Ah, Wilderness! Mountain Man vs. the Building Inspector

[flatdarkmars]

County Shuts Rustic Preserve; Self-Sufficiency Doesn't Meet Code

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324178904578340850547093268.html?mod=e2tw

[Rob_O]

Despite the non-profit status, the guy is running a business to support his lifestyle and needs to meet some aspects of code. Sanitation and smoke detectors make sense to me, sprinklers and graded lumber seems kinda silly. The USFS rents some cabins that are not exactly code compliant and this guy should not be held to higher standards than the 'feds' consider acceptable

[Squirl]

Just because it is a non-profit, doesn't mean he isn't a highly paid employee or executive of a non-profit.  I've read about this on Fox news.  Most, if not all, the violations are based on the fact that he charges the public to use his facilities.  Open yourself up to the public and you have to deal with the public's laws. I do know that the history and discovery channel usually pays a few hundred thousand dollars to non-profits that they use for their shows.  He seems like a pretty good businesses man, he would be a fool if he is getting paid less.

Some states have a waiver on the lumber stamp requirement, most will let you get by with a simple certification from an engineer or a certified lumber inspector.  A very small price in comparison to what he is charging.

"Shouldn't you be able to have guests come in, and say here's where you go to the bathroom, here's where you eat, and if you don't want to do that, don't come?"

They aren't guests, they are customers.

I do feel a little bad for him, it sounds like he pissed someone off and got cracked down on.  In none of the articles did I read that they fined him for all his years of violations.

Fire code violations at a children's summer camp don't get a lot of sympathy though.

[UK4X4]

mmm scout camp- wall tent- pit toilet

school summer camp- wall tent- comunal toilets no where near the tent- comunal outside kitchen no walls

Fire alarms- we had a triangle

Lights- we had oil lamps

The idea of a back woods course ...is the back woods- not a holiday inn.

millions of people on the planet live in non-engineered structures - no electric and no water

Think its unsafe- thats fine the road out is the same one you came in on !

regulators just regulating for the fun of it

[Woodsrule]

The old "anonymous tip" will get you every time. So folks want a primitive adventure and it seems they get it. Now the gentleman has to spend many thousands of dollars so that his buildings are up to "code." Sounds like they are above code, for "unstamped" lumber usually is thicker than stamped and I bet his techniques are sound.  I agree with UK - nothing to see here!

[OlJarhead]

Freedom is a stranger is these parts.

[Don_P]

When I went to the regional building inspectors with a trainer and a request to alter the gradestamping requirement for small time operators that would get some form of training, two members of the public came. I was the only private person who ever took training. I can see both sides of these issues. Nothing will change as long as we have a lazy entitled populace, comfortable couches, and reality tv.

[John Raabe]

Interesting thread. We are seeing the end of the self-reliant woodsman or homesteader. It is a function of population density - or at least used to be. Country folk were more independent since they were unlikely to be endangering their neighbors. As people are pushed closer together sanitation and construction rules insure greater public safety. This makes sense. Codes used to be based on local conditions and historic lessons from real builders. Inspectors would help you build a better house. Then codes started taking over - first they became universal (UBC = universal building code) and now we have international building codes. The down side is that universal outlaws local. It outlaws (or makes very difficult or expensive) the use of low cost and on-site building materials. The same thing is happening in many other fields - traditional agriculture is being forced to buy seeds each year rather than save their own seeds. Universal rules about commercial produce insure that every tomato you see is the same color, firmness and blandness as the one you bought yesterday.

The popularity of the PBS series Alone in the Wilderness and the books of Lloyd Kahn are a tribute to the romance of this dying way of life.