Yeah, that title is as boring as this post, but important factors in determining what I can or cannot do with respect to building on my property. Now that we have a site plan, prepping everything for the approval processes and understanding all the various requirements across all the agencies involved is simply part of developing land in LA. Once again, Andrew at Stillwater to the rescue, as he dives deep into the four sets of criteria that will have to be followed – LA Municipal Code, Baseline Hillside Ordinance, Mulholland Scenic Criteria, and LA Urban Forestry Division.
I was more or less aware of three of these – LA (well, the property is in LA), Hillside (yes, the land is a hill) and Mulholland (were I’m not that close to the Drive, the land tract is fairly wide and does encompass my neighborhood) – Urban Forestry is one that never came up before. The good news is that information from all the agencies is not bringing up any conflicts between them, but there are three main areas identified that need to be addressed:
3′ UTILITY EASEMENT – This applies to shared property lines and none of the paving, walkways, or stairs are allowed to encroach into that 3’ easement.
RETAINING WALL RESTRICTIONS – The City restricts the number and size of retaining walls. However, foundation walls acting as slope retention are exempt.
FIRE HAZARD – Since the lot is zoned “Very High Fire Hazard”, it will need to meet the restrictions on materials that are allowed within the fire zone.
Andrew seems to think all of these are able to be satisfied with the existing house design. Coast Engineering is working against the first two, and Stillwater has the “ignition-resistant” material experience based on some of their rebuild projects up in Sonoma County from the recent wild fires across that region. The process continues…