Big Picture: Where are we?
Finally…. progress on permits!
Corp Update
- I’ve finally made some headway on the permits for the hardscape at Mintwood. Building (PLI) was rejecting the application again, and I politely escalated it from the various plan inspectors to the gentleman who runs PLI permits. One I’d walked him through the project on a zoom call, he took point on getting the permits done. The actual permits should be done Tuesday or Wednesday this week.
The PLI manager also acknowledged that the city “doesn’t make it easy to do projects like this.” Apparently they don’t deal well with projects that cross lot lines, which many retaining walls do. He also mentioned that the process works easier if you apply for the permit from the “high side” – that is, the property that has soil to hold back, not the downhill property. It’s arbitrary, but that’s how Zoning and PLI are set up- they think of the wall as “belonging” to the property with the soil to hold back. But he also said that they have no instructions about any of this on the web site. I at least felt like I wasn’t an idiot for not deciphering the process better. - We will have a site visit Tuesday from the concrete crew just to plot out a. couple of logistics like where we’re going to stash the bobcat. One of our neighbors has been kind enough to let us use their driveway for a dump truck during the construction process, which will help us be a lot more efficient. I’m applying to block the parking spaces in front of the building as well as a permit for intermittent closure of Cabinet Way, so that we have legal permission to block the alley as needed.
- We have a stone mason lined up to work the front step repair while we are doing demo work out back. We are coordinating these because we want to use the skid steer to unload the stone step (which weighs 700 lbs). Once that step is in, we’ll finally be able to install our beautiful front door.
- I’ve been away for a couple of weeks, so I haven’t spent much time at Hack. However, I’m told that they’re nearly done clearing out the stuff from the woodshop, and that we’ll be able to start construction of the work platform soon. This is a precursor to installing the cabinets, because we need to shuffle around a bunch of the stationary tools. This will obviously be a lower priority vs the concrete project at Mintwood.
Goals for September
- Receive approval from PLI for construction
- Brace neighboring decks and begin demolition of old parking pad and walls.
- Tax preparations
Entropy Properties LLC 