Completion of Our Oregon Home Demolition

This week demolition was completed on the new home. The remaining concrete from the previous foundation was torn up and taken away. The tree stumps and roots from the trees that were removed were taken away. We now just have an empty lot.

Also, this week we heard back on the test from the oil tank. The tank was removed successfully and there was a small spot of oil in the soil. It was sent off for testing and it came back below the threshold so we were cleared to back fill the hole.

Sometime, earlier this week, the temporary power pole was placed. It seems like everything is ready to go. All we need is construction permits.

7 Weeks and Counting for Construction Permits

We officially submitted the paperwork for construction permits on April 16. Today will be 7 weeks since we submitted for this. Last week we finally heard back from the city with a couple of things that needed to be taken care of.

There were a couple of things that the builder needed to change and update on the drawings which were taken care of and resubmitted, but there were a couple of things that were questionable on that outside of the house, which is our responsibility.

One of the issues was that they were saying we needed to add a “setback sidewalk” on the plot plan. This seems a little odd as there are no sidewalks in the neighborhood. When I called to talk to the person reviewing our file, the code he referenced seemed to be talking about if you’re making changes to a sidewalk you have to connect it back up to where it was. I questioned him on this and he said that he was new, and that from the way he was reading it we would still need to put in a sidewalk.

We happened to be driving by another house that is being built about a mile away, and there does not appear to be sidewalks in front of that house, so it makes me further question if this is correct. If we were to put sidewalks in they would lead to nowhere, as both adjacent houses do not have sidewalks. It would make it very awkward.

Storm Water Management

The other issue was with storm water. I had been into the city with a list of questions months ago and spoke to two different people who said that we did not have to do anything special. We could either tie into the existing system, or retain the water on our property as the soil was good. Well, now they are saying we have put in some type of storm water management system such as a swale or rain garden.

I looked up the requirements on this and it actually looks like we are exempt as we are replacing an existing structure. Of course the city employee I spoke with would not budge on his decision that we needed these things, but he did offer for his supervisor to give me a call back. I haven’t heard back from them yet, I called and left a message yesterday and am still waiting to hear back on these two issues.

Before starting this whole process I had talked to a couple of people who were building new homes and they had complaints about the city. I’m quickly learning what they meant. It’s pretty impossible to get a straight answer from anyone. So, we will wait and see; I’m really hoping the sidewalk issue is corrected. We will deal with the storm water issue if it needs to be dealt with.

Next Steps for Our New Home Build

The plan for next week is to continue working on the details of the construction permits, which possibly means coming up with a plan for storm water management. Part of our responsibility with the builder is to have the corners of the new building staked, so our excavator is planning on having that done next week, as well as finishing the pad for the foundation. As long as we can get the permit figured out everything should be on time, but with each conversation I have with someone from the city, I’m becoming a little skeptical that we’ll get the permits done soon.