URGENT SUPPORT NEEDED FEBRUARY 17, 7 PM ZONING MEETING

I have received information that there are at least 2 of my neighbors who, despite all attempts at conversation, are adamant about coming to the Zoning meeting in JP, February17, 7 PM, Farnsworth House on South St., and opposing ISD honoring the permit they gave me. I am incredibly upset and frightened that there are people that have these feelings (apparently one person believes I have plumbing and sewer in there (I do not, nor is it possible) and both are convinced I will extend my Airbnb there, although I’ve offered to sign an affidavit saying that I will not, and that neither facts nor assurances change anything to resolve these issues. I am deeply saddened as I have always hoped for good neighborly relations. HERE ARE THE KEY FACTS: **I was granted a permit: #SF 470037 on May7, 2015 **There was a plot plan with the location of my shed/workshop as part of the permitting process. **Many years previous I had built a smaller shed in that exact location and the building inspector, Leo Cook, stood in my hard and okayed it. **There was never a reason to think there was a problem with the location and nothing showed up in either my Father’s or my research about this. **It was suggested that I not start construction until I actually spoke with the building inspector. **Despite daily phone messages and several emails, it took until August 12th. to speak with him. I waited to start until after I spoke with him. **He confirmed dimensions and building details with me. He said he would come inspect when I finished setting the block and framing the floor. **He never came despite many phone messages and emails. **I finally spoke to his supervisor, Ed Casey, by phone. He apologized for the inspector and reconfirmed what I was doing and all of the dimensions. **I kept going, documenting by photos, phone messages, and regular email updates to the building inspector through email. **I hired an electrician to do the rough wiring so I can put a small heating unit in there to protect the artwork stored, make it comfortable to work in, and have lights. **The inspector showed up on November 10th. He said I should not have been given the permit and I needed to go straighten it out. Had I known, been able to find with all of the research I did, or been informed by ISD that my shed/workshop would need a variance because of the location, it would have been obvious that the project wouldn’t work and I would not have spent all of the $$ and time to build it. It is not illegal to put electrical in a shed/workshop. It is not illegal to build a beautiful structure that fits code dimensions and structure for a shed/workshop. It is fairly standard to ballpark a dollar value on an initial permit and then go in before the final inspection, once you have the receipts and know the actual costs, adjust the value, and pay the difference - which I fully intend to do. ISD will not refund, so often people underestimate and increase it at the end. I had several thousand dollars of lumber and materials of my own before I started. Now that I have spent the money, the time, and the creativity to build this little building, while I respect that the City feels they made a mistake, and because of this they have waived further fees and stated that we should all work collaboratively to legalize the building, I do not want to be financially, physically and emotionally punished for their errors.