This is the Developer's Corner.  Your information page for Lot and Land development.

Last update of this page :9/05/06
Congratulations! You must be thinking about building a house, or developing a lot for construction.    In the next few months I will be adding several pages of information about many topics related to developing your property.

First, a little nomenclature; for purposes of discussion I refer to the development of a piece of property as anything necessary to be accomplished PRIOR to construction (the pulling of a building permit).  It is this area that I have an expertise in, not the construction of the building.

The search for property and investigation thereof is very important in forming the basis for which you can begin the development of your property.  If I have helped you with the acquisition of your property we have talked about a lot of this, but perhaps from different aspects.

Basic Principles:

Power

Access

Water

Septic

Fire

Covenants
Split-ability

Map conditions

Subordinations
 

POWER  (& phone) considerations:
     SDG&E pole location, underground location, distance to property, easements that may be required to bring in power. Timing, temporary power, where is the nearest "can" (transformer), overall cost, phasing.

The cost to put in a pole is around $6,000. Underground is around $40 per foot even if you ditch and conduit.

ACCESS:

Things to consider:
Is the road straight enough, or perhaps too steep to pull in a manufactured home?

All easements in place?  Are the required widths for a potentially split-able lot greater than you currently have? 
Will the power, water dept, gates, road maintenance agreements, steepness, distance from County maintained road, Fire Dept Requirements all support a split process?

Has a Title Report been ordered and closely examined for access all the way to a County road? Have the easements been described?  Have they been plotted so that they can be easily perused?

 RETHINK: If you are considering a manufacutred or modular home, is the road (all roads) straight enough (with no sharp curves) to get a big truck in with that BIG box on the transporter?  Is it steep? Angle of departure?
Check out  www.cleverhomes.net for a cool type of modular home. 

WATER:

Well? Cost, location or proximity to proposed septic leach field.

Setbacks from well ? 100´ setback requirement to septic leach field.

Municipal water availability ? Size of proposed or existing water meter.

Fire hydrant required?  Is it going to need an 8" extension or the standard 6" feed to the hydrant?
How deep is the water main if you need to tap into it?  If a "hot tap" is required will it require shutting down the road for a day or two?  What about traffic control?
Your new residence will need to be within 1000 feet of a fire hydrant.  If it is a "new" map the requirement is 500'.
Extra fire sprinkler water meter required? Cost?

Most Fire Departments wil require a 6,000 gallon water tank on-site if you cannot put in a fire hydrant and extension or are atempting to avoid the costs of same.  The cost of a tank is around $1.10 per gallon - or $6,500 for a tank this size.

SEPTIC: The septic approval process will  bring up lots of considerations & variables so these are mostly questions that need to be answered.

Request a copy ot the tentative map from the County.  This will provide the location of the leach field and the results of the perolation tests performed.  Perk rates don't change much over , say 100 years but the ground water /  water table changes every year. The County's primary concern is not the perk rate, but depth to ground water.  If the County states that a certain property must be "monitored" for ground water, this means a engineer must certify that the holes used for measuring depth to ground water must be properly sealed and check after every major rain so that when the County comes out to check it, they only need to look over the engineers results.  This can save months or YEARS of anguish with the County if you are proactive and have an engineer take it over BEFORE the County requires  monitoring.
Is there an old perk (percolation) test already done? Copies available? Topography map (available from water dept.)  Who was the engineer?  Is the property part of a Parcel Map? 

Is there room for a leach field?  Is there a layout already done?  Does the existing leach field described include a 100% reserve field?

Do the Map conditions require a driveway that is an "impermeable surface"?  What does that mean to your setback requirements for septic, will it help?
Will you need to clear the property in order to examine for a location of the new leach field. 

Will a survey need to be done in order to locate the system to the County requirements?

A host of professionals will need to be involved:

Hole drilling company ? Usually two half-days at a minimum cost $400 to $800

Engineer ? not always needed at this stage but should be consulted always.

Back hoe ? need BH slices to satisfy County requirements - $300-500

Septic Layout? usual cost approx  $700

County field inspector ? SD County processing fee is currently $775 and going up.

..And part of construction phase -  the cost of installation, and permits (currently $280) Construction costs are related mostly to the type of system installed whether it is a gravity flow or a pump system or even possibly a horizontal seepage pit.

