No place to park common sense

The starving anti-regulation crowd was served a steaming feast in Coeur d’Alene.

No, not the Mac-n-Cheese fest. The raise-the-roof tempest.

As our story Tuesday detailed, a local builder was putting a new roof on his customer’s garage behind a house in Sanders Beach. Because the custom trusses were too steeply pitched, the roof peaked 10 inches above city code’s maximum 18-foot height limit.

The builder self-reported the violation, believing honesty was the best policy. He was told to request a variance — an allowed exception to a rule — and so he did, paying $400 to act on that governmental recommendation. The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission then denied the variance in a public hearing despite common sense screaming that if ever there was a good case to make an exception, this garage was it.

Safety wasn’t a factor. Neighbors weren’t complaining. The extra 10 inches still put the peak of the garage well below the peak of the house in front of it. The garage itself is in a lower area than the house, meaning the only view obstructions would come from complaining birds and squirrels.

Result? Last week, workers tore off roughly $8,000 worth of roof. The new roof, at a height not to exceed 18 feet exactly, is being built this week.

While this example won’t alter the spin of planet Earth, it can put a dent in citizens’ faith in sensible rules being applied by conscientious public officials. It can bring the roof of common sense crashing down. It can also give ammunition to those who have a problem with authority and don’t play well with others.

Henry David Thoreau, an individualist who did some construction himself, once said, “Any fool can make a rule and any fool will mind it.” Alas, foolishness prevailed by a 3-2 vote on the garage variance request. Precedents aplenty already exist for similar minute misfires, while more remarkable violations have gone unheeded and unpunished, according to the garage builder and at least one of the P&Z commissioners. On top of the financial expense and project delay, the self-reporters were penalized for their honesty.

Construction standards are important for safety and other good reasons. The thing about rules and regulations is that in building a vast empire of them, logic can inadvertently be locked out.

That’s why variances exist. They’re a powerful, practical remedy that in this case never got out of the toolbox.