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What happens if a city approves a deck that seems to violate fire codes

I believe my brother in law (he's an attorney but not a land use attorney) is bringing a political reporter from Fox and my son's friend has said someone will be coming from Channel 4 news to the hearing. In the city emails that I paid $500 for the city officials were emailing their friends to tell them that there was going to be a hug amount of "public clamor" at this hearing. You guys might see me on the news - I'll be the one breathing into a brown bag to stop a panic attack :)
 
I just hope that the deck size gets reduced - that's all I ever asked for. I'm thinking that Jeff Flake would not want people to know that he had been told about the zoning violations by me - long before he finished it - and did nothing about it. In Utah, State law says that it is the responsibility of the person who pulls the permit (Jeff's son in law on his behalf) to ensure that zoning laws are complied with. In addition, he used a contractor's name and license number to get the permit and then used unlicensed people to build it - that's against State law for an investment home in Utah too. So, hopefully Jeff will quietly take down the deck!
 
Jane said:
I just hope that the deck size gets reduced - that's all I ever asked for. I'm thinking that Jeff Flake would not want people to know that he had been told about the zoning violations by me - long before he finished it - and did nothing about it. In Utah, State law says that it is the responsibility of the person who pulls the permit (Jeff's son in law on his behalf) to ensure that zoning laws are complied with. In addition, he used a contractor's name and license number to get the permit and then used unlicensed people to build it - that's against State law for an investment home in Utah too. So, hopefully Jeff will quietly take down the deck!
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You might ask your attorney if he wants to lead with that

Just reduce the size to allowed amount??!
 
cda said:
You might ask your attorney if he wants to lead with that

Just reduce the size to allowed amount??!
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The problem is that since the city forced me to go all the way it turns out that no additional structures can be built in the development (See Craig's first letter) and I don't have the authority to say what I want. It's all or nothing at this point. My neighbor could apply for a variance but he doesn't actually qualify for one. I did write a letter to the BOA saying I would be happy if the deck was smaller but I don't think they have the authority to grant that. The city should just have worked with me as I really am a reasonable person but they brought out the "BRAVEHEART" in me :)
 
UPDATE: At least one news station is interested. They messaged me this morning and asked for the details and the documents.
 
Should be of interest to local developers and others.
Does your local Attorney's Bar Association have a Land Use committee? State Bar? they both might also be interested.
 
ADAguy said:
Should be of interest to local developers and others.
Does your local Attorney's Bar Association have a Land Use committee? State Bar? they both might also be interested.
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Good point - I would expect that they have heard about this debacle but I can check. The news media is now all over it and they want to interview my before the meeting. I'm thinking of waiting until after to see which way it comes down. I don't want to give the city any leverage against me at this late date. My attorney is coming to my house at 8 a.m. - I need a vacation for sure!
 
Jane said:
Good point - I would expect that they have heard about this debacle but I can check. The news media is now all over it and they want to interview my before the meeting. I'm thinking of waiting until after to see which way it comes down. I don't want to give the city any leverage against me at this late date. My attorney is coming to my house at 8 a.m. - I need a vacation for sure!
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One thing with the media

If you do it before, do it at your house with the un inspected mess of a deck as a background!!!


Media loves pictures
 
cda said:
One thing with the media

If you do it before, do it at your house with the un inspected mess of a deck as a background!!!


Media loves pictures
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My attorney is coming here in an hour or so to go over the details so I'll check with him. I didn't sleep last night because the stress is getting to me. The press already have the pictures of the deck as they asked me to send them some - I'm just camera shy....and scared I'll do or say something wrong :(
 
Personally I don’t see a benefit to meeting the media before the hearing. They don’t care about your situation, all they want is to sell papers (or fill airtime). They are going to slant the story in a way to benefit themselves.
 
Hilton, do you belong to the NRA too? Not all media folks are as jaded as you appear to be (smiling).
 
Nope, not part of nra. I look at all of the media as 50% entertainment and 50% infomercial. In this particular case i would worry about how Jane would look with regard to small town politics. If she loses, it would be better to just fade into the background. If she wins, she can be on tv saying “I’m happy that justice was served”.
 
I am amazed that this thread is approaching 400 posts......Jane you might have set a record for a single post!;);)
 
e hilton said:
Nope, not part of nra. I look at all of the media as 50% entertainment and 50% infomercial. In this particular case i would worry about how Jane would look with regard to small town politics. If she loses, it would be better to just fade into the background. If she wins, she can be on tv saying “I’m happy that justice was served”.
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My attorney agrees with you and it has definitely insured that the press will be at the meeting tonight. They tried to entice me by saying they could put it on the 5 p.m. news instead of the 10 p.m. news but, hey, who watches news at 5 p.m. anyway :) Provo is a small city with a good ole boys network so you have to be careful. One of my colleagues recently committed suicide because he went against the norm and his name was slandered. It's definitely a different place but on the plus side the mountains are beautiful :)
 
Jane said:
My attorney agrees with you and it has definitely insured that the press will be at the meeting tonight. They tried to entice me by saying they could put it on the 5 p.m. news instead of the 10 p.m. news but, hey, who watches news at 5 p.m. anyway :) Provo is a small city with a good ole boys network so you have to be careful. One of my colleagues recently committed suicide because he went against the norm and his name was slandered. It's definitely a different place but on the plus side the mountains are beautiful :)
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Yep ,,,, Been to Downtown Spanish Fork, during the winter. Mountains are fantastic
 
Good luck at your meeting tonight Miss Jane. I hope this gets resolved one way or the other for you this evening, and I hope it turns out in your favor.
 
Can you provide the channel and call letters so perhaps we can watch it on their website?

If this is picked up by a newspaper, can you let us know that info too?
 
JCraver said:
Good luck at your meeting tonight Miss Jane. I hope this gets resolved one way or the other for you this evening, and I hope it turns out in your favor.
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Well -it didn't go in my favor on timeliness - only three out of the 5 board members showed up and the only one who looked like he was old enough to shave was an attorney and said my appeal was timely but the other two didn't get the "triggering event" principle and said that if it was more than 14 days after the construction started then it was not timely. So, since there were only 3 I had to have a unanimous decision and I didn't. On the plus side this was just a (very expensive) hoop I had to jump through to get to the real legal people. So, it's off to court I go :(
 
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