July 16th, 2009 at 02:56am
Under Construction Law
The City of Los Angeles, situated on the nation’s West Coast, surrounded by the San Bernardino Mountain Range, is the largest city in California. The city has undergone a major transformation since it was established in 1781 by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. Building and construction has proceeded at a somewhat haphazard pace over the years. LA’s downtown, in particular, is currently undergoing something of a renaissance, with many historic buildings being converted into expensive lofts.
The majority of major downtown department stores once operated out of independent buildings in the area. Many were closed in the 1970’s and 80’s, as there was a movement away from stand-alones and into modern office parks and shopping complexes. With the city’s westward shift of the commercial center, downtown LA was lacking much nightlife until more recent times.
Despite the fact that the building and construction process proceeded relatively quickly, the LA City Council sped things up by enacting a reuse ordinance, thus making it simpler for developers to convert vacant old office buildings to high-class lofts and exclusive apartment complexes. A slew of professionals, fed up with the city’s notorious rush-hour gridlock problems, were quick to move in.
The number of residents in downtown LA has blossomed since the early 2000’s, in part due to all the building and construction, with a greater than 15 percent increase to approximately 28,000 persons. This amount surpassed estimates and, with a higher number of housing units being built, has pushed the total count to potentially be more than 40,000 by the end of 2008. However, the number of available jobs in the area has fallen to 418,000, down from an estimated 605,000 a decade ago.
In 2007, the City Council approved major changes to the downtown’s zoning rules. Muchly desired by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the changes facilitate more building and construction by allowing bigger and more closely-packed developments. In addition, builders who withhold 15 percent of their units for low-income residents are not governed by certain code requirements and living spaces can be constructed that are over 30 percent larger than current zoning laws call for.
Interestingly, a number of the core downtown buildings were built way back in the turn of the century. Between then and the late 1050’s, a rigid zoning law kept building heights at under 150 feet, causing a fairly homogenous skyline. Reportedly, it was done not for fear of earthquakes, but to maintain a uniform height in the area and to avoid New York City style congestion. None of these laws are in effect today, as a skyline filled with tall office buildings bears evidence to.
Matt Paolini is a business writer for CityBook.com, the family-safe business yellow pages, which carries an extensive directory of
Los Angeles equipment and tools industry-related businesses.
July 11th, 2009 at 02:55pm
Under Construction Law
In today’s economy, more people have found it beneficial to do much of their own building when it comes to their house. Even when they aren’t doing their own building, however, it’s still often preferable to oversee the work being done on a daily basis.
This is especially true when it concerns the legal side of things, and when this is true, it may be time to get a construction lawyer. This article will touch upon a few of the more common instances in which having a construction lawyer will benefit you greatly.
First, any form of construction that you will do, including digging of plumbing and foundations, will fall under the civil aegis of construction law. This law is very specific as to how low you can dig and how high you can build, for instance.
This too is determined by the area that the building will take place. Zoning laws are very different in commercial, residential, and semi-commercial (mixed) zones, as well as in different city and county. Due to the complexity of this fundamental issue, a construction lawyer is highly recommended.
The reason for this is that a construction lawyer will know all of the proper and most expedient channels to getting permits and gaining the time of an on-site inspector, to name but a few sticky bureaucratic instances. This last subject, inspectors, is very important as there are a limited number of inspectors for each county or municipality and until they arrive to do their inspection and certify you for the next phase of building, all construction must stop.
Further, let’s say that you’ve hired contractors to do your building for you. There are numerous clauses that you may not think to include in your contract, and others that the construction lawyer of the contractors will include, and which may prove to be pitfalls for you if unaware of them. (This can include clauses detailing allowance for the contractors to make certain lengthy -and costly for you, delays; of unfair overtime charges; and of the contractors not being responsible for certain types of mistakes that they might make -all of which will be legal catastrophe for you.)
An even more serious problem would be if the contractor or sub-contractor sues you, for whatever reason. This is common amongst an unprincipled minority of contractors who will sue you if they themselves anticipate being sued, in hopes that they can scare you away from forcing any legal indemnity upon them. To make things worse, for a job which they have botched, and which you refuse to pay for, they can actually place a lien on your home. However, just having a construction lawyer will dissuade most dishonest contractors from even considering such shady actions.
As you can see, there are many pitfalls involved in building, whether from the ground up, in upkeep, or in remodeling. Notwithstanding this, there is no reason to fear or defer such building plans. Simply put, fear-based decisions will get you nowhere, whereas having a construction lawyer will put your house on the map.