This is shameful. Really shameful.
The hilarious part will be when i can finally call for an inspection. We are moving fast with our structural remodel stuff on existing house. He’s going to walk in and , miraculously, we are almost done with rough and framing to the plans!!
Just looked at the pics and there we have it! The million dollar view. It is awesome. This is going to be a fantastic place.
I loved the view too!
With all you have been through, @coralbrook, I am beginning to have flashbacks of the Comcast hammer lady http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/17/AR2007101702359.html
Video of the woman with the hammer: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D2ZM2SfHHcM&autoplay=1
Thank you for that wonderful link @jym626 . It made my day!!
Awesome. Come to their offices with a long hammer handle casually sticking out of your purse.
Just wondering if CB is being held hostage in the building permit office??
Interesting possibility. Or, maybe (fingers crossed!) she got everything approved and is racing around now trying to get the work done.
Between the two french doors, is that a large immovable window?
I keep checking back hoping for good news.
PERMIT!!!
I have a permit! I have a permit! well, almost.
I tried calling Zoning Reviewer and followed up with another email first thing this morning. Then I decided I would start calling the Supervisor because he was the one that promised they would call me on Monday. But no… I pull up the City’s official phone list for employees and I kept getting someone else’s voice mail. So, they have published the wrong number, cannot get any answers. No reply back from reviewer at all
Into the City I go. This time I brought my lunch, brought a book and was ready to camp out. I’m standing in line at the ‘check in’ desk trying to figure out what story I am going to tell them so I can get into the black hole in the back and find the Supervisor. I get to the front of the line and explain that their directory has the wrong number for Supervisor. “Could I please have the correct number”? She gives me number and I try to call, no answer. I leave a voice message.
Then I go over to another desk and beg them to pull up the Zoning Comments. This is a secret way to see if anyone is working on them. If some of them are marked ‘clear’ in the computer you know at least someone has started to look at the plans. Nada… no work started.
So then I walk to another area and I see that the Supervisor is actually on the Zoning Counter today. I get all excited and go back to the Check In line (which is about 20 people long) and I’m going to ask to wait in line for Zoning counter. He sees me standing in line and motions me over. How lucky can I get!
He then states that they haven’t had a chance to review plans yet but he needs to have a meeting with someone from the Engineering firm. He is familiar with the engineering firm and mentions that they have been in business a long time. I explain that it is going to take an act of God and a lot of money to drag someone downtown for a meeting. I beg if we could do a phone call. Before he can even think about it I dial up the Engineer and he answers the phone and I put my cell on Speaker Phone.
This is where the X$#$!@# hit the fan… you would not believe how angry the Engineer got. “Why are you guys being so difficult to work with? She designed the house, we only did the drafting and engineering. She has my permission to make any changes by hand on the plans that you need. We are way under the thresholds on everything… we just cannot understand what your issue is. We need to go to the Manager, this is just not working” Let me tell you that you could hear him yelling and screaming through the phone a mile away. He’s yelling at me to escalate this immediately… I am the client and they should not bully me.
I politely say “Thank you Mr. Engineer, I think we understand your position” and hang up the phone. I look at the Supervisor and say “I think you can see why I don’t think it’s going to be possible to have a meeting”. He looks at me aghast and says, “Well, lets look at these plans together and see if we can find where the issues are”. FINALLY… this is all I have been asking for for THREE WEEKS!!!
He looks at the comments written by the Reviewer (for the first time obviously) and realizes that the Reviewer has not explained the issue in any way that is clear and understandable. He then goes through each comment. He calculates the Floor Area Ratio and realizes we are way under and there is no issue. He doesn’t understand why the Reviewer was having issues with the ratio. Finally, he starts explaining that we are not showing structural height correctly. I have come prepared!!! I pull out City of San Diego Technical Bulletin 5-4 which is a ‘clarification’ of Coastal Zone height calculations and shows exactly how height is supposed to be shown on plans.
He goes "Oh… are you in the Coastal Zone? " (duhhh and double duhhh!!). “Oh, Structural Department is supposed to sign off on the height restrictions”. He then looks in computer and realizes Structural Department has signed off and they have specifically mentioned the height of the house. Then he starts to print out some part of the Municipal Code that somewhat conflicts with the way to draw structural height. Turns out they want it drawn that way, not the way shown in Technical Bulletin 5-4 (am I losing all of you??? Too Much Information!)
Bottom line, he tells me I need to draw a plumb line across top of structure at 30’ height to show that the building is not hitting it anywhere. He says to take it back to draftsman and bring back tomorrow. I saw 3 more weeks flashing before my eyes. I stood my ground and said “No, I have my scale ruler right here, I am perfectly capable of drawing the plumb line on the plans and revising structural height.”
