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CODE & REGULATORY BARRIERS
MODEL CODES
CONVERSATIONS WITH THE MAYOR
--Charlie Tomlinson, Corvallis, OR:
| Charlie; The Cities, Counties, and the State of Oregon should adopt the Principles of Earth Ethics if we want to become self-sufficient and sustainable: http://www.earthethics.com/earth_ethics_principles.htm Best regards, Jim Miller Charlie: I am delighted by your comprehensive reply. It's the best I've ever had from a government official. My comments are in blue. Jim --- On Mon, 9/15/08, Charles C. Tomlinson <mayor@council.ci.corvallis.or.us> wrote: From: Charles C. Tomlinson <mayor@council.ci.corvallis.or.us>> Jim, My responses are interlaced in your email. Charlie Charlie: > > Thanks for your reply. > > I've read the policy and programs. Yet the City of Corvallis has no > policy or ordnances which would permit the creation of an intentional > community where an ecovillage could be created which would be > self-sufficient in food and energy (including making biodiesel, syngas and > biochar) and sustainable (profitable enterprises, including light > industry). The City Council is looking for the completion of the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition Plan this year. I believe this plan's goals are to create an intentional sustainable community. I applied for membership on all of the committees and received only one reply. I wrote that chair who had replied to me, asking for agenda, meeting notices, prior minutes, any papers, over a month ago. Nothing. No reply otherwise was received from any other committee chair. I thus conclude that the sustainability effort is a PR one for Oregon Energy Trust and not much else. I am willing to be the chair of the sustainability committee on intentional communities, for which I am well qualified. See: http://masallp.wetpaint.com. > > The City is headed in the right direction, but does not have a clue as to > the sustainability issue. Energy Trust is the PR arm of the electric > utilities. Sure, changing light bulbs and weatherization are important, > but a drop in the energy bucket. Does the City have a plan to recycle the > green waste into syngas and biochar or even compost? Is there any plan to > support home-owner level production of biodiesel from waste restaurant > oils? Pre-consumer waste is now being picked up by Allied Waste and taken to the PRC facility at Coffin Butte for composting. I think someone like Sequential Fuels has the corner on restaurant waste oil that is being made into biofuel. Sequential gets its oil from the Kettle Potato Chip factory and Madison Farms. Eugene's WVO pickup is oversubscribed by home-brew biodiesel makers. Albany or Corvallis are still rather open. I'm willing to chair the Biodiesel Committee, for which I am well qualified: http://algaloildiesel.wetpaint.com/ Allied does the pickup and charges the restaurants. The WVO biodiesel makers do not charge. > > The Governor's energy plan is comprehensive. Does the City have a specific,> do-able, funded, energy plan? Again, the Coalition has significant energy goals in its plan. The City is in the process of putting half our wastewater treatment plant on solar power. Biochar is the new “Black Gold”. It needs to be infused with nutrient which can be done by soaking it in “tea” made from animal manure or waste-water plant sludge. This use should be put on the study list for ag sustainability. Since I've studied the process, I would be instrumental in it's implementation in the Wastewater treatment plant. > > Linn County has a revolving investment fund for businesses (Keith > Miller). Does Benton County have one? No. Does the City have one? No. The League of Women Voters, among others, did not support the Council's attempts to put an infrastructure investment plan in place in 2003. Last Thursday, the business community did not support a business license fee for business investment. The winning approach would be industrial revenue bonds, issued and secured by the rents coming from the Enterprise Zone tenants. Has this approach been tried? > > Does the City have any funded plan to create or support firms which pay > adequate compensation or is the City's main interest in getting inmore > retail along with wage-slave jobs? The City has policies to support family-wage job creation, we fund that job creation and the Prosperity That Fits Plan attempts to create family-wage jobs. According to a study I read, the average family of four needs 2.5 jobs to break even. Is this level of wage of the “family-wage jobs”? I am willing to chair the “Cooperative Enterprise Committee” if one were created, for which I am well qualified: http://masallp.wetpaint.com/page/A+WORKERS%27+PARADISE+%E2%80%93+REVISTED+.+.+.