Six hours and $400 later

I have a building permit for redoing the roof.  In the process of getting the permit, I also got a Land Status Determination that Determined my land, although never correctly platted (mostly because there was no platting requirement, much less a Planning and Development Department to require a plat, in 1898), could be granted an Exception because it had been the same size and shape since before 1987, and been receiving City services (i.e., it was connected to the sewer) since 1937.  The planner said this was the “easiest” exception to comply with, though he didn’t explain why.  The Land Status Determination required not only a fee separate from the building permit fee, but a trip uptown to the county clerk’s office for a copy of the warranty deed prior to ours, so I could prove no changes had been made to the lot dimensions any later than 1987.

The worst part of the process, though, was the sheer amount of hurry-up-and-wait involved.  A good four hours of the six were spent kicking my heels in various waiting rooms until someone had time to see me, which only goes to show how badly understaffed the city’s planning department is.  Nonetheless, I walked out at 2:10 on the same day with the permit, which is extremely quick for these processes.

I called the roofer to let him know we had the go-ahead from the City, and he said he expects to have the crew he wants on my job available to start in about two and a half weeks, and that the work should take a week and a half, barring complications.

Now to arrange for a POD . . . .

Serena is an adaptation of the Norse word for veil.  Fnord.