He said OK and I rushed off to a corner, got out my ruler and tape measure and proceeded to draw everything according to the Municipal Code requirements (which I had printed out and read through very carefully). I then went back and he was sweet enough to let me skip in front of the line and sit with him again. He agreed that all is good and they will SIGN OFF!!! He then told me to come back tomorrow and pick up the stamped plans. I insisted that it was only 2:30pm and they were open until 4pm, why can’t we finish it today?? He was adamant that he wanted to meet with the Reviewer and explain what he had done wrong and how he had not written the comments correctly. And, of course, the reviewer wasn’t available right now.
So, I have an appointment to go straight to his desk at 8:30am and pick up the stamped, signed plans. It will take me about 2 hours to go through several more lines to get Permit Issuance and pay fees. This means that I can start calling for an inspection tomorrow afternoon, God Willing!!
The window between the two french doors is a casement window that can open for ventilation without having to open the doors. There will now be great ventilation in the room from the west casement window to the east casement windows (2 of them). The photo just shows the framed opening waiting for window installation
FUNDING!
Believe it or not, I have also secured all my funding needed to finish the construction.
At first I was going down a path with an institutional Hard Money Lender. The lender made it sound very appealing but then started coming up with some ridiculous requirements. I was going to have to do a Cash Out Refinance which would pay off my personal investors and add the cash needed because the lender would only take 1st Trust Deed (mortgage) position. I thought it through and realized that it may be the only way to go.
Then it was… $500 doc fee, 2 points, oh… and $1500 title and escrow. Then they insisted on ‘reserves’ to make their payments. For heavens sakes??? If I need a loan for construction do you think I have $50k in reserves somewhere to make payments to you? I had negotiated deferred principal and interest payments for 6 months so that I would not have to make monthly payments. I could not understand why I needed a reserve if no monthly payments were due. So, he suggested I should borrow XXX more to cover the reserves. Yeah sure… you want me to pay you more points and more interest so I can have a reserve? At that point I politely declined and decided not to go through with that lender.
Today I received an email from one of my key personal investors that loaned to help me purchase the property. He is traveling and I had sent him an email that I might need him to notarize a Reconveyance for his loan. He wanted to check if he needed to do anything while he was stopped at a good place to receive and execute documents. I explained that I decided to cancel the Cash Out Refinance and I casually mentioned that I was still looking for my construction loan.
Bless his heart… we have worked out something that is so incredibly mutually beneficial to both of us. Without going into details, I’ll just say that I can ‘draw’ funds as needed to finish the project and I only have to pay interest as I ‘draw’. This is incredible!!! I don’t have to pull a large amount and pay interest for next 6 months. I only have to start paying interest as I draw funds.
I am so grateful to the investors who trust me and we can work through mutually beneficial investments without a bunch of ‘document fees’, title and escrow fees, etc.
His commitment came through at 11:30am this morning and now I have my permit!! Today is a wonderful day.
I am now enjoying a HUGE glass of wine. I had saved a special wine for just this day 
What a roller coaster of a day!
Bring the hammer tomorrow… Just in case…
Yay!!! Fingers will be uncrossed tomorrow. Yes, I second jym: bring a hammer.
Yes, I am still literally shaking after the ordeal at the City.
I have talked with several contractors in the neighborhood and they are insisting that I should ‘write a letter’ complaining about being pushed around for 3 weeks.
One of the issues that I am really kind of upset about is that I was bullied into giving up the basement bathroom. The Zoning reviewer was being so obstinate about the issue that the basement bathroom was ‘unpermitted’ that I just gave in and removed it from the plans. But, the Municipal Code clearly states that a 1/2 bath is allowed in a Non Habitable space such as garage, accessory structure or basement. I just didn’t have the energy to fight him about it.
After I pick up the plans tomorrow, I am planning to have a conversation with the Supervisor about the 1/2 bath. Maybe I can draw it back in and he will allow it. I have a funny reason why I want it back in the plans. Dang it!! I need a place that the construction guys can go to the bathroom so we can get rid of the porta pottie out in the driveway
We are starting to have funny ‘scare La Dona’ moments on the project. NOONE is allowed in the Hall Bathroom except women. We have a Women Only sign on that bathroom because I am trying to keep it pristine to show to potential buyers (if any show up). About every other week I will walk in and someone will yell “Joey… get out of the bathroom, La Dona (what they call me) is here!!” And, I will get all upset and run in there and they are just trying to jerk me around
At least no mysterious poop piles under the house on this project, right?
Not yet