Modern Mission Progress

The house is starting to come together...

Before

After

The stucco scratch coat has been applied, now it needs some paint and stain!

Francisco & Pia selecting tile and paint!

Oh, Development Services...

Yesterday, I tried to get a simple Traffic Control Permit to install a curb ramp for the Modern Mission, or at least I thought it was a simple permit…  Immediately, it was decided that the Mission House is close to the beach, therefore the Annual Beach Area Construction Moratorium is in effect and they cannot issue a Traffic Control Permit.  After explaining how the project is on a dead-end, residential street with plentiful parking, I was finally given the secret contact of the discretionary decider to plead our case.

After that was sorted, the plan reviewer and I delved into how to get people around the construction.   On the east side, easy, there is a stop sign at Santa Barbara and Del Monte; therefore it is easy to put up a sign to cross the street to go around the work.  It’s not so easy on the west side of the street.  At Guizot Street, the City has not installed a stop sign.  Therefore, simply adding a sign telling pedestrians the sidewalk is closed is out of the question! The reason, the City does not have any existing plan to control pedestrians at that corner.  Apparently a pedestrian is incapable of walking across the street with out proper signage!

Not only is a simple sign not acceptable, the work falls into the street so it isn’t possible to simply put up a barricade for the pedestrians to walk around the construction.  This would push the pedestrian into the dangerous traffic zone and inhibit traffic!  The City’s solution: hire a flagger for $15 dollars an hour, to walk the one or two pedestrians around the construction, in the busy street, with maybe 1-2 cars an hour.  I guess that’s the question: does the City really think people are so stupid they can’t look both ways before crossing the street?

This absurdity is an inherent problem working with Development Services at the City of San Diego. Some days, when trying to pull a permit for a simple task, you talk to a reviewer that is logical and willing to listen to reason.  This is not the norm.  Most days and most permits, reviewers have their hands tied by ever changing bureaucracy.  Its frustrating for them and its more frustrating for designers and contractors!

Maybe we should just Photoshop a stop sign?