You ain’t kidding the Planning Commission doesn’t have a clue. Just do what Sanford, Lloyd and Jeffy Schmidt tells us to do, and crush the little people, they don’t matter.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FP-8w_d7wD8[/youtube]
I can see both sides of this argument;
Believe it or not, June’s hailstorm is to blame. It has created a back log of paperwork and home inspections for city employees in the building services department.
Since June, over 6,000 re-shingling permits have been issued in Sioux Falls. The influx of permits has one city council member asking, do we really need permits to re-shingle a house?Since golf ball sized hail hit portions of Sioux Falls, life at the office has been pretty hectic for Chief Building Official Ron Bell.
“Last year we had a record number of building permits that we’ve ever had issued. I believe that number was just under 8,000,†said Bell.
More than 11,000 building permits have already been issued for this year. Over the last eight weeks, Bell said contractors have been coming in with 80 re-shingling permits at a time.
Bell said at this time last year they had only issued 1,500 re-shingling permits. This year, they are at 6,700.
It’s taking its toll.
“The thing is, is that by the amount of permits that are happening at the counter, the staff doesn’t have the time to devout to large commercial projects,” Bell said.
“We are delaying large construction projects because we are processing re-shingling permits for homes,” City Council Chair Dean Karsky said. “It makes no sense.”
Karsky said that’s why he wants to pull the city’s requirements for re-shingling permits.
“Building permits should be unnecessary for simple maintenance and most communities regard it as maintenance and not as construction,” Karsky said.
Contrary to Bell’s belief that the re-shingling permit gives homeowners a ‘safety net,’ Karsky said not so much.
“Contractors have to be licensed within the city of Sioux Falls, and with their license, they have to post a $10,000 bond,” Karsky said.
Karsky said that process won’t change permit, or no permit.
Believe it or not, I do agree with the city, to a degree, it is kind of a safety net if a city building inspector approves something, and that work is bad. A friend recently had to have some roofing work redone, thankfully she used a contractor for the work and was inspected by the city.
But I also see councilor Karsky’s point of view. Seems silly to get a permit to re-roof a home, say for instance you want to do it yourself over a period of time in different sections. Should you be required to get a permit to work on your OWN home.
IMO, a solution would be to get a permit if you use a contractor, and not require a permit (unless you want to) if you are doing the work yourself. For example, the city requires you to get a permit to build a deck on your home (don’t know a lot of people that build their own decks that get one.) Had a friend go through a nightmarish ordeal with a city building inspector when he decided to get a permit to build his own deck. Let’s just say, he got to build the deck twice.
There seems to be this attitude in the city building department that people can’t do their own remodel/building projects and should always hire a contractor. That is silly, and probably one of the main reasons the city code enforcement department harassed Danielson for 20 years, because he wouldn’t hire a contractor.
I know I have posted about this before, thinking it may be some kind of digital signage stand, but now it is some kind of tribute to bad outdoor lighting, concrete and South Dakota. Not sure whose property this is, but have been told it is the city’s property.
Please explain your art project.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObcxxH6_JxM[/youtube]
Mr. Danielson’s case is NOT the only one. Several citizens have been coming out after the verdict on Friday that they are also being ‘criminally’ charged for violations. So now we have a code enforcement department that is treating people who have things ON THERE OWN PROPERTY like common criminals instead just civil code violators.
Little does the public know that about a thousand people were invited to a VIP party tonight at the center, this was the invitation, a stainless steel booklet hand delivered (too some) & mailed with goodies inside, It was NOT at taxpayer expense (it was stated at the event), I guess Denny made an appearance, he jumped out of a Papa Johns pizza, or something like that, in one of his Carnival costumes.
l3wis