- The power to require permits is the power to prevent something from ever existing. This lovely movement would've never begun or spread if everyone who wanted to build a Little Free Library recognized a need to apply and pay for a permit. Instead they did good and asked permission never.
I am so tired of rules. You know that old song "signs" that cheesy ass, old hippy tune? You don't? (actually, I know that you do camarillobrillo as you are a big music fan, but this is more for the less musically inclined) Well then, let me play it for you: Well, I think this song is not just about property rights. I think it's about needing a permit to do just about anything these days. I was having a discussion with my father and some friends tonight about how cool it would be to invest in buying food trucks and rent them to aspiring chefs/restauranteurs. But from a regulatory standpoint, each city/county/state is different in what those trucks may require. Hell, I'm of the thought that you should be able to have a taco truck in Nebraska and be able to drive it to Maine and sell tacos all along the way, unencumbered. Let the market decide is something that many liberals snide at, but is it not just another way of disagreeing with "do this, don't do that, can't you read the siiiiigns?"
Taking to the choir here. To open my coffee shop that serves only pre-made pastries and bagels I need to install a 45 gallon grease trap. I need to have two "secure, long term, covered bike parking spaces" in addition to two short term uncovered unsecured bike parking spaces. becase my space is over 400 sq ft (clocking in at 750 sq ft) I need two ADA bathrooms (400 sq ft is an awfully small space to need an additional bathroom that take up at least 100 sq ft). I have to have a locker for my employees personal effects. Fuck all. That being said I have at least three little free libraries within easy walking distance to my house but I'd guess that I have more like five or six. I know of at least two more on my 5 mile commute to work but I'm sure there are a bunch that are a few blocks off my route. Any politician that opposed little free libraries would face a serious back lash (I'd guess 2-5% points) at election time.
Technically, ADA2010 requires you to comply with ADA restroom requirements only to the point where your TI or remodel consumes 20% of your overall cost. Minimum ADA2010 bathrooms are also 7'6x7'6 for 56 sqft... Your architect/design build firm should have made this clear to you. If not, there are professionals. http://www.ada.gov/infoline.htm I once talked to one of the people who drafted the original ADA back in 1988. It was left vague and unclear with the hope that litigation would elaborate and clarify the code for everyone. In other words, they did a shit job of explaining it so that everyone would sue the people trying to comply thereby establishing through caselaw and precedent what they actually meant. As you might imagine, this did not popularize the ADA with merchants, architects, or anyone without a handicapped permit.
You clearly don't live in the land of bathtub cheese. It's not uncommon in LA to take a few home depot buckets of raw milk, throw them in the bathtub and whip out some queso fresco or cotija. It's also not uncommon for babies to die. Which is not to say "everyone who wants a food truck is gonna make listeria-flavored breakfast quesadillas across all 50 states." But food trucks are already a method for restauranteurs to avoid the heavy startup costs of food service and are already subject to less inspection and oversight than traditional brick'n'mortar establishments. Allowing them to slip across state lines unencumbered would be an awesome opportunity for the 0.5% of your clientele that are altruistic dreamers solely motivated by sharing grandpa's chili recipe with the world. Everyone else will hop from farmer's market to farmer's market selling costco frozen food at a steep markup. Much of the produce available at Los Angeles farmer's markets is purchased at Ralph's or Safeway and then thrown under a pop-up. Lack of inspection equals lack of oversight equals lack of scruples. Which is not to say I'm "anti-Little Library." It's just that without a regulation explicitly permitting a free-standing structure of 2 cubic feet or less intended and constructed exclusively for the dissemination of non-pornographic literature by private homeowners without non-profit status, you will end up with bible bunkers up and down the road. You will end up with shelters full of Amway catalogs. You will end up with outdoor billboards masquerading as Little Libraries. You will end up with people smarter and less altruistic than you figuring out a way to turn a profit in a way exactly the opposite of what you intended because that's how scumbags make money.