This is very sad, but it is not the end of the world. It is one person, a county inspector, misunderstanding that there was recourse. The director said that the county would have worked with the family. I’m sure many people don’t know the proper grade for a wheelchair ramp and often create ones at an unsafe grade or without the proper weight bearing support without guidance. Permission should be obtained beforehand.

I'm no expert as to the wheelchair ramp's safety, but the steepness of the ramp looked the same as ramps I've seen in public, if not even less steep.

And since their son Bob was in construction, chances are good he has access to that kind of information and likely consulted it before he built it.

Some busybody nosy neighbor probably called in to complain about. Probably the same one with that hideous PODS container sitting in the driveway. Now that PODS container would be something to complain about, especially if it's been there longer than 24 hours.

Sounds like a lawsuit could happen.

> It is one person, a county inspector,
> misunderstanding that there was
> recourse.

It's always one person. The impulse of the lowliest government worker to throw weight around is, when government has the authority, as confounding as the witless ambition of our most senior public servants. When they say you're fucked, you're fucked.

> The director said that the county
> would have worked with the family.

The director will say that when trying to recover his or her status, but who cares? If that authority had been working the problem simply would not have occurred.

Government incompetence doesn't merely cause greater distrust in government, warranted or not. In a culture like ours —in which the overwhelming majority of people believe that government is how decency and righteousness are composed and distributed— abuse of power creates in citizens a distrust of the project of civilization & society itself.

That's not grandiose rhetoric... When was the last time you heard anyone in your intimate circle of friends daydreaming about making a positive change in society through anything except government?

A few years ago, there were a couple movies that I liked... Limitless and The Adjustment Bureau. (I think there were a couple others that year that shared the characteristic, but those are the two I remember.) In both those films, the nearly unspoken presumption was that the highest proper vessel for achievement and involvement in human affairs was the presidency of the United States. The narrative grounder was deeper than a mere deux ex machina... No one would ever question the assumption.

> Sounds like a lawsuit
> could happen.

And who will pay penalties? Can you imagine that the agencies, let alone the individual miscreants, will suffer any punishment at all?

I'll never understand why people are so glib about that. Sue the government!

Not sure what people want to happen here.

1. they needed a permit and didn't get one.
2. they were given an opportunity to address the permit in court, and instead ripped down the ramp.

a. didn't approach the county's board of appeals
b. didn't talk to an attorney or any other knowledgeable party
c. didn't bother researching the permit or appeals process

Yes it's unfortunate, but could have been avoided with just a little forethought.

"1. they needed a permit and didn't get one."

Screw that. A simple ramp should not require a permit. Safety is not the motivation for building permits. Taxation is. The government wants to see to it that you pay taxes on the materials you or your tradespeople buy, and they want to know if you do anything to increase the valuation of your house so that they can raise your property taxes. Any safety benefits are incidental.

"2. they were given an opportunity to address the permit in court, and instead ripped down the ramp."

Yeah, because all disabled people have an extra $30,000 laying around to pay a lawyer to defend them against a permit-Raj asshole, who incurs no risk by throwing his weight around because the taxpayers are on the hook to defend him.

"a. didn't approach the county's board of appeals."

I've spent some time in Prince George's County. It is one of the most nazi government bodies in the U.S. (What is it about Maryland that makes it full of president-for-life wannabees?) Their chances of prevailing on appeal were precisely zero, and it probably would have taken at least a year to go through the process.

"b. didn't talk to an attorney or any other knowledgeable party."

See the part above about the $30,000.

"c. didn't bother researching the permit or appeals process."

Did you see the bit about how the son who built the ramp is in the construction trades? He probably knows the permit and appeals process full well. He had already priced a ramp to be built by a contractor who would pull a permit, and it was unaffordable for the woman. He also probably that filing an appear was pointless. People in the trades know that the system in most blue states is completely rigid. Your only choices are to either get-along-go-along, or work completely outside the system.

Unless a back yard construction projects gets tall enough that it might fall into a neighbors yard, or requires digging down far enough to hit infrastructure it shouldnt require a permit

Permits are a necessity if you ever want to sell the house. The buyer is, in theory, protected against the potentially shoddy construction you bought on the cheap.

At the sale's due diligence, any halfway decent home inspector is going to turn up the fact that you added onto the house without permits and is going to flag that. Good bye mortgage loan, especially FHA or VA, and goodbye sale.

Evelyn's son Bob built the ramp. He's in the construction trades.

"In the construction trades" does not mean licensed contractor.

