In the iconic 1984 movie Footloose, Kevin Bacon’s character has moved to the small fictional town of Bomont. As a result of the efforts of a local minister (played by John Lithgow), dancing and rock music have been banned.

How outraged the viewing public was when the rights of freedom of expression had been taken away, in the movie.

Small towns sometimes have small minds, and they try to take away things more than just what happened in Footloose. On occasion, I have run across jurisdictions which, for whatever reason (usually it is just not being educated of the benefits), try to ban post frame construction.  In other words, they “don’t allow pole buildings”.

This just happened in Fowler, Indiana, and here is an excerpt from the letter I wrote to defend pole buildings:

“Post frame (pole) buildings are Code conforming buildings and the methodology for their structural design is outlined and/or referenced in every edition of the International Building Codes.

It is within the legal scope of a Planning Department or Commission (after following whatever processes are in place for public notifications, etc.) to be able to place limitations on the size of structures, their placement on a given property, as well as the appearance (e.g. restrictions on type and or color of siding and roofing materials). Any appearance restrictions must be applied uniformly to any Code conforming structural system.

In order to legally preclude the use of post frame construction (or of any other Code conforming structural system), the onus would be upon the jurisdiction to somehow prove their structural inadequacy. It would be both arbitrary and capricious to deny the utilization of post frame construction, which could easily leave open the door to a plethora of probably indefensible lawsuits – resulting in undue costs to the jurisdiction, as well as the taxpayers.

While I am not an attorney, nor profess to offer legal advice, I have been involved in similar circumstances with other jurisdictions, each of which has made the determination to NOT LIMIT the use of post frame buildings as a structural system. I would encourage the same decision in your jurisdiction.”

Anywhere in America, where an unjust system tries to take away the rights of a citizen to construct a pole building, look to me to be involved to protect those rights.