Windmill Animal Hospital - In the News!
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Windmill Animal Hospital, Abilene's premier veterinary hospital, is in the news! |
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Click here to see the video and read the story
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Click here to read some production notes about our commercial |
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Thursday, September 15, 2011. Dr Price's husband, Dale speaks on camera about the City of Abilene Building Department changing the rules AFTER a building permit is issued! Click here to read the Channel 9 KRBC story and see the video. The Rest of the Story (as told by Dale): Before a building permit is issued, the Building Department reviews all plans (site plan, building plan, engineering, etc.). It is done this way because it is much more economical to change plans than to make changes after construction starts! We submitted our Site Plan, which was prepared and stamped by a Licensed Texas Professional Engineer. We submitted our building plans, which were prepared by a Licensed Texas Architect, and we submitted our foundation plan, which was also prepared by a Licensed Texas Professional Engineer. The City reviewed these plans for 3 weeks. the City then issued a building permit along with a letter listing 7 additional requirements to the plans. Six of the requirements were items such as we must get a separate permit for a sign, and we must use a licensed, bonded general contractor. Item 4 was that the International Building Code (IBC) required the area around each water closet (toilet), from the floor to 48" high, you must use a smooth, non-absorbent surface. They asked us to respond to these 7 items in writing. I consulted with my architect, and we composed a letter addressing each of the 7 points, including that we would address point 4 with Expoxy wall paint, over wall board (smooth and non-absorbent). We told them that if this did not meet their interpretation of IBC requirements, please notify us and we can discuss options. We received no response from the City. Construction then began. The first issue arose during one of the inspections (long after the concrete slab was poured and the concrete crew has left). The inspector said he wanted me to add a 5 foot square porch outside our "Isolation Ward" exterior door. This porch was NOT on the approved site-plan. This is a ward with an exterior door that will ONLY be used to bring in a contagious patient, so that the remaining portion of the hospital is not contaminated for our other patients. We did not want it to LOOK like an entrance. However the inspector told us the concrete would HAVE to be installed, even though it wasn't on the approved plans. The City could have asked for this during the permitting and review stage so that we could have had the concrete crew pour this pad while they were pouring the foundation, sidewalks and parking lot. Instead I had to pay the concrete crew to come out for this very samll project. The second issue started when we were told we would have to have a engineer design the steel Lintel supporting the brick above the roof (on the gable) on the front of the building. Now, all brick masons know you have to use steel to support the weight of the brick above the roof. We had to stop construction, send the brick crew home for a week (that was cheap!) and pay a Licensed Texas Professional Engineer to design and stamp the EXACT same design that our brick masons were going to use. The City could have asked for this during the permitting and review stage so that we could have budgeted money for the extra engineering charges. Again, once the building permit is issued, you should be able to build to the plans without problem! The third item was when we wanted to put up our windmill (just like thousands of windmills throughout the Big Country). Well, the City said they required a building permit, and the foundation would have to be engineered and stamped! My plan had been to put 1 cubic yard of concrete under each leg of the windmill. However, I paid a Licensed Texas Professional Engineer to design the foundation...and he came up with 4 holes 24" diameter by 66" deep - low and behold; about 1 cubic yard of concrete under each leg. However, when the City Inspector came out to approve the holes before concrete was poured, he got no closer than 10 feet from the closest hole, then said "you're cleared to pour", then turned and walked away. He never measured the diameter or the depth of any of the holes. Why require engineering and inspection if you aren't even going to check for compliance? The final straw was during the FINAL inspection. The inspector looked at each of our bathrooms, and promptly said our epoxy paint over wallboard would not pass his requirements. I told him we had addressed this in a letter to the City the previous April, when the building permit was issued. He said he didn't know what kind of deals I had made, and with whom. But he was the inspector, and this would not pass! I then requested we contact the plan reviewer and the building department management to discuss this. This is when Big Country News (Channel 9 - Abilene) got involved. We had a meeting with the top two people in the Abilene Building Department. I was told by the manager that he would look into the issue and would respond before the end of the day. The meeting adjourned. The reporter then called the manager and informed him of the news story. I was immediately called by the manager and told "the epoxy paint would be just fine". Believe me, there is no one more interested in a well built building then me...I am the one with all the "skin in the game". However the City's continual additional requirements not only delayed our opening but costs us several thousand dollars in expense. This is money that we will never recover....the stamped Lintel drawings and the stamped windmill drawings don't add value to the place, just expense. This money could have been used to buy additional equipent to treat our patients! We built our last practice in Flower Mound, Texas in 1997. In fact it is the same building except for the roof-line. Flower Mound is very difficult to build in because of their vision of being a very upscale community. They were indeed tough during the planning stages (in fact, they wanted us to add a fake chimney on the gable facing the parking lot, simply for appearances). However, once the building permit was issued, they were wonderful to work with. We worked together to build a strong, safe building, just as the plans were when the building permit was issued . It is a shame that Abilene's growth has been hurt because our building department has made new commercial construction so expensive. They have taken the attitude that they can miss several items during the plan review stage, and issue the building permit, thinking that any missed requirements will be picked up by the inspectors, and the owner will pick up the tab for these oversights. The problem is, owners make their construction budget based on the plans in place at the time the building permit is issued, not as you go along! This practice needs to be changed immediately before the Abilene Building Department drives away all future commercial growth in our area. |
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Sunday July 17, 2011 - The Ft. Worth Star Telegram published a story about increased pet allergy symptoms during the long hot summer. Dr. Price is well known for her thorough management of allergies and skin diseases.
Click on the image to see it full size |
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Friday July 1, 2011 - The Abilene Reporter News published a commercial construction story.
Click on the image to see it full size |
