Really picky building inspector!

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[elf]

Too many NIMBYs

[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....

[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

[Bob Engelhardt]

[bribe the inspector?]

No I didn't. Didn't even try. First he isn't high enough up the food chain to be corrupt! ...

Oh, but they have enormous power with the builders. I've no doubt that under-the-radar corruption is common with inspectors. Under-the-radar in the sense of the inspector getting jobs done for him, or special bargains on stuff, maybe even a special bargain on a lot in a new sub division. I'm sure that between them, builders and inspectors can be very creative wrt bribes.

[RMinMN]

You would have to bring up the lathe.

OK, I'm guilty as charged. And I even have the paint and brushes - for over ten years now.

I suspect most farmers are quite busy. I have even seen them running a harvester late into the dark of night.

Some crops almost require harvesting at night. Edible beans are one of them as you need the humidity to be high so the beans don't crack. Broken beans are not allowed as they don't look good in the can.

[Tundra Twin Track]

I suspect most farmers are quite busy. I have even seen them running a harvester late into the dark of night.

At Harvest time Paul a lot of the Crop get Harvested after dark and way into the early morning,sometimes close to Bacon&Egg time🙂

[Black Forest]

Did you not simply bribe the inspector (-:

No I didn't. Didn't even try. First he isn't high enough up the food chain to be corrupt! Second I didn't feel guilty at all about building the new barn. It was definitely an improvement to the property and replaced what I considered an eye sore. Had they gone after me I would have fought them in court. But most of all I wasn't too worried because I know the Mayor!

[Bented]

They won't give me too much grief over the barn. I won't even get a reprimand or fine. They will just tell me to TRY not to do it again.

Did you not simply bribe the inspector (-:

[tom_d]

You would have to bring up the lathe.

OK, I'm guilty as charged. And I even have the paint and brushes - for over ten years now.

I suspect most farmers are quite busy. I have even seen them running a harvester late into the dark of night.

The drawback with harvesting is that you have others involved in the process. Sometimes there are scheduling conflicts and transportation issues. Spring field work, on the other hand, can be a solo endeavor. That's where I would often find myself out until 11:00PM, maybe midnight. As long as there's no muddy sections to deal with, which can be a real challenge under artificial light, I'm good to go as long as there's fuel in the tank. Late night is easier for the trip back to the barn, too. When the machine takes up my half of the road and then some it's best to move when the traffic is minimal.

[Dan_the_Chemist]

I watched a boat builder on Youtube "repair" a boat, by using the original parts to replace every single piece of the boat. Somehow it's still considered to be the same boat!

My father used to brag that he still had the same splitting axe he had when he got married... He had to replace the handle a few times and had to replace the head once, but it was the same axe.