If you take a look at the picture of the ramp, you can see that the supports for it are resting on the concrete walkway, not sunk into the ground and anchored. I don't know what the code for wheelchair ramps is in Laurel, MD, but I'll bet it requires the ramp have some sort of anchor.

The villain in this piece, the inspector is a bureaucrat, rigidly insisting that "the process" be followed. God save us from the bureaucrats and their petty displays of hostility.

Bob the Builder should have known what the permitting process is and at least put in an application before building it. Except that the application would have required a licensed contractor be in charge of building it - and, apparently, Bob is not one.

Nonetheless, Bob gave up too easily. A quick trip down to the county inspector's office to see if top management would work with him could have saved his mother's ramp; unless Bob knew the ramp was not up to code and had no chance of surviving the appeals process.

"The world is full of contention and contentious people. They will not tell you the time of day or day of the month without their little display of hostility. … It is more than a reflex, I think. It is an affirmation of importance. Each one is saying, “I can afford to be nasty to you because I don’t need any favors from you, buster.” It is also, perhaps, a warped application of today’s necessity to be cool. … If I were King of the World I would roam my kingdom in rags, incognito, dropping fortunes onto the people who are nice with no special reason to be nice, and having my troops lop off the heads of the mean, small, embittered little bastards who try to inflate their self-esteem by stomping on yours. I would start the lopping among post-office employees, bank tellers, bus drivers, and pharmacists. I would go on to checkout clerks, bellboys, prowl-car cops, telephone operators, and U.S. Embassy clerks. By God, there would be so many heads rolling here and there, the world would look like a berserk bowling alley." ~ Travis McGee

Don't forget the residential building inspectors, Travis.

Screw that. A simple ramp should not require a permit. Safety is not the motivation for building permits. Taxation is.

I lived in Anchorage, AK, for awhile. Until the mid-1970s, there were essentially no building codes there.

Houses built before then are rubbish.

Further to the above.

When we lived in Michigan, our house had a deck that was starting to look a bit ratty. My wife figured we could just put new planks on and be done with it.

Despite not being in the building trades, I had enough of an eye to strongly suspect the structure of the un-permitted thing was just as bad as the stuff we could see.

Turned out to be the case.

So we ripped the whole thing out, and used the permitting requirements, and process, as guidelines and verification for building a safe, durable, deck.

Despite my not being a trades person.

I'll never understand why people are so glib about that. Sue the government! ~ Crid at July 31, 2018 5:57 AM

They're glib about for the same reason they're so glib about 'Medicare for all' or 'free college for all,' the government has a limitless supply of money, doesn't it?

There's also greed: As long as they get theirs, screw it if it costs somebody else time, freedom, money, etc.

Waiting for Artemis to weigh in here with how he carefully complied with all govenement requriements (as everyone should) so his Skinner box could be maneuvered in and out of his residence.

:-).

Nicely done, Crid.

Isabel! A ref to B.F.? Heh!

the government has a limitless supply of money, doesn't it?

Of course, as long as we have adequate stocks of paper, ink and electricity for the printing presses.

The good news in Venezuela is that everyone is a millionaire now. The bad news is that you need 2 million bolivares to buy a cup of coffee.

What Conan said in his first paragraph

My aunt and uncle bought a cabin, stairs needed some work, thier mortgage company refused to allow the sale until they were replaced by bonded (see sueable) contractors, and the sellers insurance company demanded the same for some reason

>>Bob knew the ramp was not up to code and had no chance of surviving the appeals process.

I suspect that's the case - take a look at the pics - not anchored, no footings or brackets to stabilize the base, no posts or cross bracing. You can tell from the picture that it's not well constructed.

With that in mind, you have to wonder what plans he submitted to the city - probably ones for another ramp design?? Maybe that's why he tore it up so quickly and is trying to give away the pieces.

FWIW you can get a portable steel ramp for front stairs, with handrails, for less than $1000 - and they don't need a permit.

Count me as another vote for this wasn't built to code and wouldn't have been approved if permits were sought. But I also don't see the need for it to be built to code. The woman is 91. This just needed to last a few years. Any new owners of the property would want it torn down anyways. And at her age the house is most likely paid off. So concerns about mortgage companies are likely irrelevant.

As for the claims that the county would have worked with them, that is a pile of BS. They are just trying to mitigate any bad press since this got into the news.

And at her age the house is most likely paid off. So concerns about mortgage companies are likely irrelevant. ~ Ben at July 31, 2018 6:41 PM

She may not need to worry about a mortgage, but the next buyer probably will. No reputable lender will underwrite a loan on a house with non-code additions. As a non-code addition, it would have needed to be torn down before being listed. Since the ramp blocked any other access to the front door, the lender could never have let it slide.

