Brookins and city attorney Maren Swanson spent the last few weeks researching state law to see whether a building official has legal authority to screen applicants requesting a hearing. While a building official has no legal power, communities with board of appeals almost universally give officials that authority, they found. But given the council and residents’ reaction, city staff will recommend applications be forwarded to the board, which will decide which appeals will be heard.

Julie

IIRC, nothing was finalized at the meeting (it was a work session, after all), but it seemed generally agreed that Northfield will try out a local appeals board for a period of two years, after which time a sunset clause would cause it to expire if further action is not taken.

They discussed a time frame in which appeals decisions would be issued (within 5 days of a hearing perhaps?). They emphasized that the board would not create solutions, but would simply hear the appeals, and consider any proposed remedies contained within those appeals.

They also agreed that the Building Inspector will not be able to determine what rulings are eligible for appeal.

I expect that the LWV meeting summary will contain more reliable information than my recollections above, but I hope that helps for now.

We at the NDDC are pleased that the efforts of building and business owners are apparently moving toward fruition and thank the Council for the receptivity toward this potential tool for supporting business retention, expansion and recruitment.

I’ll catch up with you off-line and we can go over the details.

P.S. I have made up posters for “Caribbean Day” on Sat. Jan. 26th. I included that the downtown would be full of ‘deals’. I do hope retailers at least turn up the heat, play island music and dress up. I know it is short notice. Tim Sellers from Tiny’s is offering “Tim’s Tropical Dog”. It sounds wonderful! Ideas for next year?

On the other hand, if the UBC is being inconsistently applied, then there needs to be some mechanism to deal with the official. There have been hints (actually, outright accusations) in some of the comments posted here that that is what is going on in Northfield. In that case, the official needs to come under the scrutiny of his superiors. If the board does not have this type of authority over the building inspector, then it is a waste of time and money, IMNSHO. The comment made earlier about the building inspector deciding what projects can be appealed reinforces my opinion that a board will not eliminate the problems brought up.

I think I agree with Anne when she said, “…Just prove he makes mistakes. Evidence matters…”. This is accomplished by thorough research and documentation. I echo the fear that Anne stated before, “…At this point the board of appeals will just be another place to vent and argue and debate…”, and I think there is enough of that on LG.

This issue is, how best to establish a process whereby the decision of one city employee can be reviewed and, if necessary, appealed. That’s all.

Many of Northfield’s building owners, those both downtown and outside the historic district, have built/renovated/managed commercial buildings in other locations besides Northfield. I have heard at least four of them, and probably more (four are all I can remember from the past few months) state that they’ve have more problems with building inspections in Northfield than any other community they work in. (Some of the others communities include Faribault, Eagan, Cannon Falls, and Edina, if I remember correctly; quite an interesting diversity of municipalities.)

This is a problem for business and economic development in Northfield and it deserves a serious look. Just because the squeaky wheel is loud and annoying doesn’t mean it’s the only wheel on the bus. Maybe the squeaky wheel is a warning that some serious maintenance is needed.

One of the great things about Northfield is that so many people DO care. Please don’t discourage that.

Please be extremely careful with the tone of your remarks.

I’m confused.

Which (or should I say whose) expert is it that we’re supposed to listen to?

You said the angry people need to get with the program, and I would say to you that you should not being so opinionated about something that doesn’t effect you. All your research is in vain, because we are dealing with real people with real problems that have the right to have their issues be heard. The state official wasn’t opposed to a local board of appeal, so do you have authority over his opinion?

On this particular issue, I simply don’t see that what’s happening in other communities is relevant-- even if your search results are exhaustive. The problems we’re having in Northfield indicate that there’s something wrong either with personality or process, and in either case will have to be resolved specifically, and probably at a local (municipal) level. The existence of the provision in the State statute is an acknowledgement that even at the outset, people could foresee trouble.

I don’t understand why anyone would OBJECT to having a local board of appeals.

The state building official has been at one of the council meetings. I have to ask why you are being so resistant on this topic when it obviously doesn’t effect you? I have many friends that own building’s down town and it is costing them time, money, & causing a great amount of pain and stress in their lives. Walk a mile in their shoes and than feel free to make a point.

In fact, the “County Option” was first raised to us by Administrator Roder. However, based on our additional research, it appears to us that if we used the County’s Building Board of Appeals we would also have to use the County’s Building Staff for our local Inspector and Official.

- Ross

Even though you “appealed” to the building inspector to reconsider your evidence and grant the permit, it was not an appeal in the procedural sense. However, your experience illustrates the way that an official’s decision about what satisfies the requirements of building codes or local ordinances has room for interpretation.

If the situation had gone the other way, and you had been refused a permit and been told that the only way you could get a permit was to spend $_____ thousand dollars to satisfy a particular point in the requirements, and it was your reasonable belief and understanding that the point either had been satisfied or did not apply to your situation, wouldn’t you have wanted some means of appealing that decision? And I don’t mean just appealing to the city official to reconsider his decision; let’s assume that you’ve done that and he still says “no way”.

That’s what’s being discussed regarding the proposed Board of Appeals. Obviously it becomes more relevant with the complexity and expense of any given project.

I had the choice of having a new survey performed (unknown $$) or find the original lot markers. There were two I could find, but, unfortunately, on the other side of the lot. I was out unearthing a corner of my yard when my neighor walked over to see what I was doing. He just happened to have a plot of his lot with the exact location of his house signed by a licensed surveyor. From this, I made another drawing, using his location to document my side set-back. I took this to the office and was informed that this only proved that there was a house on my neighbor’s lot (something that seemed quite evident to me just by observation, but maybe not “legally binding”). I pointed out the signature of the surveyor and his license number and asked them to reconsider. I received a call about 20 minutes later that my permit was ready and I could pick it up at any time.

Now I know that not everyone has time, talent or resources to do what I was able to, but given the circumstances, I felt my appeal was entertained and, evidently, sufficient to get a permit. Restoring a downtown building is certainly more involved than a simple deck, but, allowing for proper research and documentation by licensed professionals, it seems that a direct appeal to the building inspector can be successful without having a board. Am I being too simplistic in my evaluation? Since Norm Butler spent about 20 grand to find out he didn’t have to do anything, would having a BOA have saved him that money? Just wondering.

Although it’s pretty clear to me that having a local, Northfield one would be most effective.