RIVERHEAD, N.Y. – A town on New York’s Long Island is using Google Earth to find backyard pools that don’t have the proper permits. The town of Riverhead has used the satellite image service to find about 250 pools whose owners never filled out the required paperwork.
Violators were told to get the permits or face hefty fines. So far about $75,000 in fees has been collected. Riverhead’s chief building inspector Leroy Barnes Jr. said the unpermitted pools were a safety concern. He said that without the required inspections there was no way to know whether the pools’ plumbing, electrical work and fencing met state and local regulations. “Pool safety has always been my concern,” Barnes said.
But some privacy advocates say the use of Google Earth to find scofflaw swimming pools reeks of Big Brother. Lillie Coney, associate director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C., said Google Earth was promoted as an aid to curious travelers but has become a tool for cash-hungry local governments.
I am beginning to hate Google. Before you gloat you might want to check your local zoning ordinance before you build little Tommy’s tree house, or Fido’s luxury dog hotel.
I would think it easier to watch the water METER..filling 100,000 gallons of water in a pool, ISNT CHEAP.
My jurisdiction doesn’t have water meters, I suppose many with one time abundant supplies were built out without meters and now it is too pricey are the same.
Also, I would sue the DWP if they released billing information that was none of their damn business, just like I would if the electrical utility reported my extraordinary use of electricity to the police because they thought I had a marijuana grow op.
I have no trouble with my electric utility reporting me for theft of electricity for a grow op, but if I pay for it all, it is none of their fucking business what I am doing with that electricity as long as I am doing it legally.
#1 – An Olympic size swimming pool is approx 640,000 gallons. But the typical backyard pool is 18,000 gallons.
The question should be: why do you need permission from anyone to build something in your own back yard?
They claim they are concerned about pool safety, but they seem more interested in collecting permit fees.
#3,
and it will still costs $1,000’s to fill it.
@#4 ECA (#3 too) My current Suffolk County Water Utility (same as for Riverhead residents) bill (with no pool, but still…) 22000 gallons at total cost of 49$ … So, typical cost of filling up typical backyard pool on Long Island, NY – about 40-50 $. Not 1000$.
To the story itself: to the best of what I understand the law here in NY, this is almost certainly not legal but costs of lawyers are much larger than 1000$ that the permit costs. Reason – if your “something” is not trivially visible from the public grounds, you have expectation of privacy and to see it or use it against you Govt. official must get warrant first. Story does not mention them getting warrants for Google map usage so if pools are not visible from some public perspective – this is illegal. I hope someone challenges them.
This is a good use of Google maps.
The regulations for pools come from years and years of deaths caused by shoddy workmanship or disregard for safety. You do not have the right to risk the life of your toddler just because you are too ignorant and cheap to install a fence. Or have some contractor skimp on the electrical and you end up electrocuted when changing the pool pump filter.
I agree with Awake #7.
Most of us complain about inefficient government bureaucrats.
This is a great use of technology by local government which actually improves their productivity, while helping to keep their permit surveillance costs down.
Coming from the geographic technology field, this is one of those stories that is a mixture of ignorance and illogical infatuation with technology. Since the 1930’s, most urban and suburban areas have had either commercial or government aerial photo projects completed for multiple land planning and revenue applications on a regular basis. Most city and county offices reviewed these photos for this type of activity since then. While advancements in GIS technology allow for larger and faster analysis such as this, the only news maybe is that free Google Earth may save some tax monies but that too is naive as either software or training would eclipse the previous expenditures.
“I am beginning to hate Google.”
Go for it.
It is safer to hate Google….
Good for them. Though Google just makes it simpler for them to do, not actually any different from running a plane over the town or having the water/electric meter readers record pools to addresses.
I just love asses that try to pretend it’s such a horrible thing that their local government actually wants *gasp* money for city and county services from them.
As for “fido” and “tommy”, I guess you’re implying that being a good citizen is something you DON’T want to teach your kids?
Stupid stupid anti-government twits.
