A few weeks ago I met with a VERY helpful plans examiner from the State of Ohio. See, because Montpelier / Williams County is a rural part of the state, we don't have our own building department. Changes and updates to commercial buildings generally require approval from the State. I met with the examiner for a "Preliminary Plan Review." We both thought we had the project nailed down. However, as I finished up the code review, I discovered we had an "occupancy" situation.
The First National Building and it's neighbor share the corridor on the second floor and the stairs at either end - the "means of egress". Since we plan to significantly update the stairway and lobby (see my earlier post on what we plan to do) we now have to comply with the CURRENT building code which is much more restrictive.
Suffice it to say that this is a situation that requires more than an administrative OK. Boy was I antsy to get going the first of March...but that's not going to happen. I'll be attending a meeting of the Board of Building Appeals on March 10 to ask for relief from the building code due to the hardship of working with an old building. Hardship...that's an understatement :).
I have to say, though, that this process is much easier with a helpful examiner who is willing to discuss the situation and work with me on a resolution. Thank you Mr. Plans Examiner!
We're also getting contractors lined up so that, when the permit is ready, so are we.
One more hurdle to go...thanks for following along!
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