Dumbest City In America?

[McRat]

I nominate my home town of Norco, California.

To get a permit to put solar on your roof:

• $1000 fees to the city.
• Plan Check is not based on building codes, and they make stuff up at random.
• You must use a licensed contractor who is licensed in Norco to do the work.
• You need 3 AC disconnects for the same circuit on the same wall all with individual signage. You can turn all 3 off without moving your feet. They required a total of 6 disconnects for 1 inverter.
• On the roof (flat roof, locked access) you must have 4' of clearance around not just the walls, but 360° around all skylights and AC units, not the required 4' access path. So you could have an AC unit you cannot get to, as long as it's surrounded with panels.
• You must make full ADA blueprints for your restrooms and parking lot. Even if it was already all approved by the city and is fully compliant.

The same City of Norco had to put in speed bumps in a residential zone due to a new shopping mall. The street is family homes both side, but it has now become a shortcut to the shopping center.

So if you were stupid, and you must put in 2 speed bumps on a 1/4 mile road, where is the dumbest place you could think of? They put one at each end of the road where there is already stop signs and deep drainage ditches that force you to slow way down. If you were of average intelligence, you put them in the middle of the road to slow people down.

Last? We are known as Horse Town USA, but today, fewer than 1/2 own horses. So they passes an ordinance that makes it so you must have a horse area in your backyard, even if you have no horses nor intend to in the future.

All of this happened in the last 30 days. It's like Loki is running the freakin' city council...

Rant off. I feel better. Especially now that I can use a wheelchair everywhere on 15' high warehouse roof that is not intended for pedestrian traffic.

 

[Eclectic]

I lived in Oakland (CA) for a number of years. Of all the places I've lived around the world, it has the most illogical and backwards city government and codes. The fact that I was allowed to draw in the drainage system for the lot being developed next to mine, on a very steep and slide prone slope (and I have no background in that field) AND the city granted a certificate of occupancy to the house built on that lot even though the developer built a house that was 50% larger than what was approved, and looked nothing like what was in the plans, was enough for me. Then you get to the city council and mayor, and you will not find a dumber city on the planet.

 

[Tiger]

You can always move to a better place of your liking, after doing your due diligence with pros and cons Or, you could get into local politics

 

[bkp_duke]

The logic of liberals, perhaps?

 

[jboy08]

The logic of liberals, perhaps?

Just like San Diego, Riverside County (which is where Norco is located) actually has a strong Republican majority.

Let's just chalk this up to good ol' bureaucratic idiocy instigated by businesses lining the pockets of some local politicians.

 

[bkp_duke]

Just like San Diego, Riverside County (which is where Norco is located) actually has a strong Republican majority.

Let's just chalk this up to good ol' bureaucratic idiocy instigated by businesses lining the pockets of some local politicians.

San Diego is FAR from a Republican majority. Check the last set of ballots. It's not dark blue like LA or SF, but it's not red like OC either.

 

[mspohr]

I nominate my home town of Norco, California.

To get a permit to put solar on your roof:

• $1000 fees to the city.
• Plan Check is not based on building codes, and they make stuff up at random.
• You must use a licensed contractor who is licensed in Norco to do the work.
• You need 3 AC disconnects for the same circuit on the same wall all with individual signage. You can turn all 3 off without moving your feet. They required a total of 6 disconnects for 1 inverter.
• On the roof (flat roof, locked access) you must have 4' of clearance around not just the walls, but 360° around all skylights and AC units, not the required 4' access path. So you could have an AC unit you cannot get to, as long as it's surrounded with panels.
• You must make full ADA blueprints for your restrooms and parking lot. Even if it was already all approved by the city and is fully compliant.

The same City of Norco had to put in speed bumps in a residential zone due to a new shopping mall. The street is family homes both side, but it has now become a shortcut to the shopping center.

So if you were stupid, and you must put in 2 speed bumps on a 1/4 mile road, where is the dumbest place you could think of? They put one at each end of the road where there is already stop signs and deep drainage ditches that force you to slow way down. If you were of average intelligence, you put them in the middle of the road to slow people down.

Last? We are known as Horse Town USA, but today, fewer than 1/2 own horses. So they passes an ordinance that makes it so you must have a horse area in your backyard, even if you have no horses nor intend to in the future.

All of this happened in the last 30 days. It's like Loki is running the freakin' city council...

Rant off. I feel better. Especially now that I can use a wheelchair everywhere on 15' high warehouse roof that is not intended for pedestrian traffic.

Actually, this makes my recent adventure with our local (Placer County) building department look sane.
Solar panels on roof of garage. Permit cost $180 plus $80 for fire department approval.
Required engineering to make sure roof could hold the 500 pound weight of the system - $150
Lots of documentation for panels and inverters (Enphase) for fire and electrical code.
Fire department was the worst problem. They came up with the rule that panels have to be back 4 feet from the edge of roof (which would make snow shedding impossible). I claimed an exemption on the grounds that they still had full roof access and moving the panels back from the edge of the overhang would actually impede access to the roof. After much hemming and hawing they allowed it.
Haven't had final inspection yet but am anticipating problems with the electrical since I did it myself (I'm not an electrician but the plan was approved by one and the building department and met all the codes including expensive arcfault breakers, separate subpanel, etc.). I only have two series AC disconnects at the service entrance... hopefully that won't be a problem. I plastered everything with lots of signs.

Good news if I can get it approved is that our local Liberty Utility power company was just forced to put a solar incentive in place which will pay me $1.20 per installed watt.

 

[EV-lutioin]

Well, it could be worse, you could be in almost any other country in the world and have to pay bribes to get your permits.