and up to six months in jail.

Mr. Miller and the others are scheduled to appear at 6 p.m. Sept. 1 in Town Court.