City says some builders break rules…
The ten problematic homes in West University Place are huge and beautiful — luxurious — ranging in value from $945,000 right up to $2.8 million. Without knowing about a major paperwork oversight, families have lived in the homes for four, five, sometimes up to nine years…
http://instantnewswestu.com/2010/02/10/7892/
Here is my feeling about the situation:
John Brown, the current West U Chief Building Official has been with the West U for a little over a year. He is doing a great job. However I believe West U has had six different CBOs since 2000, so Brown had an unsettled sea to wade though. He discovered that Covington Builders had not obtained the required Certificates of Occupancy for an assortment of the homes they had built in West U going back many years. Brown brought this issue forward to the West University Place Building and Standards Commission with a recommendation for total compliance, and if that could not be achieved a six month suspension of the contractors license would be warranted. At the last meeting of the BSC, they recommended one last attempt to achieve total compliance before suspending Covington’s license. The BSC instructed him to meet with Brown to arrange for compliance with the code requirements. The BSC is an appointed group of West U residents that are appointed to two year terms by the City Council. However their actions and decisions ARE NOT subject to the review of the City Council. And for whatever reason, the BSC decided not to follow the recommendation of John Brown and the city staff to revoke Covington’s license unless he immediately complied with all laws and instead decided to give him another month to comply. As a city councilmember, I want to send a very strong message that we are enforcing our building codes strictly and respond instantly and aggressively against those who ignore them. In my view, that is exactly what John Brown and the city staff did in this instance