++AGAIN > > The City has an industrial park. Why is it not full of businesses and jobs > producing high incomes for the workers? Has the City any interest in > funding worker-owned cooperative businesses by providing low/free rent in > the industrial park during the two years it normally takes to reach > profitability? The City of San Diego does (Brown Field Industrial Compex > and Airport) which has generated thousands of good jobs in South San > Diego. The City recently adopted an Enterprise Zone in the Airport Industrial Park that offers property tax abatement for three years for businesses that locate there. We adopted criteria that calls for sustainable oriented businesses. Tax abatements on business property is a start. Will the city abate the rent on start-up enterprises for three years? > I need to use a machine shop in order to design and build an algal oil > extractor. This machine will solve the problem of opening a 25 micron, > spheroid cell (Chlorella vulgaris) with a fibrous cell wall, so > lipids can be extracted. Can the City help me get this machine in > operation (grubstake) so it can receive royalties on the patent? Please talk to Ganti Murthy on campus; he has a lab investigating algae to biofuel production. He may be able to help. Last fall, Ganti and I had a two hour conversation and said he would seek approval of my application for admission to a MAIS degree program in his department. No response after year. Also, V2G, a local angel investor group, may be interested in a proposal to fund this work and a call to John Sechrest may get you connected with the SWOT process at the Chamber Coalition. Thanks for the leads; I'll follow-up. > > The City needs a business incubator system which is more than just an > office rental deal -- as many of them are, such as TechRanch in Bozeman, MT. Also, the incubator participants need good advice on business > planning and execution-- how to do it and how not to do it -- by business > folks who have actually been in the race, not simply studied it. The Business Enterprise Center, in the Airport Industrial Plan, tries to deliver these services, office rental, business planning services, mentoring, etc. Please call Bill or Barbara at the BEC. Will do. > > I hope you take my suggestions in the light intended -- helpful, even if a > bit pushy.> > Best regards, > Jim Miller> > > Remember this: we do not inherit the earth from our parents; we borrow it > from our children.>> > --- On Mon, 9/15/08, Charles C. Tomlinson <mayor@council.ci.corvallis.or.us> wrote: From: Charles C. Tomlinson <mayor@council.ci.corvallis.or.us> |
Charlie:
Straw bale house design and codes can offer affordable, energy efficient housing:
- The 80 pound bale offers about R50.
- Most folks can design and build a house if the city and state adopts building codes by prescription (kit approach).
- Schools (public and private) should give courses to home-owner builders so they can understand and follow codes and best practices. All state, city and county agencies should honor the school's certificate and issue the building permits to owner/builders.
- Owner/builders should be able to hire paid employees (not licensed) to help build.
- LEEDS and Energy Star standards should be incorporated into the straw bale building prescriptive standards.
- Diagrams should be offered by the schools and the building officials for the owner/builder so they understand better how things fit and work.
- Two and three stories should be allowed if post and beam is used.
Peak Oil Portland is on the forefront of studies of how Portland should transition from the current economy, policies and laws, to a more sustainable one. See: http://portlandpeakoil.org/discussion/content/transition-handbook-book-study-and-discussion-group-meeting-1
I have made the attempt to gain copies of the building codes and find answers to code questions regarding straw bale housing. Alas, I got the run-around between the State of Oregon and the City of Corvallis. See: http://portlandpeakoil.org/discussion/content/affordable-energy-efficient-straw-bale-house-design-hits-building-department-snags
Best regards,
Jim Miller
Jim Miller
Remember this: we do not inherit the earth from our parents; we borrow it from our children.
======================================]
--- On Mon, 9/15/08, Charles C. Tomlinson <mayor@council.ci.corvallis.or.us> wrote:
From: Charles C. Tomlinson <mayor@council.ci.corvallis.or.us>
Subject: Re: Planning As If People Mattered
To: "Jim Miller" <jimmiller5417@yahoo.com>
Date: Monday, September 15, 2008, 2:46 PM
>Hi Jim, Corvallis has implemented a land-use strategy which brings people closer to where they work, closer to transit and walkable and bikeable neighborhoods. In 2000, we implemented mixed use neighborhoods, including residential, commercial and employment. The 2020 Vision Statement provides an overview of this strategy, especially in the Where People Live Section. Further, more detailed information, is available in the Comprehensive Plan. More detailed information can be found in the Land Development Code, especially in the Pedestrian Oriented Design Standards Section. These documents are on the city's web site under the Community Development Department.
Your community has heard your call.
