Boy, I'm glad I live here! If I want a new garage, or a complete house for that matter, I just go see M. le maire. If he says yes, the Prefect [or for that matter the President of the Republic] can go jump in the lake! Permits are just 'general' paperwork, qualifying what is within the law for a project,[map, areas, access, boundaries, services, sewerage etc.], but primarily so the State can persue you for more tax once you have improved your lot by spending your own money. Tradesmen can only operate within the narrow confines of their own trade, having been trained and qualified in their metier. They and only they decide what is the correct way to do any job, on site at the time it is done. Like a doctor, what he says goes. There are inspections, [ by the poco, sewage tech, water co ], to cover for the occasional fool.
As to trees, they are a commodity not a tourist attraction. If you want lumber or firewood..."TIMBER!"
