Hotel owner says city and county officials are requiring engineering for freestanding decks; committee offers inspection options

A hotel representative (Speaker 5) told the committee that volunteers purchased materials and planned to build two freestanding decks for outdoor seating but that the city fire marshal and planning staff were holding up a building permit and asking for engineering documentation, which the representative said would make the project prohibitively expensive.

Speaker 5 said the decks would be approximately 55 by 18 feet and added that two contractors had volunteered to build the decks. The representative described a back‑and‑forth with city staff and said the property sits in a gray zone of jurisdiction; when the fire marshal raised concerns, the matter was referred to city planning, which asked for engineering review.

Other committee members and participants suggested alternatives: several suggested coordinating with county inspector Mitch for an inspection after construction, contacting the fire marshal (Ian) for clarification, or relying on volunteer contractors who are certified and bonded and then scheduling a county inspection. One participant said for small projects engineering firms often decline because the cost is disproportionate to the project size and recommended building to code and obtaining inspection afterward.

The committee did not take formal action on the permit dispute but discussed local procedural routes to avoid excessive upfront engineering costs for volunteer‑built, freestanding decks intended for public use. The conversation identified the parties involved (city fire marshal, city planning, county inspector) and suggested staff follow up with clarifying the applicable permitting path.