A Little Progress and a Little More Trouble

Debris From Neighbor's Tree

It's been a while since my last update. That was partly because things have been moving at a snail's pace and partly because I have been working like a slave at the office. So, house stuff and running around in circles with the City of Tampa had to take a back seat.

But I'm happy to report that some progress has been made! We got our permit approved for the creation of our 2nd bathroom. And there's been a little bit of progress done on the alley (to be discussed below). But the City is back at it again. Today, I got cited for my neighbor's tree! That's right! I got a notice for someone else's tree. Only in Tampa! :/

Bathroom Addition

It took a while, but we got a permit issued to create a 2nd bathroom. The City added all of our windows to that permit request, which I understand they are not actually supposed to do - technically, they modified my permit request without my approval (or even my knowledge). But the best part is that the windows included under the permit were the same exact windows we bought the house with. So, that's awesome *sarcasm*.

The good news, however, is that the City is going to let us keep the windows. We do, however, have to get impact protection for them, which costs $8,000. So, really, the City of Tampa is extorting $8,000 from us just so we can live in our own home, which sucks. But it sucks less than having to tear them all out and replace them, which would be more like $20,000 (lowest estimate)... and due to the age of the house, I would have to do all of that work myself or find a handyman willing to assist.

Finally, since my new bathroom is considered a Level 2 alteration, we have to bring all the smoke detectors up to code, which means hardwiring them to the electrical system. You might think that would be easy. But you would be wrong. You see, our house has about 5ft of clearance in the attic and the roof is not drywall on roof joists; there's over 1" of solid wood under those joists. And over the past 90+ years, that wood has worn in spots, but mostly it's hardened. So, getting through it is not trivial. So far, each smoke detector has taken hours to install and I've still got 3 fixtures left to add in addition to about half of the wiring to complete.

The Alley

The City of Tampa has still yet to approve the alley behind our house - no big surprise there. The initial request I got from the City was for alley measurements. So, I went out there for a few hours and measured everything: the width of the alley, distance to the fences of all adjoining properties, sidewalk position, everything. I drew it up to scale, labeled it, and sent it to the City. Then, they told me what they meant was that they wanted a topographical survey and a Right of Way (ROW) survey. Paying hundreds of dollars for a survey or two and to-scale measurements are VERY different things.

Anyway, I ended up hiring someone to do one survey for topographical and ROW and I sent it to the City last week. I haven't really heard anything back yet. Or if I did, I've been working so much that I didn't notice. Either way, I still don't know the outcome. Fingers are still crossed, tho.

Our Neighbor's Tree

A Freshly Snapped Branch

Recently, we've had some rain. Not a ton of rain, but it was apparently enough to snap one of the branches on my neighbor's tree who we share the alley with. Now, this wasn't just some twig, it was a massive branch - think the size of a car. And that branch fell in the alley because my neighbor's tree is massive and some of the branches extend high over the alley.

Neither my wife nor I were there when it snapped and fell, but we did see the aftermath (yesterday, I think). So, how could we know it was our neighbor's tree? Well, for one, it is the only tree in the area that has a branch like the one that fell and for two, if you stand near where the branch fell and look up then you can see a large branch attached to my neighbor's tree with a fresh break on the end that's the same size as the branch in the alley... so, a quick calculus... carry the 2... yea, it's a branch from my neighbor's tree.

But does my neighbor get a notice for their debris? Nope! We do. So, I called the code officer who cited us, sent her a text and an email (with pictures attached). And I called one of the code supervisors that my mom referred me to.

The code officer was less than helpful. However, I was able to speak to a supervisor who was very helpful. She came by, inspected the situation and told me that the city would be able to haul the debris away. So, that is awesome! I actually use that alley on frequent occasion and it's considerably less useful with a giant branch in the middle of it. Now, I just need to get the left over building materials/supplies cleared out of my backyard - which I will begin doing this week.