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otforme (Charlie Self) wrote in message ...
Dave Hall notes:

If you build here without permission the local authority will
knock it down. Even with permission if you build it a couple feet away from
where it should be built they'll knock it down.

...And not only do you accept that, you seem rather proud of it. Again, I
find
the mindset rather sad. A couple feet away from where your lords and masters
gave you permission, huh?

Dave, to enlighten you, if you put up a non-code structure in many areas of the
U.S. (some rural areas are exempt), you can be forced to tear it down. If you
place a structure too close to a boundary--usually 15' in small cities--you can
be forced to remove the structure or modifiy it.

Yes, I am aware of building codes. Pennsylvania just passed a
statewide code to replace the thousands of local codes issued by the
outlandish number of municipalities this state has. Again, I don't
mind some basic codes (although ours is absolutely carried away). But
the poster I replied to was not talking about (as best I "heard")basic
codes. He was talking the nasty land use laws that are starting to
take hold in the US like those in Oregon that will only allow homes in
rather circumspect areas of the state even if you own the land. While
in the cities (Incorporated municipalities) you do usually have these
minimum buffer zones between anything you build and your neighbor's
property, as well as minimum frontage from the public roadway, you can
usually shift your home (in design and original construction) about as
much as you want within those bounds.
It would be nice for them to
let me know that it is a floodplain though. I MIGHT even be willing to
accept some reasonable building code stipulations such as flow-through
designs for the first floor, etc. But "permitting" me to use my own
land to build my own home......
-------------
There simply isn't the space to humour the pioneering spirit that you
espouse.

Is where I come from, thank god (or the cosmos, or the ying & yang or
whatever
for those that find the word god offensive).

Neither Parkersburg nor Pittsburgh is going to allow you to build without code
enforcement, though I must say Parkersburg code enforcement tends to be
exceptionally spotty in my limited experience.

Parkersburg may have codes (what a loss of freedom in the Mountain
State) but get out of the municipal boundry into the rest of the
County and it is a different story. They tried to impose codes a year
or two ago and were shut down by the populace. There are some
requirements imposed by a "higher authority" such as EPA regs that
limit how close to a waterway you are allowed a septic system and
federal regs that require certain design criteria if building in the
floodplain of a navigable waterway (such as a flow-through design of
the first floor).

Pittsburgh is in the land of the liberal. One of the reasons for the
statewide building code recently imposed was to reduce the extreme
hardships being imposed by certain large cities and by certain smaller
municipalities that were designed not for safety but to a) minimize
development b)generate kickbacks in the form of massive fees and
payments to have a prayer of approval and c) generate kickbacks in the
form of outright bribes.

Charlie Self
"America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the
well-wisher to freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and
vindicator only of her own." John Quincy Adams