[Good government breeds good citizens, right? -ed.]
well, if you know you are doing something illegal, you just have to stay ahead of the curve. there aren’t permits needed for tree houses (yet) but pool permits do exist (i guess). do you hate all global imaging satellites? the people doing the fine giving might not have even been using google but thought they were ( id guesstimate 100% of the human population are at least slightly retarded ). hate the users, not the game 😀
sort of like putting tape over your cameras eye, or putting your wallet in a tin foil condom, just put up a tent over your house like the us military does when its trying to remain hidden from spying eyes trying to “get you”. if you have enough for a built in pool, you have enough money for a tent to be put over it… or just get the permit! (how much is this permit, and whats the permit consist of?, maybe you just need to pay 10$ to make sure you do not have a murderish pool)
I would hazard a guess that the incentive is a higher taxable, real property, value after the addition of a pool.
Remember now …..”A tax is a fine for doing good, a fine is a tax for bad.”
Let the taxes flow 😛
cue some idiot saying:
“Where in the Constitution does it say you have a right to own a swimming pool!?”
#13 nailed it!
I bet they spent a lot more than $75k to ID and collect fines/fees from offenders (bureaucrats aren’t cheap these days) but they can still recover it ten fold in property taxes.
Regulation should apply whether it is a swimming pool in your backyard or an oil rig in the gulf. Safety is the purpose, and if people didn’t try to keep circumventing safety regulation it would never have gotten this complicated.
@chuck said (#3) – building permits are a safety issue. Sure many places now use it as a revenue stream, but in confined areas such as cities and towns what I build on my property can affect my neighbor’s property – and I do not have the almighty right to affect them without their consent.
Let’s say you are my neighbor off the back of my property. The property slopes downhill from my house to yours. I build a pool – but without any objective experts verifying the quality of the construction, the pool leaks. Because you are downhill, your backyard becomes a swamp.
Now, if I had 3 acres in the middle of nowhere and want to build a pool – Who cares? If it leaks, I harm nobody else.
I don’t see what’s so shocking about this. In the county I live in they take aerial photos and compare them against earlier photos. Any differences show new construction and this can be checked against the permit records. This is a good thing because if you don’t have somebody keeping the contractors honest then shoddy construction will result.
@Awake #7
Ahhh yes. You’re right. It’s “for the children”. That about justifies anything, eh?
#13
Regarding property values, you’re right. A pool increases property value generally which increases property tax revenue. This is a smart move by the local government.
Keep in mind that most Americans no longer own their property anyways. If you live in an area with property taxes, the local government is telling you that you can pay to lease the property from them, but it’s not yours.
Go ahead and don’t pay your property tax and let me know how that works out for you. The property’s not yours. In effect, it’s leased out.
So much for property rights.
I think everybody here is missing the point. The important thing is how Google Earth is allowing ANYONE to peek into your backyard. OK. Forget the damn swimming pools. Are all of you OK with the fact that any nerd can check out your private property? A backyard is off limits to local press photographers, incidentally. How about we all just let Maury Povich in for our next barbeque?
Anybody with a private plane always could.
#24. Thank you….glad somebody gets it. Do you really want the morons on your Home Owners Assoc. looking in your backyard?
It will happen.
#24 – Faxon,
Privacy is looooong gone when it comes to real estate. Just check Zillow.com for evidence… they list photos, details, tax rates, sales records, property value, and much more… for free and for anybody to see.
There are pool covers that look like dirt to aerial photography… I guess you could just get one of those if you want to hide the pool that the law says you need to have a permit for.
not very original.
“Greek Government Hauls in Billions in Back Taxes”
Perhaps, it is safe to assume the same people that are crushing Greece are the same lot destroying America. You know, same puppet master, different string.
This site was celebrating when private satellites were used to rescue a friend of theirs. Can’t complain now.
26,
I still haven’t heard how different this is from having a private (or gov-owned) small plane from doing the very same thing.
Don’t blame the tool, blame the user. Isn’t that what the GOP says when it comes to guns and such?
First its “Taxation is Slavery” and now its “Freedom means Not Paying Taxes/Fees when due.” What a world you TARDS have manufactured for yourselves. “Everything” is an affront to your personal view of freedom.
Ha, ha. What TARDS.
Planes, satellites, water meters…cripes. Just walk around listening for kids splashing and pool filters running. This ain’t brain science.
Google maps would be useless if us geeks hadn’t swamped the early sites containing the images.
FWIW, the view of my house is from a shitty Russian satellite, can’t see a damned thing in my yard.