“In fact, the Vancouver Charter essentially holds all city staff harmless if they make a mistake, and there is no redress against them. But there is with professionals, so the public, and clients, are better protected with the professionals’ seals than by anything city hall does or doesn’t do.”
Especially, since the so called chief planner says that it is junior entry level staff having to deal with such important things? Did she not say that at that "interesting"Grandview meet&greet? :-)
Yes, it is disturbing, Daniela, which is why it’s crazy that responsible professionals (in the legal sense) should not have their projects managed by folks with no liability for their (and the city’s) actions.
The current planning department is not working. The owners of a residential property next door to mine have been trying to get plans approved for 18 months or so. Approval was finally granted for their second plans this past week. This is not an isolated incident! Your proposal makes sense; if we don’t have something streamlined in place, let’s create one that does not become a bureaucratic nightmare. Btw, Brian do I need to have an engineer on site when the burned out shell of a house on this adjoining 33 foot lot comes down? I’m concerned about my foundation being damaged.
Betty, thanks for your thoughts—in your neighbours' case, the approval should be no more than 18 days, not months!
Regarding the burnt home next to yours, the city will issue a demolition permit, which should cover protection of your home. As an added precaution, I would take photos of your building face that's adjacent their property—builders do that all the time. That way, if, for example, you get a crack, you have evidence what was there before. The home next door to us was not burnt out, but was demo'd a couple months ago—I did exactly what I'm suggesting to you, took photos. So far so good.
Usually demo precedes a new construction, and the builder for that should be taking protective precautions about your home.
Israel has such a system. The Yemin Moshe neighbourhood in Jerusalem is a good example. They have an office with a design professional available, all plans, models, and a way for neighbours to make suggestions regarding any changes or developments.
Which aspects are you referring to? Neighbourhood offices? Distributed services? Fact is, I’ve not done that research. That sort of thing was working until shut down when city hall decided to centralize everything more than a decade ago
I find this really disturbing.
“In fact, the Vancouver Charter essentially holds all city staff harmless if they make a mistake, and there is no redress against them. But there is with professionals, so the public, and clients, are better protected with the professionals’ seals than by anything city hall does or doesn’t do.”
Especially, since the so called chief planner says that it is junior entry level staff having to deal with such important things? Did she not say that at that "interesting"Grandview meet&greet? :-)
Yes, it is disturbing, Daniela, which is why it’s crazy that responsible professionals (in the legal sense) should not have their projects managed by folks with no liability for their (and the city’s) actions.
Thanks for reading.
The current planning department is not working. The owners of a residential property next door to mine have been trying to get plans approved for 18 months or so. Approval was finally granted for their second plans this past week. This is not an isolated incident! Your proposal makes sense; if we don’t have something streamlined in place, let’s create one that does not become a bureaucratic nightmare. Btw, Brian do I need to have an engineer on site when the burned out shell of a house on this adjoining 33 foot lot comes down? I’m concerned about my foundation being damaged.
Betty, thanks for your thoughts—in your neighbours' case, the approval should be no more than 18 days, not months!
Regarding the burnt home next to yours, the city will issue a demolition permit, which should cover protection of your home. As an added precaution, I would take photos of your building face that's adjacent their property—builders do that all the time. That way, if, for example, you get a crack, you have evidence what was there before. The home next door to us was not burnt out, but was demo'd a couple months ago—I did exactly what I'm suggesting to you, took photos. So far so good.
Usually demo precedes a new construction, and the builder for that should be taking protective precautions about your home.
Thanks for reading.
Israel has such a system. The Yemin Moshe neighbourhood in Jerusalem is a good example. They have an office with a design professional available, all plans, models, and a way for neighbours to make suggestions regarding any changes or developments.
Thanks for that info. How's it working?
Hi Brian. Are there any cities in Canada. Or similar that have such a system as you are proposing? Stuart
Which aspects are you referring to? Neighbourhood offices? Distributed services? Fact is, I’ve not done that research. That sort of thing was working until shut down when city hall decided to centralize everything more than a decade ago
I am asking which large cities will grant a building permit solely on the basis of the architects and engineers review and stamping of the documents?