City Demands Demolition Permit for already Demolished Chimney before it can be Demolished

The demolition company hired to clean up the GM site but instead knocked down the landmark smokestack without a permit is in big trouble. The City expressed outrage that the demolishers had “accidentally” knocked down the 100-foot brick structure in early February while their request for a permit was pending. At that time the City issued a compliance order to the company.

The order required the landowner to apply for and obtain a building permit retroactively before Feb. 22. This was somewhat puzzling as the stack had been destroyed two weeks prior to the deadline. The SubStandard has recently learned that while the demo company did in fact apply for a permit to tear down the stack they had flattened, there were serious problems with the application. Director of planning and building services Tami Kitay said the application was “incomplete.”  What precisely was missing in the request to destroy a structure that was already a pile of bricks on the ground was not identified. Kitay said that the city has communicated their displeasure in the strongest possible terms. “I assure you,” Kitay commented, “the city will not, under any circumstances, issue a permit allowing the demolition company to destroy the smokestack that has already been demolished until the application is complete.”

Enraged citizens are appalled by this turn of events, demanding that the smokestack be reconstructed before it is redemolished with a proper permit.