In order to get a permit from the city to do some remodeling (upgrade the
kitchen, paint the exterior, etc.), he has to fork over $15,000(!) to have
an asphalt sidewalk installed on his 60' frontage.

His would be the only residence in the area with a sidewalk.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...dewalk24m.html

On Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:16:06 -0500, against all advice, something
compelled "HeyBub" , to say:

In order to get a permit from the city to do some remodeling (upgrade the
kitchen, paint the exterior, etc.)


You need a permit for that?



--

Real men don't text.

On 2009-03-25, HeyBub wrote:

In order to get a permit from the city to do some remodeling (upgrade the
kitchen, paint the exterior, etc.), he has to fork over $15,000(!) to have
an asphalt sidewalk installed on his 60' frontage.

He's not remodeling, he's doing a complete teardown and building a new
house. That's why the sidewalk requirement kicked in.

Wayne

On Mar 25, 10:16*am, "HeyBub" wrote:
In order to get a permit from the city to do some remodeling (upgrade the
kitchen, paint the exterior, etc.), he has to fork over $15,000(!) to have
an asphalt sidewalk installed on his 60' frontage.

His would be the only residence in the area with a sidewalk.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...280_sidewalk24...

The democrats there are hell bent on the detroitification of Seattle.
He should move. Improvements will be severely punished.

HeyBub wrote:
In order to get a permit from the city to do some remodeling (upgrade
the kitchen, paint the exterior, etc.), he has to fork over
$15,000(!) to have an asphalt sidewalk installed on his 60' frontage.

His would be the only residence in the area with a sidewalk.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...dewalk24m.html

What kind of asphalt are they going to use, one with gold nuggets instead of
gravel aggregate? That works out to $83.33 per square foot. If it was me, I
would argue that the charges are out of line and demand that competitive
bids be taken for that job. Also the sidewalk should not be built until
after construction is completed as heavy vehicles could damage the priceless
artifact requiring replacement.

"EXT" wrote in message
anews.com...
HeyBub wrote:
In order to get a permit from the city to do some remodeling (upgrade
the kitchen, paint the exterior, etc.), he has to fork over
$15,000(!) to have an asphalt sidewalk installed on his 60' frontage.

His would be the only residence in the area with a sidewalk.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...dewalk24m.html

What kind of asphalt are they going to use, one with gold nuggets instead
of
gravel aggregate? That works out to $83.33 per square foot. If it was me,
I
would argue that the charges are out of line and demand that competitive
bids be taken for that job. Also the sidewalk should not be built until
after construction is completed as heavy vehicles could damage the
priceless
artifact requiring replacement.

It's all of the things required by the city that go with the sidewalk, like
hiring an engineer, closing the street while under construction, putting in
a landscaped buffer strip between the sidewalk and street and a curb on the
street, etc.

Tom G.

In article ,
Wayne Whitney wrote:

On 2009-03-25, HeyBub wrote:

In order to get a permit from the city to do some remodeling (upgrade the
kitchen, paint the exterior, etc.), he has to fork over $15,000(!) to have
an asphalt sidewalk installed on his 60' frontage.

He's not remodeling, he's doing a complete teardown and building a new
house. That's why the sidewalk requirement kicked in.

Wayne

Maybe he can use a loophole often used around here -- leave a small
section of one wall somewhere. Then it's called a remodel.

"Smitty Two" wrote in message
news
In article ,
Wayne Whitney wrote:

On 2009-03-25, HeyBub wrote:

In order to get a permit from the city to do some remodeling (upgrade the
kitchen, paint the exterior, etc.), he has to fork over $15,000(!) to have
an asphalt sidewalk installed on his 60' frontage.

He's not remodeling, he's doing a complete teardown and building a new
house. That's why the sidewalk requirement kicked in.

Wayne

Maybe he can use a loophole often used around here -- leave a small
section of one wall somewhere. Then it's called a remodel.

The house across the street was built on a remodel permit. The original "house"
is a small, stone foundation from the 1800s. All else of the house was long
gone. The "remodeled" house is 50 feet from that foundation. How that got that
past our notoriously strict zoning board is a mystery. And I'm sure there is
some entity that would not allow the original foundation touched.

Our 150 ft driveway cost $6000 to pave and this town (Harvard, MA) is not cheap.
$15K for a 60 ft sidewalk?

Gary

In article ,
"Abby" wrote:

How that got that
past our notoriously strict zoning board is a mystery.

I imagine it involved golf, money, and possibly the company of a woman.
Most city government decisions are made in the coffee shop. Council room
chatter is just a puppet show for local TV.

Abby wrote:

The house across the street was built on a remodel permit. The
original "house" is a small, stone foundation from the 1800s. All
else of the house was long gone. The "remodeled" house is 50 feet
from that foundation. How that got that past our notoriously strict
zoning board is a mystery. And I'm sure there is some entity that
would not allow the original foundation touched.

Some towns don't have zoning. The 4th largest city in the nation, for
example. Every few years HUD comes to Houston and does a land-use survey
(subtitled: "How can this be?") and they find that land use patterns don't
deviate much from those in cities with Draconian zoning rules; Heavy
industry is over there, shopping centers are on heavily-traveled streets,
light manufacturing is clustered in office parks, single-family residences
are in quiet neighborhoods, and so on. The shake their heads, put away their
pencils, and retire.

The potential problems with no zoning are usually self-correcting. A few
years ago, Shell Oil bought a lot on the most up-scale street in the city
(homes start at about $3 million) and announced they were going to build a
gas station! Several nearby neighbors were not enamored of the idea. They
cut up their Shell credit cards and said "We'll use our influence to ruin
your whole life and that of everybody you ever knew!" People like John
Connely, Robert Mossbacher, Michael DeBakey.

Shell donated the lot to the city for a pocket-park.

In areas of the city populated by the less-well-connected, more direct
methods are generally employed.

Arson, for example.