Southmoor Gardens Neighborhood Association

March Newsletter 2006

Sep 13, 2006

How much do you know about building codes and permits?

Do you know, for instance, when a permit is required or, when needed, how to obtain one?
Come join us at our March meeting, when we will be pleased to have as our speaker Ruth Hamel, who is with the city's Building Safety Division.
Here are some questions you may have asked yourself (or someone less knowledgeable than our guest):

Code Requirements: What are building codes? Why are they important? What do they cover? Whom can I speak to if I have a question?

Licensed contractors: How do I know whether the person or company I hired to do the work is qualified or licensed? Why is this important? What if I am not satisfied with the work or it has now posed a danger? Are there recommended contractors? Where can 1 look at a list of licensed contractors?

Permit Requirements: When does a homeowner need to have a permit? How much does it cost? How do ! get one? How does the procedure work? What if I had something done and did not get a permit before?

Electrical Service: What can I do myself, and when do I need someone to do it for me? When does the electric company get involved? How do I know if quality work is being done? How do I know it is safe?

Fences: How much can I replace without a permit? Does it matter what kind offence I install or where I place it? Can I have it as tall as I want?

Decks: When do 1 need a permit? Why can't I just do this myself without a permit? Do I have to provide a scaled drawing? Where can I place the deck? How much of my yard can I cover?

Water Heater/Furnace/Air Conditioning: What if I have already had this done and I don't know whether a permit was taken out? Why is a permit so important for these items? How long would I wait for an inspector to arrive?

Basement Finishing: When should there be inspections? At what stages? If I'm only installing a dividing wall and door, with no outlets or plumbing, can I do the work myself? Would I need inspections on this?

Swimming pools & hot tubs: What about those inflatable ring pools? Does a wading pool need a permit? Do I need a fence? Must I have a lock on my gates or a special lock on the door(s) leading to the back yard? Isn't the hot tub cover enough protection?

Roofing/Siding: Do I need a permit? What about stucco? What about replacing windows?

Plumbing/Sump Pumps/Back Flow Preventors: Why do I need a permit? What if I do the work
myself? When do I need a back flow preventor?

Driveways: What types can I have? Do I need a permit? What about the
sidewalk? Who is responsible?

Retaining Walls: What materials can I use? How tall can it be before I need a permit? Can I do the work myself? Do I need any special items to apply for a permit?

Accessory Structures: What about building or installing a detached garage, a greenhouse, or a sunroom? How far from the property line or house can thisbe? Are there a ny restrictions on how tall I can build this?

Inspections: How do I schedule an inspection? What time will the inspector be there? What can I expect when an inspector arrives?

Building a new home: What are some things I should know before hiring a builder? What things should be discussed before beginning? How do I make sure the right materials are being used? If things are different from what is shown on the plans, what can I do?

Here are our speaker's comments on what to expect from the presentation: "Overall, it will be a very informal, relaxing, free-flowing exchange of questions, discussion and concerns. There will be myself, a plans examiner (Dave Byl), and a permit representative (Kristein Reichardt). Kristein will walk you through how to get a permit, associated costs, inspections, and contractor licensing, to name a few items. Dave will cover technical questions on code requirements, when you need a permit and why, what will be looked at, etc. They both provide a wealth of information, so we encourage questions as we go along."

March Meeting
March 16, 2006 7 p.m.
Overland Park Community Center
87th and Lamar, Room 208

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Residential Dwelling Building Safety Seminar

In addition to the opportunity to discuss the above issues offered at our meeting, there will be a free seminar in May (in case some may not be able to attend our meeting, but would like information). All of the topics above will be covered at the seminar. In addition, the Police Department will address home security and overall home safety, personal safety, lighting, locks and reinforcement of doorjambs, and whom to call and when, and the Fire Department will discuss smoke detectors, home precautions and preparedness, fire extinguishers, basement windows for exiting, and protecting your property against fire loss.

This seminar will be a more structured affair than the one that will be presented to our group, due to time constraints, with less time for questions and answers, but much more content. -- basically, not as personal, but definitely still worthwhile.

This Residential Dwelling Building Safety seminar will be held on Wednesday, May 10th, at 7p.m., in the Highland Room at St. Andrew's Golf Club, located at 11099 West 135th St.

Anyone interested should e-mail the requested number of seating reservations to:

Ruth.hamel@opkansas.org Or call 913/895-6232

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Report from the Committee Meeting with the Developer of Katie's ROW

David Conrad, Negotiation Committee Chairman

The last meeting between Dial Realty and the Southmoor Team was held on January 31 st. At that meeting, Dial presented four simple sketches indicating the number and type of homes they would consider building. We also discussed the need to conduct a focus group with approximately 25 residents as part of a public outreach program. Dial asked us to present the layouts, obtain comments, suggestions, etc., and report these findings at our next meeting.

The focus group was held on February 11th, and included our two City Council members. We had groups of 6 or 8 people per table reviewing both Dial's layouts and two created by the Southmoor
Team. It was a frank and open discussion of the number of houses Dial may build under different zoning categories, as well as attached versus detached houses. All of the focus group participants agreed that Dial should build detached houses [thus remaining in the R-1 zoning], and expressed concern regarding parking, drainage and the internal road system.

Dial has been working on their other projects in Manhattan, Kansas, and elsewhere, and our next meeting with them is scheduled for the first week of March. After receiving the focus group findings, Dial will want some time to produce some new drawings that narrow the field and offer greater specificity. The team is thinking a full neighborhood meeting is likely in a month or so.

If you would like to receive our zoning updates via e-mail, please e-mail: Joan Wagstaff, our neighborhood chairperson, at hwagstaffiq,earthlink.net or David Conrad, at dconrad20Q6(ajearthlinkJnet.

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Neighborhood TV Celebrities

You may remember, back last fall, when we shared the news that the pillared home at 67th and Glenwood belonging to Peter and Jenika Cook was to be featured on the PBS program Ask This Old House.
The project involved installing ductless air conditioning in their 1907 home (one of Southmoor Gardens historic residences). Jenika has informed us that the program featuring this project will be shown on Thursday, March 30th, at 8 p.m.. This will be something to see ?— not only a local project, but a neighborhood project.

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Sad News

We have learned of the death of 69th Terr, neighbor Howard Reynolds, and wish to express sympathy to his family and friends.

Anything of interest from your street?

Give us a call, at 722-4693, or e-mail the particulars to hwagstaff@earthlink.net.