Got turned down for the first official permit application I’ve made here in Yellowknife…. go figure! I wanted to change the driveway so that you could enter and exit in sort of a semi-circle fashion. So I draw up what my plan is, go in to the city to see the Planning department, ask all sorts of questions, and the Planning & Development lady tells me to fill out the application and submit it. Oh by the way she says, there’s a processing fee of $50, even if the application is denied. Hmmm… that sounds like a scam to me, but I guess in a town where skilled labour is hard to find, the city wants to make certain you’re not just screwing around with permit applications right? Or maybe it is a scam… think what you will I say! Anyhow… a few days later they call for more clarification, and I explain in more detail and they go off again and tell me I will hear back in a day or two.
I come home from work the next day, and there’s a big 11×17 notice stapled to the front steps of the house. …REFUSED… you’re sh!~~!ng me is my first thought. Then I do some more digging through the various by-laws and stuff to figure out why…. and low-n-behold it appears there is a by-law here in Yellownife which states that you are only allowed one “depression curb” per building lot. And to have a semi-circular driveway would mean that I would need two. So REFUSED is what I get instead. 
Well, now I’m a little “ticked” since the people in Planning & Lands should’ve had enough knowledge (and I use the term loosely) to at least advise me on this regulation. So, from my viewpoint now, it sure looks like a scam, because I could’ve been saved the $75 (oh yeah, it turns out the processing fee is actually $75 and not $50 as I was initially informed) “processing fee”. So think what you will, but I’m pretty certain this is a scam if I ever seen one.
Until next time…
