You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Government
Ice cream parlor permit hassles chilling
2013-09-16
Whaty comes of voting in silly people to run a city.
[SFGATE] Tuesday is inspection day for building owner John Vicars.

He's got a commercial property on College Avenue, right in the heart of Oakland's busiest shopping district. His quest is simple: to see an ice cream parlor opened on the ground floor of the building.

But his journey has been a regulatory nightmare.

It's taken him nine months to prepare 1,700 square feet of retail space to the city's satisfaction - at least to where they were satisfied enough to actually come out to inspect it.

It all started in December, when Vicars forked over $3,500 for the right to apply for a conditional use permit that would allow him to change uses in the space occupied by the Great Harvest Bread Co. since the early 1990s.

He plans to lease the space to Smitten, a locally owned ice cream shop with a single store in San Francisco's Hayes Valley.

Oakland officials told Vicars the permit application process would take about three months. But when he submitted his plans to the city, the questions just kept on coming.
Posted by:Fred

#2  Yes, California home to central planning vibrant capitalism. NOT. John Vicars problem is that he's not an illegal and didn't go ahead and do the thing without asking. Then he'd be a member of a protected class in California and the bureaucrats would look the other way. Just like housing inspectors who are not inspecting tens of thousands of former garages now apartments occupied by you know who.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2013-09-16 08:56  

#1  permit application process would take about three months

That's three month after you complete all the forms and answer all the questions, which can come three months apart. SOP.
Posted by: Bobby   2013-09-16 05:54  

00:00