Meeting with the city a (tentative, qualified) sucess!

[shadesofmauve]

My initial meeting was with a sympathetic plan reviewer and The Guy Who Says No. The problem with The Guys Who Say No is that you can't usually tell if they're right or wrong when they say no; in this case it turns out to be a whole lot of right and two really important instances of wrong.

Now, I'm not being allowed to go through with my original plan. They were very sympathetic to all my highly reasonable arguments -- "No one would ever use the garage anyway," "there's plenty of on-street parking," and "But I don't OWN A CAR" -- but sympathy doesn't change the code-as-written. None of that is a surprise. The City Administrator even pointed out that I could petition for a code change with City Council, but that this would take a looong time. They are not allowed to bar me from requesting a variance, but just asking costs $1000 and I was highly unlikely to get one (for reasons they explained to my satisfaction).

But.

The Guy Who Says No was wrong on two key points, one of which I shall almost certainly make use of.

1. I'm allowed TWO driveway openings off one street frontage, not one.

2. I CAN make a driveway that turns a corner and boxes a car in (he said cars had to be side-by-side, in a straight line, or on the straight parts of a curve connected with a quite broad radius).

So: The City Administrator and the Permit Manager tentatively approved an expanded driveway that's a T shape, since you're not any more blocked-in than you are with a tandem (straight line) driveway.

Which brings us to plan B!

Plan B is to move the GigantiRhody out towards the street and make a spur off the current driveway that runs between the front of the house and the (moved) Rhododendron. It admittedly makes for a seriously weird driveway, and a few of a car from the living room window -- IF you park there. But nothing in city code says it has to be used as a driveway, just that it has to be available -- an important distinction that both my dad AND the two city guys were quick to point out. I can build it out of turf block or grass crete and use the damn thing as a patio. I can build raised beds over it. I can keep chickens on it. It doesn't matter.

Like any change of plans, there are a lot of knock-on effects, and I'm sure I haven't sorted those out yet. I need to plant more pink survey flags in my yard to visualize things, and check prices on turf block and gravel and fill dirt (because one of the knock-on effects is that certain landscaping things I wanted to wait on would have to be done BEFORE I moved the gigantiRhody). I have to revisit the interior plans, becuase after sitting on them for six months there are things I'm not quite sure of. I have to redo the site map and cost estimate and, assuming I decide to march forward with plan B, turn those into the city for real approval.

And then I could maybe, possibly, hopefully, actually start work.

Which is rather terrifying, when I think about it.

WHAT IF THIS IS ALL AN AWFUL IDEA?!

Comments

[tersa.livejournal.com]

It is not an awful idea, I have faith in you!

Also, I would love to see the schematics of Plan B once you've come up with them, because I'm having a hard time visualizing them from your description. And I am /deeply/ fascinated in this whole process, being a (quasi-)homeowner and living vicariously through your home remodeling ability, haha.

[shadesofmauve]

How are you 'quasi'? I thought you had your place?

And it's really my talking-about-home-remodeling ability you're watching. My actual home remodeling ability is yet to be truly tested. :P

I'll certainly post plans and pictures and explain it all! Just have to be home instead of at work. :D

[tersa.livejournal.com]

I own my place, but my place is a manufactured home, so my ability to renovate it more than cosmetically is...limited. :)

[shadesofmauve]

Oookay, I get it. I think. I know very little about those, really.

[fenmere.livejournal.com]

YAY!!!

As terrifying as proceeding with this is, it's gonna be so good to even start on it. Having it all done will be great. And I'm looking forward to every damn photo of the process!

[shadesofmauve]

I'm really glad I waited to respond to these comments until this morning, because I woke up feeling unmotivated and you guys are getting me going! YAY!

I'll try to remember to photograph things. :D I have photos of before I tore out the icky old wall board. I just need to get through this last decision making/flustery bit so I can do some things to photograph!

[pyoor_excuse]

I'm certain it'll be awesome, and have every faith in you. And yay, for finding a way through the ridiculous planning restrictions. Although it's still ridiculous you need two spaces for cars you don't own...

[westrider.livejournal.com]

Expanding on what I txted you yesterday, I'm confident that you'll make this work out because:
A) You're good at analyzing usage patterns, figuring out how you're actually going to want to use this space.
B) You're good enough at designs and layout that you're going to be able to come up with a space that will actually be usable for those purposes.
C) Between you and your dad, you've got the know-how and the get-shit-done to actually make that happen, at least to the point where it's functional, if perhaps not as shiny as would be ideal.

I've talked kitchen design with you, I've seen how you've laid out your space in two houses, how you thought about doing that. I know you can do it well, because I've seen you do it well before. It's just a difference of scale, not of kind.

[shadesofmauve]

Wow, thanks. That's very sweet.

I think I'm mostly worried about point B, partly because I've never had a WORK space before in my home, partly because of general perfectionism. It's easy to look at a finished room with furniture and say "No, the desk should go THERE," but it's harder to look at the unfinished garage, with different windows and different lighting, and do the same. I'm trying to design outlets and lights and things for flexibility so I don't have to worry about it.

The big thing right now is the east window. I want lots of light, but the great big window I was planning on might make me feel like I'm in a fish bowl. Still thinking on that one.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

I really think that the difference between what you've done in the past and this is smaller than you've built it up to be. I'm quite sure you've got it sorted.

[shadesofmauve]

Yeah, even the city administrator and the permit manager admitted it was ridiculous! They just didn't have the legal ability to give exceptions. :( The Administrator even admitted that he never parks in his garage and uses his driveway as a patio. :P

[t-c-da.livejournal.com]

I'm finding watching you over the fence^*, as it were, to be quite interesting in comparison to what happens in my part of the world, where what you do on the land around your house is pretty well unregulated beyond basic safety concerns. Note that internal modifications are much more closely regulated, but only in respect of the earthquake rating of the building (you know we're called the Shaky Isles, don't you? And not without reason) and again basic safety concerns.

* a rather wide and wet fence, admittedly...

[shadesofmauve]

In the US it REALLY depends on the area. The town will almost always have zoning rules, which are what my parking problem falls under. The actual building code is all about safety, though, which means lots of earthquake features in my area.

In some places the codes and zoning are far, far more lax -- there's an architecture program somewhere in the south (Alabama, maybe?) that is located there just because they can get away with building out of totally non-standard materials because the region is poor and doesn't have any building safety oversight. On the other end of the scale, there are Home Owner's Associations, which have all sorts of bylaws and tell you what color you can and can't paint your house and what you're allowed to grow in your front yard! When I bought my house, I specifically avoided anything in a HOA -- they're a nightmare.