MORE RED TAPE

 Preparing an area near the garage for a new walkway, to be poured when I have the concrete for the wall delivered.

Before we made the decision to say goodbye to our little kitty, I made a trip to the Pima County development (building) department.  The purpose was to see what hoops I would have to jump through, before getting a building permit to put up the RV shade cover.  As I mentioned in the blog a few days ago, I knew there would be one, or more obstacles, but I wasn't prepared for what hit me like a ton of bricks, when I started asking what I needed to do in order to get a building permit.

The first guy I talked to said our zoning (rural residential), only allowed outbuildings to a maximum size of 1,500 square feet.  I told him I knew that, because when I built the garage, I had to downsize it from my original larger plans to  a smaller 1,500 square feet.   He said "No, you don't understand.  You can only have a maximum square footage of 1,500, which includes ALL detached structures."

In other words, you can have a 2,000 square foot house, and if the garage is attached, it can be 5,000 square feet, or as big as you want.  But, if you detach it like we did, the square footage can only be 1,500, and then...........you can't have any other buildings like sheds, or shade covers, because 1,500 square feet is it!  Who comes up with this crap?

OK, that's more than a hoop to jump through, that's a damn roadblock with armed guards!  This first guy was nice enough, but said that there wasn't any way around our particular zoning restrictions, other than to try and change the zoning for our parcel.  Having served on a county planning commission for several years, I knew that doing something like that would be about as likely as getting our Federal Government to stop being corrupt & dysfunctional.

Fortunately, there was another individual behind the counter who overheard part of our conversation (Timing is everything), who said there was actually a couple of ways that I might be able to proceed. The least costly ($263) would be to petition for a Modification of Setback Requirements (MSR).  Even though the shade cover is well within any setbacks from the property lines, this is the procedure that would notify all abutting property owners of my intentions, and if there were no objections, then I would be able to move forward.  If even one neighbor opposes my plan, then the only other course of action is to request a variance, pay just under $1,000 (to the county of course), and go through a public hearing process.  Not a very good option!

The bad news is that because our parcel is the largest in the entire subdivision, we have 12 adjoining property owners, including the Union Pacific RR, that all have to be notified.  We're doing some of the legwork ourselves, and have contacted several of our neighbors, who so far, have not voiced any objections.  This process will play out over a county estimated 4 weeks or so, and we'll be keeping our fingers crossed that the adjacent property owners will not have any axes to grind.  To say that the project to protect the motor home is on hold, would definitely be an under statement!  There were a few more hoops, but those were all doable, and we'll just have to wait and see how this plays out.

As is the case with most of my projects, a simple framing for a new concrete walkway turned into much more yesterday.  I quickly discovered that I needed to move, and extend one of the new water lines.  The backhoe sure makes jobs like this a lot easier, even though a bunch of hand digging was still necessary.  By the time I had extended the pvc pipe, covered the trench, framed up the area, and leveled the ground where the new concrete will go, it was late afternoon, and I was pooped.
   

Today, I'll try and figure out how much concrete I'll need to order for the wall, and the new walkway.  I think tomorrow morning will be a good time for delivery, particularly since it's supposed to cool off into the 70's for the next few days. 

Thanks to everyone who either commented, or emailed, regarding the loss of our little cat Gracie.  Patty and I appreciate the thoughts very much.