Source

In the previous post, I finished saying that I had become discouraged and demotivated with the paperwork needed for our development permit. The development permit deals with the earthworks and tree clearing that we wanted to do for our yard site and was needed before the building permit which we are still working on, coincidentally.

A rough sketch of the floor plan that we needed for the development permit. For the building permit we need professionally drafted house plans.

Time to Buckle Down

Earlier this spring though, crunch time had arrived. I could no longer delay working on the development permit. I needed to get it processed and approved before May long weekend because I had already pre-planned the earthworks project for that weekend.

The equipment was to be delivered and a few of Aimee's family members, who were experienced with heavy equipment, had scheduled to spend their time operating them. Without a permit, the whole project would be scuttled and we might not be able to line everyone's schedules up again this summer.

I spent several nights after the babies were sleeping, working on the permit paperwork with Aimee trying to get everything together. Finally, it was ready to my satisfaction and Aimee was to call the county while I was at work to confirm everything was in order before delivering the paperwork. I generally don't have much time during working hours to deal with this stuff (because I am actually working LOL) and the county office, being government, isn't open evenings and weekends.

Dammit Gloria

When Aimee called, the receptionist she spoke with decided to transfer her to someone more knowledgeable, Gloria (the receptionist from part 1). Aimee described what we had for information and there were a couple things that Gloria wasn't sure about (which was surprising because she acted like she knew what she was talking about earlier) so she put Aimee through to another employee that dealt specifically with the development permits.

Aimee caught her up on what we had planned and was told that some of the forms we had been given we didn't need to fill out at all. They were for larger developments like subdivisions...

A simple grading plan that we needed for our development permit.

I had spent several days working on this paperwork and pouring over county and provincial legislation and code to make sure all this was in order and I didn't need it after all? The biophysical assessment, which was what I was most worried about and had the most issues trying to figure out, wasn't needed among other things. We even had an environmentalist visit the property to ensure the forms were accurate, as a favour to Aimee's dad. Dammit Gloria!

Source

Further conversations revealed that there were other things that Gloria had told us that were also incorrect. One of the big pieces of misinformation was that while the above ground square footage of a garden house did indeed need to be under 1000 sqft, it could actually have a basement! Again Gloria, how do you have a job? This was a huge revelation and, in some ways, we were lucky to be running a bit behind schedule because we hadn't yet finished selecting our house plans. More on that in future posts.

Having a basement will basically double our potential living space. We will likely hold off developing the basement this year, to keep cost down. When we do decide to finish the basement will give the children a lot more room and a place fore my mother to stay, if she moves in before the second house is built.

Conclusion

I guess, the big moral of the story here is, when dealing with permits and the county don't trust the word of any one person. Especially mentally delayed receptionists who think they know more than they actually do. It is best to speak directly with the people that will be approving your projects and, if possible, verify with other people, or in the county code itself, that what they are telling you is actually correct.

---

---

Thanks for reading everyone! Please upvote, follow, and resteem to support this work. As always, comments are welcome.