FIRE DEPARTMENT:

Even if this is a "buy-and-hold", you will need to determine the FD requirements for future development purposes.  The regulations change frequently and it is best to place the improvements while the laws will allow.

Distance to the property to the nearest fire plug or blow-off, a fire truck turn around within 150 feet of the building, response time, steepness of driveway, width of all access roads, municipal water availability, storage capacity, square footage of the home, are all things that go into the mix to determine costs of satisfying the local fire district needs for your approval.  The determination of a need for a second water meter that cannot be shut off due to non-payment of water bill, is the latest in an added cost for meeting FD standards.

Fire insurance rates and even availability is a major unknown these days, make certain you check these things out early in the acquisition process.

Are there Pavement vs DG (decomposed granite) considerations?
Is it steep? Angle of departure?
How deep is the water main if you need to tap into it?
FD allows your grade to be up to 20%, however there are more conservative considerations.  If you keep it under 19% you won´t be questioned.  If your keep your access under 15% your could avoid the need for a fire sprinklers, or a fire meter.  If you keep it under 12% grade you could avoid concrete or asphalt surfacing.  Consult the FD and your engineer to determine where the break-points are for these issues.

CURRENT MAP CONDITIONS or requirements. (Covenants)

ALWAYS get a copy of the Parcel Map (if applies) and read it thouroughly to determine any requirements that may have been imposed on the subdivision that created the parcel.  Not all parcels are part of a Parcel Map, but if it is, you must learn this early. If you need to change something about the current Map such as the access, this could trigger a modification of the existing map (Map modification) which then opens you up to all other new regulations as well.
New regs might require biological studies, change the required distance for a fire hydrant, etc.

SPLIT-ABILITY: (SPLIT-ABILITY not a word yet ? The County will prove that!)

You will most certainly trigger rules that did not apply just a few short months or years ago when this property was last examined by the intense scrutiny of the County.

Many things have changed  such as FD rules including widths of driveways or road and even the definition of a private drive vs a private road (a huge difference in costs and engineering). Easement width is the first consideration, then ability to percolate or otherwise pass the County septic requirements.

 .....ZONING, ACCESS, SEPTIC, etc......

The first consideration is whether the County zoning in the area will allow a smaller lot.  Second whether the easement widths are available, topography, biological, hydrology, and geological studies - are all "tests" the county will apply before considering a split. 
Dept. of Fish and Game,  grade-slope analysis, percolation rates, depth to ground water. 

USE DILIGENCE: One of the biggest problems with clients that purchase property without a broker or with a broker that does not SPECIALIZE in lots and land. You are asking for trouble if you do not heed this advice.  I have made a specialty out of just fixing problems that were created due to a lack of expertise in the field.  Mind you, a California real estate license does not guarantee ANY experience in this area.  You must work with a specialist. Not just someone that "knows the area" either.  I have sold hundreds of properties and dozens of lots/land parcels.

EASEMENTS:  If you have a property that has easement or access problems I would like to talk to you.  I have been involved in  over two dozen easement acquisitions.  They are not easy.  They can appear simple and end up very complicated.  Involving politics with neighbors, loan subordinations, title and escrow aspects, easement descriptions, and compliance with existing Parcel Map requirements;  easement are tricky.  Please allow me to discuss them with you if you have problems BEFORE you act.

OTHER ASPECTS:

Boundary adjustments, Lot splits, Map modifications ...and more will be discussed if you wish to speak to me about them.

San Diego County Agencies - contact information & websites:

SD Area Assoc of Governments    (SANDAG )
                 Website:            www.sandag.reg.ca.us   
                 Email address: sandag@sandag.reg.ca.us

Dept of Planning & Land Use  (DPLU)                            (858) 694-3696
                 Website:           www.sdcounty.ca.gov/dplu
                 Email address:nael.areigat@sdcounty.ca.gov
                 Email address:curt.gonzales@sdcounty.ca.gov

SD Department of Environmental Health      ( DEH)     Ruffin Road, SD (619) 565-5173
                Off Twin Oaks Valley Road (south side of I-78)  San Marcos   (760) 471-0730

Department of Public Works (DPW) Grading permits     Ken Stevens   (858) 694-3863