Permit approved and rescinded!

This is one of a series of posts about building a new shop building. To read the first of these posts, please click here. Each has links to the next.

The Grading permit corrections document arrived the next week. That was round one for that process. Questions on that document included underground utilities (only water and electricity in my case), the replacement of soil after the utilities are delivered, and a number of questions about run-off and water capture. In our county, all rainwater that comes off of a roof must be captured and put into a catch basin so that it will percolate into the water table or run into a natural waterway. Uncontrolled storm run-offs are not allowed, in order to prevent erosion.

The catch basin is already built, and my building will ultimately be connected to the underground pipes that feed that basin. This is relatively simple for me; two rain gutters will be attached to the building, and the outflow of those will be connected to the existing pipe.

There is a paragraph about archaeological studies of the property. Since there are recently built structures on the same land, I asked the property owner for more information on that topic. I think it has been covered in the previous building permits.

This is one part of the grading permit application. My building is the rectangle on the lower-right. To the left is an existing barn. The catch basin is at the top-center. This drawing includes topographic, grading, soil compacting and water run-off and capture information.

The County eventually waived the archaeologist’s report, as one had been done earlier for the same property. They did insist that the building might be in sight of a scenic highway. I looked up “scenic highways in San Luis Obispo County” and the road near my shop is not on that list, so I asked the County for clarification. They insisted that the nearby road is a scenic highway. Further research showed that the entire ridge of hills adjacent to the property is included in the Scenic Highway and Railroad code. I had to either comply by adding landscaping and repainting my building a darker shade of gray, or showing the County that my building is not visible from a scenic highway or railroad.

I took my camera, and drove out to the nearby roads. Then I parked and hiked along the road, taking a photo toward my building site every 200 feet. Surprisingly, my building will not be in sight of this road. I submitted this photo and an explanation of the sight-line. They didn’t respond, but a few days later I got an e-mail telling me that my permit had been approved.

This is one of my photos, showing that my building will not be visible from the closest major road. The red arrow points to the location of the building site. This documentation was eventually successful with the planners. The Santa Lucia mountains are in the background.

Now all I have to do it send them another $1,600 for the permit, and I will be able to begin construction!

It took just over eight months and a tremendous amount of money to get this permit, and I plan to get started as quickly as I can.

Stay tuned! I’m resurrecting my time-lapse camera and outdoor box, and I will install this on the hill above my building site before we begin work. My plan is to document the entire process. I’ll post a link to it here.

Addendum: October 1, 2024: The County rescinded my permit, citing the Scenic Highways and Railroads code again. They were apparently not satisfied with my response. So I went out and took more photos. I showed views from two nearby roads with arrows showing that my building site is not visible from those roads. Then I took one more from the location of the closest railroad (2.3 miles distance). It is impossible to see my building from the railroad tracks, thank goodness. (I wouldn’t want any Amtrak passengers to be offended by my shop.)

I submitted a second draft of that document, and also called to talk to the planner, who, after some review, agreed that my building will not be visible from the roads in question, nor from the railroad. I received a note from the planner indicating that my document was accepted and that the clearance was granted.

Two small clerical items remain, but when complete, I think I will get the actual permit. Today? Probably not. It’s Friday.

Note: On my interactions with the county planners: I haven’t meant to demean any of the planners and inspectors with whom I have had interactions in this process. Each person I have conversed with has been professional and courteous. These posts show a certain level of frustration with the process of applying for a building permit in my county. It is obviously a complex process involving laws, codes, ordinances and local rules. Getting approval of all of the necessary steps in building is difficult, and I think that I have succeeded, in large part with the help of professional engineers, contractors and builders, and with the various county planners and reviewers.

About Brian Lawler

Brian Lawler is an Emeritus Professor of Graphic Communication at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and was a Guest Professor at Hochschule München from September, 2021 to September, 2022. He writes about graphic arts processes and technologies for various industry publications, and on his blog, The Blognosticator.
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