Camp Yorba Linda

Today they cleared out the old 12×12 tile in the entryway and replaced it with new 12×12 cut on a diagnal.  Every few quares they have little 1″x1″ tiles made from the granite coutertop scrap.  Tommorow they’ll finish up the border and put 18×18s in the hallway.

Last night Eric came into town to start work on the entryway/hallway tile.  Today they start the demo.   As you can see, they’ve already ripped out the carpet to show the defeated 20year old blue padding.

We just finished packing the kitchen up in prep for the big Kitchen remodel. 

TODO: include “before” photos

Bren’s wanted this for quite a while, and now that the housing market has softened slightly we figured that now is the time to remodel the kitchen.  The blocked views, the broken doors, the crappy drop ceiling - it’s all going tomorrow when cousin Eric comes out to remodel the kitchen.  It should go pretty quickly for a remodel, especially since he’ll be staying with us in the spare bedroom until it’s done.

This isn’t the first time that he has done work for us. 

• In our last house he tiled the kitchen and the 2 1/2 baths.
• When we moved into this house, he gutted the 2 downstairs baths & re-tiled.
• Misc. odd jobs as we needed them.

It’s nice having contractors in the family.  Especially when they do spectacular work

Everything in the kitchen is packed up like we’re moving - it’ll be fun camping out in the living room until the jobs done.

TODO: Describe the pool resurfacing and include pictures

This morning as I was getting ready for work, the building inspector came by and did the final sign off on our permit. Well, it was a little more complicated than that.

1) the door rang
2) the inspector introduced himself and asked for the permit application
3) I gave it to him and he asked if it leaked durring the last rain
4) I said no
5) he signed off & walked away

It shouldn’t be that easy - shouldn’t it?

After 13 months of on again, off again hell - that was quite the anti-climatic ending.

w00t!

By unanamous vote, the planning commision approved our request for an exception last night.

Whew!

Now we just need to wait 15 days to allow for any appeals and then we can get our permits and continue construction

I just hope it doesn’t rain

http://ci.yorba-linda.ca.us/agendas/plan_ag.pdf
June 29, 2005 Yorba Linda Planning Agenda

Last night we had an opportunity to go before the planning commission and get a waiver on the spot so that we could finally get construction back on track. Our hope was that at the end of the scheduled meeting we could do the “Audience Participation” part of the meeting and request the approvals. We (Bren, Baby, Myself) got there just before 7 pm so we could be first in line.

It would have worked if not for the “Design review 2005-10 - Shapell Industries” block that took 3 HOURS!
The residents of Avenida Del Norte had some valid concerns as to what was going to happen on land that abuts their property line to the north.

But why 3 hours?

• A low percentage of there concerns came across as rational, concise and relating to the topic at hand
• The builder has no PR skills and would do well to hire a PR person
• The residents (appeared) to have never been to council meeting of any sort before
• No one has ever taken a speech class, tip: write out the questions you want to ask before hand
• The board members only wanted to answer one question: what type of fence? No one comprehended that
• No one understands what “off topic” means! Even the builder, after being told that an item had no relevance, kept on bringing things up and was corrected over and over again
• No one enforced the 5 minute rule for speakers at the podium
• The builder would do well not to accuse people that you are trying to win over of breaking the law by trespassing when walking from their yards to the horse trails.
• Don’t drink before coming to meetings - that’s a different kind of meeting
• If all board meetings are aired on local cable and you are repeatedly told by board members and printed fliers at the door that you must come up to the podium to speak and be recorded for the record. STOP RAISING YOUR HAD FROM THE BACK ROW AND INTERRUPTING. They think less of you when you act like a school child.
• Don’t make opening speeches unless you have a printed script written by a speech writer.

And did anything happen at the end of the marathon rant session?
Not realy, the board aproved a bunch of conditions - and all the del norte residents mumbled bitterly as they slowly left.

We were the only people left in the room at 10:30 pm when it came to the Audience Participation portion. At first we were elated - we beat the 11pm cutoff!
Unfortunately for us - they were to worn out (a few visibly so) to even deal with our little issue.

Net result: We waisted 3 1/2 hours listening to meaningless banter born of miscommunication while struggling to keep the baby entertained and quite during the whole meeting. No permit, no waiver. But we are on the agenda for the July 13 meeting.
I hope del norte isn’t there.

Dear Yorba Linda Planning Commission,

This e-mail is our request to see if our project at parcel 349-311-24 or 5672 Oak Meadow Dr could fall within the scope of an exception to the building code #18.10.100B. This code section deals with 2nd story additions. We feel that our project is to such a small scale it merely completes the 2nd story with which we purchased the house.

If you look at “exterior.jpg” attached, you’ll see our house. We have a flat-roofed garage that extends from the front of our house. This roof has constantly leaked and caused us problems the two years we’ve owned this home. We decided in March to replace the roof making it a patio. We also removed the window to create a French door entrance to the patio. When my roofer went to get the permits we were told that we needed designs and approvals from the planning commission. When I spoke to Patricia Haley today she insisted that she has no leeway and must insist, per your authority, that we strictly adhere to the building requirements. While I understand that there are rules, I also understand that sometimes there are allowances. If I had known that I needed all these designs and planning approvals I would have obtained those months ago.
Now we are stuck with a half torn up project, exposing our house to potential termite and rain damage (”roof.jpg”) and the dust is upsetting my 5-month-old-son’s asthma.
I also included a picture of the view from the balcony to show you that (”view.jpg”) this isn’t your typical case of a 2nd story addition. We already have a second floor. We are just looking to fence in the roof and reinforce the roof to create a patio. We are not blocking anyone’s view or taking away any more privacy then what was already taken. We could have used the roof as a patio the way it was, but our goal was to correct the damage in a way that would enhance property value.
Please take a look at our pictures and see that the scope of what we are trying to accomplish is not the spirit for which code section 18.10.100B was intended. We are adding no new structures; we are just enclosing an existing one for a better looking property.
We are trying to meet the June 30th deadline should you refuse, but again, we would sincerely appreciate any leniency that could be afforded us due to our lack of understanding of the requirements (not represented by either contractor we hired) and our concern for our young son’s health. Please respond at your earliest convenience.

Sincerely,
Jason & Brynda De Arte
Homeowners
cell: NNN-NNN-NNNN
fax: NNN-NNN-NNNN
5672 Oak Meadow
Yorba Linda, CA 92886