The status on the city's website now shows that our permit is "on hold" since Friday. We asked Ryan if he'd heard from them, and what they were waiting on. He got back to us today saying that they want justification for being "over height". Ugh. We're only technically over height because they are comparing the height of our house to the 4 houses next to us. 3 of these houses are single story. If they were 2 story houses, we wouldn't be considered over height. And these bungalows are the last 3 single story houses on the street. I predict they will be gone in the next 5-10 years. At that point this house will not be too tall. So, we have to convince the city planner to let us build it.
But we expected to have to justify it. We knew that any number of interested parties could complain. And we were under the impression that the city planner would hear those complaints and our justification and make a decision.
The neighbours have not complained. The community association has not complained. The city counsellor for our ward hasn't complained. It's all just the city planner being a bureaucratic ass. In fact, the neighbours have had a vacant lot on their street for 2 years now that is overgrown with weeds and used as a garbage dump. They just want SOMETHING built already. So the planner's job is supposed to be to make sure nothing gets put in that causes distress to the neighbours, and HE'S the one causing distress.
And despite knowing this would come, and having discussed our justifications, Ryan is acting like it's a complete shock and we need to discuss it now. No. Here are the reasons we've already come up with. Respond to the city and get this moving. Don't wait until 2 days after the city has contacted you to pass the message on. And then tell us to think of things and get back to you in a few days. Argh.
There were 2 comments on our plans from the city counsellor which have us shaking our heads. Number one is they want us to build an apartment above the garage. Brilliant idea. Or at least it was when we suggested it to the city planners last summer. But the planners told us that it would represent a bigger burden to the neighbours, Putting an apartment on top of the garage would require us to build a double height garage which would look down on the neighbours' yards. But the city counsellor thinks we should add it? MrDinks doesn't like the idea anyway, because it would cost more to build, and he doesn't want to be a landlord.
The other comment from the counsellor was to make the front porch deeper. But the city planners have already rejected our plans for being too close to the street and we had to move it back. So now we have to move it back further? Or we're allowed to stick out another foot towards the street? Just a couple of examples of how different branches of the city conflict with each other.
Meanwhile, still getting quotes.
It was brought to our attention by the window people that all our doors, including the man doors on the garage, have been spec'd at 4' wide. Standard doors don't come that big. We'd have to get them custom made by a company that does commercial doors. So we asked Ryan why the doors were all so big. Because MrDinks commented that he wanted the doors to be big enough to get furniture through. He meant at least ONE door being the max size we could get standard. But Ryan took that comment and made all the doors oversized. Including the garage, which already has 2 giant doors designed for getting CARS through. But just in case that's not enough, we've got 2 more extra wide doors. We pointed out to Ryan that these extra wide doors are not standard. And he said, "oh yeah, you'll need to get those custom made." Okay, so you knowingly spec'd out an extra $40k in doors based on an off-hand comment? Thank-you. Fortunately, we can get those shrunk down.
But we expected to have to justify it. We knew that any number of interested parties could complain. And we were under the impression that the city planner would hear those complaints and our justification and make a decision.
The neighbours have not complained. The community association has not complained. The city counsellor for our ward hasn't complained. It's all just the city planner being a bureaucratic ass. In fact, the neighbours have had a vacant lot on their street for 2 years now that is overgrown with weeds and used as a garbage dump. They just want SOMETHING built already. So the planner's job is supposed to be to make sure nothing gets put in that causes distress to the neighbours, and HE'S the one causing distress.
And despite knowing this would come, and having discussed our justifications, Ryan is acting like it's a complete shock and we need to discuss it now. No. Here are the reasons we've already come up with. Respond to the city and get this moving. Don't wait until 2 days after the city has contacted you to pass the message on. And then tell us to think of things and get back to you in a few days. Argh.
There were 2 comments on our plans from the city counsellor which have us shaking our heads. Number one is they want us to build an apartment above the garage. Brilliant idea. Or at least it was when we suggested it to the city planners last summer. But the planners told us that it would represent a bigger burden to the neighbours, Putting an apartment on top of the garage would require us to build a double height garage which would look down on the neighbours' yards. But the city counsellor thinks we should add it? MrDinks doesn't like the idea anyway, because it would cost more to build, and he doesn't want to be a landlord.
The other comment from the counsellor was to make the front porch deeper. But the city planners have already rejected our plans for being too close to the street and we had to move it back. So now we have to move it back further? Or we're allowed to stick out another foot towards the street? Just a couple of examples of how different branches of the city conflict with each other.
Meanwhile, still getting quotes.
It was brought to our attention by the window people that all our doors, including the man doors on the garage, have been spec'd at 4' wide. Standard doors don't come that big. We'd have to get them custom made by a company that does commercial doors. So we asked Ryan why the doors were all so big. Because MrDinks commented that he wanted the doors to be big enough to get furniture through. He meant at least ONE door being the max size we could get standard. But Ryan took that comment and made all the doors oversized. Including the garage, which already has 2 giant doors designed for getting CARS through. But just in case that's not enough, we've got 2 more extra wide doors. We pointed out to Ryan that these extra wide doors are not standard. And he said, "oh yeah, you'll need to get those custom made." Okay, so you knowingly spec'd out an extra $40k in doors based on an off-hand comment? Thank-you. Fortunately, we can get those shrunk down.
No comments:
Post a Comment