Residence at 5873 Concord Blvd.

About Me

I am the owner of the residence at 5873 Concord Blvd. Before my divorce I began a project to expand my home as well as completely renovate it. Admittedly progress has been very slow. This is do to many factors including, 3 major falls, 2 of which it is surprising I was not paralyzed or killed, limited available time, a divorce, having to work with-in the confines of serious and persistent manic depression, the housing crash resulting in no available equity to draw from, and that I live on a fixed income. All that said, I am not trying to whine, but to explain.

Background & History

In October of 2006 I was issued a permit to construct the addition and renovated the home. The renovation includes complete removal of the steel sewer system and replaced with PVC, total upgrade of the electrical from an undersized, ungrounded fused based system to a appropriately sized, grounded circuit breaker based system, removing the steel pipe water system and replacing it with a PEX pipe system.

As the old roof was removed, it was discovered that the exterior stucco had either failed or was improperly installed especially around window openings, leading to serious structural issues. The original plan was to leave the stucco in-place. Many sections or complete exterior walls had to be reconstructed or reinforced in order to accept and support the addition. Additionally due to poor design of the roof trusses many of the joists that were planed to remain in placed had to be replaces or reinforced. There are/were other structural issues that needed/need to be attended to as well. It should be noted that I am completing all work myself. 

CHANGES IN BUILDING CODE

About April of 2011 the City Council enacted a change or addition to city code (1) where the 2nd part of 9-1-4-C changes the terms of existing permits. At such time I believed this to be a potential breach of contract. My choice at the time was to continue with the project and attempt to the best of my ability to complete the exterior in the manner laid out in the new ordnance/code. I failed. Had this code existed when I applied for the permit, it is more than likely than not, that is would have affected not only the scope of this project but the planed sequence of completion/construction as well.

Typically, with respect to building codes, when new codes are enacted they are not applied to existing open and valid permits.

COMPLAINTS

Given the long term existence of my project. obviously there are complaints about such. One of the most I hear about is that my home is dropping or suppressing home values in the area. Reality is to the contrary, in fact in recent months the estimated value of my home has well exceeded the increase in value of the neighborhood average. (2)

However, it was verbally indicated to me that the most recent complaint(s) was with respect to the incomplete exterior of my home. Based upon this the city has threaten criminal misdemeanor charges for code violation beginning June 1st, 2013. A code that I do not believe is valid or enforcable.

Actions and Consequences

In a letter dated May 7th, 2013 and received about May 15th, 2013 the city indicating "By May 31, 2013, all exterior work MUST be completed and inspected." and "Failure to comply with this requirement may result in the issuance of a citation and require your appearance in Dakota County Distric Court." During my most recent inspection, for joist repair, wall covering installation and the instalation of load bearing posts on May 21st, 2013 this was reiterated. In a follow-up letter Dated May 21st, 2013" The city indicated "In the course of the inspection for joist repairs, Mr. Martin reminded you that if the siding (exterior of home) in not completed by the end of this month (Friday, May 31, 2013), a citation will be issued. The citation will require your appearance in Dakota County District Court." NOTE the change from may be issued to will be issued.

The additional consequences to the issues of a citation is that according to city code, the existing permit will expire. (2) Without a valid permit all work must stop unless I apply for and receive a new permit. As it is my belief that the new exterior code is not valid, I WILL NOT be apply for an additional permit, therefore all work will need to stop. That said, however, as I do not believe the code to be valid I will continue work, at a much slower pace however. This slower pace will primarily be due to having to divert resources from my project to acquire and pay for legal services not only to defend myself in criminal court but to assert my position of breach of contract in civil court. All asuming I am correctly understanding city code.

To compound this, without some type of court order and according to city code 9-1-4-A (2). I will be subject to further criminal charges should I continue to work on the project after the expiration of the current permit. Further more city code 9-1-6 (2) states in part "Each day during which a violation of the building code is committed, continued or permitted constitutes a separate offense."

So as you can see in order to defend myself, while asserting my position I am in for an expensive (on both sides) and probably long legal fight. During which, progress on this project is expeceted to stop. This is regrettable and unfortunately necessarily in my point of view.

MY ORIGINAL PLAN

My original plan was as the weather turned warm and dry enough to restart progress on the exterior and to solely concentrate on completing the front, approximately 2/3 of the exterior of my home, as weather allowed. As we are living here, certain parts of the interior need to be completed to certain bedroom(s) so they may be vacated in order to repair parts of the rear exterior wall, much of which I believe I will more than likely need to reconstruct. So the plan was to work on the interior parts on rainy and cold days and once the needed interior parts were completed and the needed rooms vacated, repairs to the structural defects, probably including mold & mildew mitigation would begin to occur. My hope and belief was to have the rear 1/3 completed by fall. All would have been consistent and within the parameters of the codes in-place when the permit, variance and condition use permit (CUP) were originally granted.

WHAT IS MY OVER ALL POINT?

Simply put I AM SORRY for what appears is going to be a stoppage of progress on the project while I try to not only to protect my property and rights, but to assert my position of breach of contract on the part of the city.

MANY QUESTIONS REMAIN

• Will the city issue the misteminor citations as indicated?
• Is any of this really in the best interest of the community?
• Is the city guilty of breach of contract?
• Has the city exeeded its athority?
• Has the city abused its power?
• Will the city attempt to use other methods to affect the same desired outcome using other codes, if the exterior code is or believed to be invalid?
• Given the neighboring property has been a blighted propety (in my extimatio n over 20 years, and as such used as an example for the creation of a new city staff position, yet has remained in the same basic condition of constant blight and slow deteriation, trying to supress property values in the area, in order to make this area cheaper and therfore more attractive for the planned redevelopment?
• Has the above mentioned staff position been a waiste of the salery, benifits and other resources used to support the position?
• Is the city guilty of selective enforcement of city code?
• Given that several properties, in close proximity to this one have recently been sold after forclosure, remain vacant after forclosure or are in pre-forclosure, why is the city not working to minimize this and waisting time on strong enforcment of an improving property? Again, does it have any thing to do with the city's desire to redevelop much of this neighborhood.

Only time and asking the questions will tell.

REFERENCES

(1) http://www.sterlingcodifiers.com/codebook/index.php?book_id=542

(2) http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5873-Concord-Blvd-Inver-Grove-Heights-MN-55076/1651390_zpid/