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HillJilly
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# Posted: 8 Sep 2015 09:31
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I think mental health professionals need to add another disorder to the list...
Called 'By-Law Anxiety"
Characterized by nervous facial ticks, gastrointestinal cramping, as well as spasmodic muscular tension resulting in neck (& posterior) pain...
Nuts...
I do not know if it will do any good, but I have sent the following message to some political parties which will remain un-named....
They wanted to know what matters to me as a voter and this is what I told them:
Affordable housing and changing the building codes to allow people to build small homes. Allowing small homes to be built will create a more sustainable environmental footprint in both building materials required as well as heating costs. This would put home ownership within reach of a lot more people and help reduce the housing shortage. The building codes presently require a minimum floor area of between 850 - 1000 sq ft. This makes building a home out of reach of many people. Please consider looking at ways to allow small homes to be permitted in the building codes.
Likely will not matter much as far as I can figure out politics - which I must admit is a mystery to me - but I did something perhaps????
It is my sincere hope that we will never need a permit to change the toilet paper roll! Although I am not entirely sure that's not coming down the pipe with the way things are now...
Sorry for this pathetic rant, thanks for reading it - hope I gave you a little laugh...
Kindest Regards, Hill Jilly
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 8 Sep 2015 09:45
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Quoting: HillJilly The building codes presently require a minimum floor area of between 850 - 1000 sq ft.
Is it the building code or is it the area zoning? Here in NM the total sq ft requirements wherever they may be come from local zoning boards or commissions. Still government but a different arm of government.
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hattie
Member
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# Posted: 8 Sep 2015 10:52 - Edited by: hattie
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Aren't they starting to build really tiny places in Vancouver? Mind you they aren't homes - I think they are condos. But I recall hearing something on the news about it.
Out here in the middle of nowhere in BC where we live, we have downsized as much as we can downsize. With taxes going up for everything here in BC we worry how we will survive. Every time promises are made we figure it means more taxes to pay for them. Give in one hand and take (even more) from the other is the way things are done. What the government doesn't understand (because those in power have no first-hand experience with it) is that when you live in the bottom of the fish pond there isn't anywhere else to go (except under the mud which is where we will all end up eventually I suppose).
The poor get poorer and the rich get richer. The story never changes and it doesn't really matter who is in power I'm afraid.
Having said that, I am glad you voiced your opinion to the powers-that-be. I am big on letter/email writing to fight for what I believe in and sometimes it actually does work. You just have to persevere.
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HillJilly
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# Posted: 8 Sep 2015 11:45
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HI MtnDon, It's zoning, I didn't realize there are multiple levels of government coming up with that stuff - I struggle to make heads or tails out of the zoning document... Sigh...
PS thanks again for the Carbon Monoxide detector suggestion - I got one and feel safer...
HI Hattie - It is frustrating isn't it... I understand that they want to keep up property values, but I am not getting how a well constructed and maintained small home would have any worse effect on property values than some of the poorly constructed and maintained full sized disasters I have seen driving around my area... that can happen I guess when people are forced to financially over-extend themselves...
Allowing small homes to be built needs to happen for the environment and for folks who do not have government jobs to have a viable way to live... Seems like a no-brainer to me...
I'll just keep pecking at it best I can - although if any other like minded Canadians were to raise this issue with the politicians of their choice, we might have a better chance to see some meaningful change for the better.
Hugs to you Hattie - you deserve better than "under the mud."
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ColdFlame
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# Posted: 8 Sep 2015 14:14
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HillJilly - I'm with you. I am constantly writing to my elected representatives about things that I view as issues.
Bill C-51 was a huge one that I pushed back against. My elected representative was a vocal proponent of it, so it basically fell on deaf ears. After he replied back to me three separate times, getting my name wrong in 2/3 of the e-mails, and blatantly cutting/pasting from other responses in others, I told him that I had lost any trace of respect that I might have once had for him, and that I looked forward to see him losing at the next election.
Harper pushed it through anyway. It's frustrating to see these governments making changes (or NOT making changes in some cases) when the masses are wanting/not wanting them. I hate our political system and how corrupt/greedy they all are. It's so horribly inefficient that I find it absurd. The US system seems to be as bad, probably worse. Unreal!
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Coastal
Member
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# Posted: 8 Sep 2015 15:12
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It's a tough call you either vote for Harper, who has his bad sides or you vote for huge government spending, a recession and gun grabbing. Lol
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HillJilly
Member
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# Posted: 8 Sep 2015 15:54
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Hi ColdFlame, sorry to hear about your frustrating experience with your elected representative... But you tried 3 times... I had one bad experience with them and gave up.... I am focusing on the other parties to help...
Hi Coastal, best wishes to you in navigating a difficult choice in this election...
Regardless of political affiliation, this issue - allowing smaller homes to be built - seems to me that an election is a great time to pester the politicians about it...
Peaceful happiness to all, Hill Jilly
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Don_P
Member
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# Posted: 8 Sep 2015 23:01
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Zoning is easier to change, the pond is smaller, they have fewer places to run  It is easier to find sympathetic ears and help among the local movers,
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NorthRick
Member
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# Posted: 9 Sep 2015 19:05
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Quoting: HillJilly The building codes presently require a minimum floor area of between 850 - 1000 sq ft. This makes building a home out of reach of many people.
I suspect this is precisely the intent of the zoning. To keep poor people out of the neighborhood. Of course, they won't directly admit to that. The sad fact is that the rich will always have more pull with the way laws are written than the poor.
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