Charlie > > >
AMES E. MILLER > 530 NW 13th St., Corvallis, OR 97330 > Email: jimmiller5417@yahoo.com > 541-757-9797 > > > 09/15/08 > Mantill Williams > (202) 496-4869 > mwilliams@apta.com > Virginia Miller > (202) 496-4816 > vmiller@apta.com > American Public Transportation Association / 1666 K Street NW • Suite 1100 > • Washington, DC 20006 • 202.496.4800 • pt2info@apta >
Re: Even With Declining Gas Prices, Public Transit Users Save $9,596 Per > Household Annually, Up $411 From Last Year > http://www.publictransportation.org/facts/080904_transit_savings.asp > > >
Dear Folks, > > >
The advent of public transportation occurred about 1640 in England, when a > jury, unable to reach a verdict, was cast into a cart by the Sheriff, > pulled by oxen to the next town, until they decided the case. Not much has > changed, has it? > > > The problem which your report inartfully neglects is the “last mile”. How > do I get from the transit station to the work place, in the pouring rain, > loaded with bags and briefcases? Don't tell me to take a taxi or wait for > the bus, since I'm already late for work. > > > The solution to our over-extended use of the, one person, private > automobile is simply this: Work where we live, and live where we work. > > > Walk, bike or skate to work or walk down stairs, fire up the computer and > use the 'net as your means of transportation. > > >
Governments have intentionally planned our cities and 'burbs with the > private, one occupant, automobile as the centerpiece of their glorious > plan to solve the “last mile”. No wonder we have excessive traffic, high > gas prices, big auto insurance fees and expensive downtown parking. The > solution is not mass transit, but massive reorganization of how we plan > our living space in relationship to our workspace. The answer is amazingly > simple: PUT BOTH TOGETHER. > > >
Below are the URL's to some of my articles which you are free to copy, > exploit, use, bend, fold, staple, mutilate, and republish, but please > mention my name and my email address. Thanks for listening. > >
> Best regards, >
Jim Miller > > Remember this: we do not inherit the earth from our parents; we borrow it > from our children. >
Cluster Development: > http://masallp.wetpaint.com/page/CLUSTER+DEVELOPMENT?t=anon > > >
Planning as if People Mattered: > http://masallp.wetpaint.com/page/PLANNING+AS+IF+PEOPLE+MATTERED > > >
A Coherent Community: > http://masallp.wetpaint.com/page/A+COHERENT+COMMUNITY > > >
Dumbbell Planning Versus Integrated Community Planning: > http://masallp.wetpaint.com/page/DUMBBELL+PLANNING+VERSUS+INTEGRATED+COMMUNITY+PLANNING
=============================================================================\
CORRESPONDENCE WITH DAWN KILLOUGH, TREEHUGGER CONSULTING ABOUT OREGON'S STRAW BALE CONSTRUCTION CODE.
Dawn:
Item 1. I clicked on the link and got no results. The URL for the link as shown by "Properties" is: http://www2.iccsafe.org/states/oregon/08_Residential/08Res_main.html, which is the page announcing the new code. So where is the new code?
Item 2. A have read Appendix R and posed some questions. The discourse is published at:
Both the City of Corvallis and the State are evading the issue of who gives the response to technical questions.
Item 3. As Sven stated, there is no prescriptive code for staw bale construction. My point is that there ought to be a prescriptive code and it needs to be designed by a licensed architect or structural engineer. I can do some of the design work, but cannot publish it without running afoul of the license law -- nor would I want any liability on my shoulders.
Item 4. The main point of straw bale construction is that people of common education can build their own houses. This raises the issues of license laws. Hiring licensed sub-contractors who engage in the typical construction feeding frenzy, are way over pricing their products and gouging the heck out of customers.
My approach is to obtain a general contractor's license, and have the owner/builder obtain the simple "license" which would be normally issued to an apprentice craftsman. The owner/builder could go to school or be self-taught. There are thousands of construction workers who, over time, learn many of the trades necessary to build a SFR. Let them build their own houses. It is not rocket science.
So, some work needs to be done on the owner/builder license issue.
I need the name and email of your contact so I can email h/h about the failure of the hyperlink and other items. Thanks for your time.
Best regards,
Jim Miller
Jim Miller
In transition to justice, harmony, productivity, and right living:
“It's understandable, isn't it, that workers who come of age in an autocratic, authoritarian, paternalistic environment become reflections of it. It took some time for Camarão to adjust to the innovating, democratic, participative atmosphere at Semco.”
MAVERICK, The Success Story Behind the Worlds Most Unusual Workplace, Richardo Semler, Warner Books, 1993, p. 180; ISBN 0-446-51696-1
--- On Mon, 9/29/08, Tree Hugger Consulting <treehuggerconsulting@comcast.net> wrote:
From: Tree Hugger Consulting <treehuggerconsulting@comcast.net>
Subject: RE: ebook
To: "'Jim Miller'" <jimmiller5417@yahoo.com>
Date: Monday, September 29, 2008, 7:05 AM
Jim, I emailed my contact at the building codes division, and here is his response: Straw bale construction is covered in the code under appendix R; feel free to forward the link below: http://www2.iccsafe.org/states/oregon/08_Residential/08Res_Frameset.html ; the link to the appendix is near the bottom of the chapter listing on the left of the page. Hope that helps. Dawn Killough Tree Hugger Consulting 503-507-2335
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