25-UtilL0211

[Patrice Diem]

Building Permit Dept.

I am extremely frustrated  and disappointed with the building department for Larimer County. It appears that there is a problem in this department , i.e. setting up barriers to the permitting process rather than providing service.  I am cc'ing Commissioner Kefalas on this email regarding my concerns.

For over a year, in collaboration with a private property owner and at least three other community organizations, we have been planning to build an amateur, not commercial, radio tower in Crystal Lakes, a subdivision of Red Feather Lakes, in order to provide stable communication with the Office of Emergency Management in the likely event of a wildfire here. 

I have talked to two city planners, driven down the mt. to the County Building personally, and had conversations and emails with Kim Doss of the building dept. in order to try to get permitting for a simple amateur radio tower on private property.  I am not a builder or a contractor, but a 62 year old citizen of Larimer County working with a 92 year old property owner and many volunteers to get this radio tower built.  We are in a very rural area and NOT in an urban location and only trying to erect a stand alone 20 foot amateur tower structure powered by 8 solar panels with a simple utility cabinet; you would think with the complications from your department that we were trying to build a nuclear power plant. You appear to be trying to fit a square peg in a round hole due to your lack of  appropriate applications for our purpose (we are not trying to build a Residential Utility Building or a Wireless Communication Building, but have been told to fill out these permit applications depending on who you talk to on your staff) and are delaying this project in the process.  Kim Doss, from your department,  promised me that there were experienced amateur radio tower techs in the building department that could process our application...it appears that she was wrong.

In response to your requests to our Residential/Utility Building Permit Application:  

1) You must apply for a separate solar permit.  It cannot be combined with the utility permit.    I have uploaded the same information you already have into your separate electronic format so that you can have it twice.   I mistakenly assumed that this radio tower was considered ONE build as the tower and solar components function together.   You might consider walking down the hallway to the other engineers in your department and discuss this build together for efficiency purposes.

2) Please sign page 2 of the utility application and upload.  Need email and phone number for Donald Schiel.  I have signed page two of the Residential/Utility Building Permit Application and uploaded it into the system.   Donald Schiel, the property owner, does not have an email address (he's 92 and not  proficient with technology) and his phone number is clearly noted on page one of the application.  However, I will remember to add it to the application for the solar permit when I upload it AGAIN.

3) The site plan must be uploaded as a separate document.  We cannot accept an aerial photo for the site plan.  Please see the attached site plan requirements handout.   The site plan WAS uploaded as a separate document.  I have contacted our volunteer engineer out of Denver to redo a site plan without the benefit of visual landmarks that an aerial photo can provide, even though the both county planners I talked to have already reviewed the regulations/zoning from 1965 for this property and clarified that the setbacks were ok.  NOTE:  Our site plan, although aerial, was directly taken from the Larimer County Property Search GPS maps provided by the Assessor Office.  Thank you for the site plan handout...maybe it could be attached to the electronic form in the future for clarification ahead of time for regular folks to understand???  I'm assuming that the site plan for the solar panel application will also need to be redone for your mystical purposes and will upload that also.

4) Please clarify the details of the equipment shed.  If any utilities are in or attached to this shed, it requires a separate building permit.   I am unclear as to what shed you are referring to;  we are placing our radio equipment in a simple utility cabinet as stated in the application.   Are you seriously suggesting that a 48" x 24" X 24" metal utility cabinet needs ANOTHER building permit?  I'm flabbergasted.  Will a picture of the proposed cabinet or the manufacturer details be enough or do you need a drawing and hand marked labels of the spacing of the shelves, too?  

As I was submitting the application and the design plans for the solar array for the second time per your request, your electronic format asked me to attach an engineer letter.  When I searched the portal and permit application info for an explanation for what this was.....no luck.  I'm concerned that a design plan stamped by a licensed engineer was not enough. Is it possible that the submittal guidelines for alternate power sources needed to be submitted in some sort or written narrative?  Please advise.

I'm hoping that you will contact me in a timely manner to respond to my questions and/or if you are in need of verification or further requirements.  We have been planning this construction for over a year and have contractors waiting.   Let's hope the wildfires stay at bay while your office continues to prevaricate.

Looking forward to your response,

Patrice J. Diem

[John Kefalas]

Hello Patrice,

Thank you for including me in this email correspondence, and I will follow up accordingly. 

	John Kefalas (he/him) County Commissioner, District 1
	Commissioners' Office 200 W Oak St | 2nd Floor PO Box 1190, Fort Collins, CO 80522-1190 W: (970) 498-7001 Cell:  (720) 254-7598 jkef...@larimer.org | www.larimer.org

[Kim Doss]

Good morning Commissioner Kefalas,

We are working on a response to Patrice to address her questions and provide more support to make the process and requirements more clear and accommodating. Personally, I've had many conversations with Patrice regarding the proposed project, addressing her questions and providing instructions on the permitting process and requirements repeatedly and eventually sending a follow up email with resources and instructions so those are documented.

We appreciate your faith in us to respond to Patrice with the professional courtesy we offer the public every day as public servants. As permit technicians, our priority is providing clear and consistent information and guidance to the public. We understand that our customers are not always construction savvy. 

Thank you

Kim Doss

--

Thank you

Kim Doss  Permit Technician Community Development 200 W. Oak Street 3rd Floor 970-498-7702 www.Larimer.org/building

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