Yes, those hot summer days are upon us in LA while things related to this project move along on multiple fronts. Between my busy work schedule and a lot of recent travel, time has been moving fast, although the process of approvals continues to crawl.
First up, the never-ending saga of land clearing. Just when I thought I squeaked in under the wire on my re-inspection and all was good – I received notice that my land actually failed the secondary inspection. This puts me into the $500+ penalty phase with a potential larger fine and having the county bid out to get the work completed (more fees). Brian Walsh Brush Clearing guarantees his work, so they are going to have to go back and revisit the property. They also told me that there were computer filing issues at the LAFD, and that it is possible the penalty fee will not be assessed, but if I do receive a bill, to send it to them and they will take care of it. Oddly, in comparing pictures from this year to last (both post clearing), I don’t see any difference. So my hope is that this was just a computer error and all is good – we’ll see.
I had a great call with Andrew at Stillwater to update me on some things. It seems the Mulholland board has been really hard to reach and they refuse to answer email inquiries or questions. Andrew was able to nail down the process that has to be followed, which includes getting on the review docket. Given how backed up they are, January is the current window. However, they did advise monitoring the schedule as things fall off, and if we’re ready, we can move into a vacated spot. He also let me know that the expeditor firm retained (see Odds & Ends) completed a due diligence report on the site plan and that there was a 300 sq ft building discrepancy between the plans and what the land analysis says is permissible. Andrew did not seem to think this was anything to be concerned about, and I do think we have some flexibility in the plans should it have to be reconciled.
Lastly, given how long reviews can take, we decided to move forward into Phase 1.5 of the process. This entails figuring out the material costs as well as getting contractor costs for the construction as planned. Granted, you’d typically want all the approvals and incorporate any changes needed prior to this, but given Andrew’s confidence in the site plan for approvals, I’m not too concerned that any required changes will change those estimates dramatically. Plus, my desire to get to even a rough cost for the build is helping drive that decision.