Stalled Studio Update

The City Administrator called me back this morning. He was quite friendly, and sympathetic to the basically un-garage-like nature of my garage (which is great, but doesn't imply anything about the final outcome -- it's perfectly possible to be sympathetic but still rules-are-rules). He said he'd look at the plans I had on file and get back to me with what my options are. He also clarified that the variance process can be expensive, and that's why the staff warn people off it -- a nice bit of info I hadn't had before. Otherwise, he pretty much laid out the same options dad did, I think -- either find a compromise within code (and I really think there isn't one I'd be happy with), go through the variance process (which may or may not work and costs money), or lobby to change the city code (which may or may not work, and takes a lot longer).

Still, it's nice to feel like things are moving forward, even if they're just moving towards another dead end.