Exactly this sort of thing is rampant in Chicago as all the DofB inspectors are trying
To pick thru the carcass to find things to report and ways to fill their time sheet.
We were involved in a serious, but really small structural issue in Lincoln Park recently.
(not our design, brought in by the owner to fix it)
No fewer than 10 DofB staffers showed up.
David L. Fisher SE PE
Senior Principal
Fisher and Partners
372 West Ontario
Suite 301
Chicago 60654
312.622.0409 (m)
312.573.1701
312.573.1726 (f)
www.fpse.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Bill Polhemus [mailto:bill@polhemus.cc]
Sent: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 2:06 PM
To: seaint@seaint.org
Subject: Re: BUILDING CODE: Certificate of Occupancy
ron buchko wrote:
| as a former building official for a very large jurisdiction..... I disagree with your suspicious mind that "building inspectors" can do very much at all during his/her inspections to "change" the occupancy category.... |
I guess what I'm saying is simpler than that.
Follow the money:
1) Construction starts are down, ergo the same for construction permits, and the fees they bring in to the city's Building Department.
2) Less construction activity = less inspections. But the inspectors are civil service employees, and are not going to be let go.
3) Since these inspectors have some time on their hands, why not send them around to various existing building sites, and just "see what they can see?'
4) The "red tag" for this particular building tenant states "submit your plans and specs and pay the fees to have them reviewed and approved." Otherwise, there will be a citation, and resulting fine. Note that this church has been there for six years, and another church was there before them for some number of years.
It's just not that hard for me to see this money-trail. I could be wrong. But these "red tags" were all over the place in this particular office park, not just this one church.