“My experience has been a lot of these are for “legacy building” and just happen to benefit builders that are politically connected. “
I would say almost all of them ;-)
I've enjoyed your posts. It sounds like we've had a lot of similar experiences.
I started in real estate as a salesman and remember one of my first land development deals. It was a sizable tract and I put up signage on the corner. The local zoning board made me come out to about half a dozen meetings to make sure the sign was redone in compliance with their codes.
The guy in charge was an older guy who had been appointed to the board, had no real estate, construction or architectural experience but he sure did love being in charge!