Letter: $80,000 pile of dirt
The column by Mark Lewis in Sunday’s print edition was right on the mark. My wife and I built two 2,500-square-foot homes entirely by ourselves, with the guidance of Sears Roebuck manuals, in 1971 and again in 1981 for $25,000 each. That’s the move-in price with all heating, electrical, cabinets and appliances. Each took about eight months.
The first was in Jefferson County, where I saw the inspector once. His comment was, “It looks like you’re doing a good job to me.” The second was in Cody, Wyoming, where the building inspector wrote with a chuckle on a paper napkin, “One Building Permit!”
Now, in this valley the new house across the street paid over $50,000 in just permits and fees five years ago and the town of Avon, incredulously, two years ago passed just one requirement, for sprinklers, that by its own estimates adds $10,000 to $12,000 for a 1,500-square-foot home and $55,000 for a 6,000-square-foot home. And now local governments want us taxpayers to subsidize the “high cost” of new homes for others.
We’d love to replace our 47-year-old wood deck with new fireproof materials, but wouldn’t think of opening a can of bureaucratic worms, much less an $80,000 “disposal fee.”
Pogo had it right: “We have met the enemy and he is us!”
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Frustratingly,
Rol Hamelin
East Vail
