I just returned from 3 very long hours at Dallas City Hall. Today's topic was the Board Of Adjustments Hearing regarding a property recently built at 6159 Oram. Yea, that one. The four story building that was illegally built in a residential neighborhood using a ridiculous loophole in Dallas' building code that only a syphalitic moron could think was the intent. (Hello, Mr. Richmond?) So after listening to some crazy people arguing over killer dogs, front yard fences and video cameras for 2 hours, we finally got to the case on Oram.
Dallas building code is simple and straight forward. In a residential area, the maximum height of a structure is 36 feet measured from grade at the four corners of the building to the centerline of the roof. That means for all practical purposes, that 3 stories is the maximum height allowed. So what happens if you install a 7' landscaping planter around the four corners of the building? According to our building inspection department, that becomes the new grade, or starting point for the measurements. So a permit was issued for a 46 foot, 4-story building in a residential neighborhood. This building sits in between two very large duplexes which are dwarfed by this building. My next door neighbor's single family lot is 75 x 180 which is a slightly larger than average single family lot. This builder has squeezed 14 condo units in a lot that is smaller than many single family lots!
Directly behind this behemoth is a single family residential home owned by Jamie Pierson. Mr. Pierson filed an appeal to the Dallas Board of Adjustments claiming that the permit should not have been issued and that the interpretation of grade was incorrect. Mr Pierson hired an attorney and showed up at the BofA hearing with approximately 40 to 45 supporters from the neighborhood. The city attorney and one guy from building inspection were the only people in opposition. The BofA board allowed more presentation time for the crazy lady with the killer dogs than they did for this very serious issue.
The Slippery Slope Truth is, based on this ridiculous interpretation of the definition of grade, one could build a structure of virtually unlimited height virtually anywhere. Already, structures using this loophole have been built in several other neighborhoods such as Oaklawn. Just looking at the picture above, what sane, reasonable person could conclude that this was a three story building. Well, just ask Mr. Richmond, the head of the Board of Adjustments.
Circle The Wagons One guy from building inspection had explained that at the time that permit was issued, that was how they interpretted grade. Mr. Richmond argued that, listen carefully now.... since that was how they interpretted it, their interpretation was correct. The whole point of the hearing was to challenge whether their interpretation was correct or not and the best that the Head of the Board of Adjustments could come up with was this circular argument. Since they did it that way, it must have been right. This is the equivalent of saying that the US was right to go into Iraq because George Bush was The Decider and since he decided, it was the right thing to do. Mr. Richmond could not and did not address the fundamental point of the appeal which is that the interpretation was incorrect.
Salt in the Wound After making his circular argument, the vote was put forward to the board. Three in favor, 2 against. (That would be 3 voting that the permit was incorrectly issued, 2 voting that is was correctly issued.) Finally some justice! But wait, you're kidding.... it requires a vote of at least 4 to 1 in order to overrule an action of a city employee. You won the vote, but you lost the case. (Remember 2000 anyone?) The speed with which the vote was cast made it seem very much like this outcome was prearranged. This way the homeowner could feel like he won the majority but was left with no remedy. And the city avoided the inevitable lawsuit from the builder. (Which by the way would not have merit since the Texas Supreme Court decided in 2006 that cities are not liable for their own mistakes, but that's another story.)
What Next The city promises that they are no longer interpretting grade this way. And every year on New Year's Day, I promise to lose 20 pounds. For now, any builder slick enough to talk someone into giving them the permit can still exploit this loophole. The City attorney thinks the whole thing is irrelevant, that the city staff have the right to interpret anything anyway they want and that their say is final.
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