Dealing with the land use bureaucrats to get a permit

[Nathan Waters]

I was in the process of renovating an old house and got shut down by the county for not having a building permit. The only work being done was removing old wood paneling and covering the old plaster walls with new drywall. No plumbing, electrical, restructuring layout, or anything like that. I was probably naive to think I didn't need a permit for this scope of work, but now the county says I need to bring the entire home up to code. They have stated that laying new walls over old walls isn't up to code. I'm pretty sure they are full of crap. Has anyone dealt with these hurdles before? Is it a good idea to get a land use attorney to help me through the process? Please advise as I'm stuck in the mud on this project.