Really picky building inspector!

[rebelrodder]

And to top it all off the same people who want to save the farmland (and have never set foot on a farm) are the same people who will want the government to fix the 'housing crisis' and grossly inflated real estate prices. Stupidity at it's finest. Eliminate the supply of houses and then act surprised when prices get super inflated as demand increases.....

I really hate the Ontario real estate market right now..... Tom S

This exact same scenario is operating in the Portland OR metro area now. The OR legislature's solution? Pass a law requiring dense infill in residential neighborhoods. Now if a developer can pick up a couple of lots next to each other they can [read: are almost required to] build up to a 4-plex on the site. Cities and local residents can do nothing about it all. Don't want to live next to a mini apartment complex? Tough cookies! You can move, you rich meanie who doesn't want to live in an urban area!

I get not taking valuable farmland out of production to make cracker box subdivisions on but my goodness does an urban growth boundary screw up housing prices! It creates artificial scarcity and then no one wants to talk about the real problem behind it!

Case in point, I am moving out of the PDX metro area to go back to my hometown in Idaho. I just bought a house over there that is about 2.25x everything I have here in almost every way for a mere $10k more. Old house: 1200 sq ft on a 0.21 acre lot. New house: 2600 sq ft on a 0.61 acre lot. Damn near the same price! We're excited for that for sure!

Rebelrodder

[Tom S]

I get not taking valuable farmland out of production to make cracker box subdivisions on but my goodness does an urban growth boundary screw up housing prices! It creates artificial scarcity and then no one wants to talk about the real problem behind it!

But get this - a single developer in a nearby town has been allowed to turn 500+ acres of what was primarily farmland (and an old gypsum mine, but that's a whole different subject) into 3,000 'detached' homes which will bring a flood of people into the community. And this is happening to communities all around Toronto that are within commuting distance. However, I, a local, can't work with a farmer to sever off a 1/2 acre or 1 acre parcel to build a single house on. It's BS.

And with regards to the gypsum mine, I wonder how many new residents are aware of it's presence and of the occasional sink holes that show up as a result of mining in this area....

[elf]

Too many NIMBYs

[NiftyNev]

Where I live here in Australia was a nice quiet area 20 years ago, about forty minutes north of The Queensland capital of Brisbane. Now there are probably thousands of units packed into every space they could find and more being completed every day. It's chaos on the freeway and other roads during peak periods and they become a parking lot if there's an accident. House prices are out of control. About three times the price compared to when I moved here. I only rent.

[Dan Dubeau]

But get this - a single developer in a nearby town has been allowed to turn 500+ acres of what was primarily farmland (and an old gypsum mine, but that's a whole different subject) into 3,000 'detached' homes which will bring a flood of people into the community. And this is happening to communities all around Toronto that are within commuting distance. However, I, a local, can't work with a farmer to sever off a 1/2 acre or 1 acre parcel to build a single house on. It's BS.

And with regards to the gypsum mine, I wonder how many new residents are aware of it's presence and of the occasional sink holes that show up as a result of mining in this area....

Minus the Gypsum mine, that exact scenario is playing out in my hometown. The developers are in the pocket of the local council %100. A friend of mine bought his parent's working cattle farm, and the parents wanted to sever a lot to build a house on it. Nope, no can do. It's preserved farmland. Yet 10km down the road 500 acres of Prime farmland is being bulldozed for a new cookie cutter subdivision, and another proposal hit the papers again a few weeks ago. Both being added to an already over stressed town and it's infrastructure that still can't cope with the last development a decade ago. Yet, they can't sever a 1 acre lot for a retirement house, after paying taxes to the municipality for 40+ years. I won't go any deeper than that, as this isn't the place, but this kid of stuff really burns me. It's criminal.

[psomero]

I had an old barn on our property that I kinda wrecked with my excavator. I always seemed to be bumping into some part of the barn. I used my excavator to load round bales into the barn. It was much faster than using a tractor. The original barn was nearly three hundred years old and while the actual structural beams where still in great shape a lot of the supports for the roof where not in great shape. So I asked the local building inspector if I needed a permit to repair the barn. Germany is really anal about building any kind of building. It takes two years to get a building permit in most cases. So being the industrious guy I am I set about repairing the barn.
As you can see the barn is in pretty bad shape. In the next photo I show you the repair in progress. The old boards you see propped up has the electrical panel mounted on the other side. That is in the lower right corner of the barn in the first picture.

The last picture shows what is left of the old barn with the electrical panel and outlets still mounted to the old wall.

So the picky building inspector stopped by the other day and looked at my "repaired" barn. He wasn't impressed at all with me telling him it was still the old barn. You can see the old barn right here with me pointing to the electrical panel. I did tell him maybe I got a little carried away with the remodel. I showed him pictures of the old barn and he agreed it needed to go but I should have gotten a permit to build a NEW GOD DAMN BARN. I told him it is the same dimensions on the same stone foundation that I poured a new footer to encase the old stone one. Imagine him rolling his eyes at this statement. Then he asked me if this is how it gets done in Texas. I just smiled. He told me he would get back to me on the outcome!

What a fussy guy!

The all-but-one-wall "remodel" is a legal thing in my town and saves builders about $100-150k in permitting and 6-12mo of waiting.

It is kind of preposterous to drive by one day and what was once a house is now a chain link fence with a single wall left standing in the middle of the lot.

[I make chips]

But get this - a single developer in a nearby town has been allowed to turn 500+ acres of what was primarily farmland (and an old gypsum mine, but that's a whole different subject) into 3,000 'detached' homes which will bring a flood of people into the community.

If you put 50 grand into the politicos pocket you too can have your land.

[Tom S]

If you put 50 grand into the politicos pocket you too can have your land.

Around these parts I'm sure there's a few more hands getting a lot more than that in order to grease the wheels.