New owners would not have torn it down. The sellers would have been required to tear it down before the loan could be approved.

Of course the city balked, that was one HUGE ramp for just a few steps down. Back in the late 60s, my parents renovated our house in Florida and added a concrete ramp for me (I'm in a wheelchair) in the front (where there were steps) and it was to code (for the era) and HALF that size. Yes, its construction was all done legally by contractors, but it's still there to this day - forty years after we left.

By the way, there are heavy duty, metal ramps available nowadays for wheelchair customers that cost about what SonnyBoy paid for lumber, including this modular one: https://www.discountramps.com/ez-access-modular-pathway-wheelchair-ramps/p/PATHWAY/

It probably assembles/disassembles pretty easily and could've avoided a lot of this drama, but then, I try to look for the most efficient solutions to problems and ask a billion questions first...

The sellers would have been required to tear it down before the loan could be approved.

OK, so if and when the house goes up for sale (probably when the current owners die), they tear the thing out. Meanwhile Mrs. Strahle can get in and out of her house. I don't see a problem here--but then, I'm not a petty bureaucrat.

Isab,

Of course I would always love to comply with government regulations... but I could use some of your expert advice.

How was it again that you got the permit to live under your bridge?

Lender nothing Conan. If you are going to sell that house you will need to tear that thing down. Doesn't matter if it is built to code or not. It has to go before the house is sellable. After her death whoever inherits the house has to take that thing down. Worries about the mortgage company are irrelevant.

"A quick trip down to the county inspector's office to see if top management would work with him could have saved his mother's ramp..."

That would work here in Alabama. But read what I said above about Prince George's County, Maryland. This is the county where there used to be one moderate-priced hotel that was used by a lot of TDY government employees. The parking garage was across the street, in the middle of the block. At the desk, when you checked in, they would warn you to walk down to the corner to cross the street, because the police watched the front of the hotel so they could give tickets to jaywalkers crossing the street to the parking garage. A (probably bored out of his mind) cop who could have been doing actual police work was assigned to watch the hotel's front door, all day long. If you so much as stepped off the curb in front of the door, wham.

As for the actual building of the ramp: I'm sorry, it's not rocket science. For the average home where the sidewalk is three steps down from the front door, anyone with moderately good carpentry skills can do it. And I've never seen one punch through the sidewalk, either. (Think about that... if the sidewalk can't bear the weight of a ramp, how can it bear the weight of someone walking or rolling a wheelchair across it? That would be a really lame sidewalk.)

"Houses built before then are rubbish."

I could show you a lot of houses, built to code and inspected, that are rubbish. I am aware of some very high-end homes in Birmingham, built to code and inspected, that were built with a synthetic stucco product called Dryvit. They used it because people wanted that look, and installing Dryvit was cheaper than hand-applied stucco. The city approved it and signed off on it. The Dryvit turned out to have the property of trapping water and rotting out the structure behind it. Every house that had it wound up needing tens of thousands of dollars in repairs. Allow me to reiterate the purpose of the process of permits and inspections:

1. Collect a tax on the act of doing construction. (That's what permit fees are.)

2. Allow the city government to determine the basis value of your house, for property taxation.

3. Ensure that use taxes are paid on materials.

That's it. Any safety benefits that result are the work of conscientious contractors, tradespeople and inspectors. (And diligent property owners, if they're smart.) This is almost totally independent of the permitting process. If you've every actually built a house yourself, you quickly become aware that there are many parts of the process that are sheer bureaucracy and paperwork, whose sole purpose is so the city can keep tabs on how much in taxes and fees you should be paying.

If you are going to sell that house you will need to tear that thing down. Doesn't matter if it is built to code or not. It has to go before the house is sellable. ~ Ben at August 1, 2018 6:27 AM

Well, yes. It is an ugly monstrosity. And, as both meany and Jaqueline Tellalian have pointed out, there's a simple steel one that is less obtrusive and is easily installed and removed that Bob could have gone with.

However, the house could theoretically be sold with a to-code ramp in place. People in wheelchairs do buy houses, but they won't get a loan on one with a non-code homemade ramp in place.

Worries about the mortgage company are irrelevant. ~ Ben at August 1, 2018 6:27 AM

Nobody's worried about the mortgage company; simply pointing out that the estate will have a hard time selling the house with that monstrosity in place as even buyers who want a ramp won't be able to get a loan on a non-code homemade addition to the house.

If you aren't worried about what the mortgage companies think Conan then what is your point? Heck, just look at what you wrote after the semicolon.