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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | NOVEMBER 2021 27 ARC frequently deals with the question of why building permits are required. To understand the reasons, we need to look at two issues. First, why does Beaumont require building permits? The main purpose of any building permit is to ensure safety. By enforcing proper building and safety standards, you and other occupants of a space or community are guaranteed the best chance to avoid accidents during the construction process and to ensure that the project is completed properly without compromising the safety or integrity of your home. Obtaining a building permit comes with a multitude of benefits including allowing the building inspector to reduce potential hazards of unsafe construction and to provide for your safety and welfare. Inspections by building inspectors complement the contractor's experience and act as a system of checks and balances resulting in the best possible outcome. Recently a Four Seasons homeowner was advised by the Beaumont City Building Inspector that their solar was installed using the wrong size wire. The city required the contractor to fix the problem before the system was placed in service, preventing a probable fire or premature system failure. If you perform work on your home without a permit, a potential buyer will definitely find out. The sale of your house may be delayed, or you may be required to tear down and redo the work, this time with a permit, which will cost more as a result. Your buyer may back out of the deal and you may be required to remedy the issue before you can seek another buyer. You may encounter damage to your home due to the work that was done improperly or with inadequate materials. In most instances your insurance company will decline to cover the damage. Second, why does ARC care if you obtain a building permit? ARC is charged with preserving and improving the appearance of the community while protecting the value of the homes in the community. The Architectural Guidelines and Standards explains that permits may be required by the city of Beaumont Building Department and/or other governmental agencies and that the more stringent requirements of either the guidelines or governmental agencies apply. Finally, when comparing bids, consider what you are getting for your money. If a contractor is not licensed or agrees to do work without obtaining permits, the contractor is willfully violating several laws. Is there any reason for you to expect they will be fair, honest, and above board in their dealings with you? ~ Steve Cooley, (801) 815-5302 cooleyaudit@gmail.com Architectural Review Committee EMERGENCY 411 Nothing is a perfect fit when it comes to Emergency Preparedness. Information, much like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, is either too little or too much. Your job should be to find a source of emergency information that is just right for you. A website with too much information may frustrate you because you have to search for what you want. A site with scant information may leave you scratching your head about any exceptions to what they are talking about. When you go to the authority on your subject, you could be overwhelmed with unnecessary facts and details. Understanding something on a Cal Fire or Red Cross website may be easy if you are a fireman or a nurse, but what about the rest of us? This fact was driven home to me when I wrote about wildfires in my last Breeze article. The Cal Fire website was very detailed. The city of Beaumont website was just an outline. I wound up finding my information from a commercial website that was selling foam systems to fight wildfires. We should feel free to use websites that are the most useful to us. Some websites are very wordy, others have a lot of illustrations, and others use graphs. There really is no one right way. You should take the information that you find useful from each website. The type of information that you find useful may be based on the type of work you have done. Lots of emergency information comes from government sources. FEMA is the source of information for the Federal Government. Cal OES gives us information for the state of California. Lastly Rivco. Ready gives you information from our local county of Riverside. Four Seasons has the Four Seasons Resident Emergency Handbook. Here are a few useful websites: FEMA.Gov, redcross.org; rivcoready.org; caloes.gov; socalgas.com; chp.ca.gov; and SCE.com. If any of this is interesting to you, come and join us at our next EPC meeting. The EPC Committee meets on the third Tuesday of the month. Our November meeting will be on Nov. 16 at 10 am in the RCN Conference Room. ~ Mike Mendoza, srmendoza@verizon. net Emergency Preparedness Committee

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