The next step in the journey to fulfill my dream was the Feasibility Study. This entailed a visit by the architect to Half Moon Bay where he met with the HMB Planning Department to get a handle on all the local building requirements and to see the building site first hand, after which he provided me with a report with all the information he obtained, as well as the projected costs and time frame. Most noteworthy was that he said "It is the easiest site we have ever had to deal with!!" And we could “leapfrog” over the second part of the Feasibility Study.
The projected time frame for a completed house was 10-16
months. That was September 2015. Unfortunately, things are taking longer than
expected. It is now December 2016 and we
have yet to get a building permit or break ground. In hindsight the biggest mistake I have made so
far was not starting the process sooner.
After I bought the house and lot, I was in no hurry to get the new house
built. Since I plan to sell the old
house when the new one is built, I wanted to stay in it for 2 years for the tax
benefits. And because I thought a prefab
house could go up in a year or less, I didn’t see a need to start the process
immediately. I spent the first year
doing some research, but mainly fixing up the old house.
What we did accomplished in the
last year was the Design Phase. This began by tweaking the house plans and deciding where to place the house and garage on the lot. Peter and I met to discuss my wishes and to look at an assortment of possible site plans he had created. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I can have pretty strong opinions on some things—and how I imagined the house would
sit on the lot was no exception. Having
lived next to the lot for a year I had given considerable thought to it and had played
with numerous layouts on Sketchup. So,
not surprisingly, none of Peter’s renderings were anything like what I
envisioned. As in the Half Moon Bay
Design Guidelines, he wanted to put the house in the front of the lot and the
garage in the rear. While this does look
more attractive from the street, in my opinion, it has some serious drawbacks,
the main one being the long driveway.
But I had other concerns as well.
On the existing house the kitchen is in the front behind
the garage. It faces east and gets the
lovely morning sun (when we have any).
If the new house was in the front of the lot, it would block the sun and
the view out the kitchen window. Even
though I plan to sell the existing house, I didn’t want the new owners to have
to look at a big wall. My solution was
to put the house in the rear of the lot and the garage in the front, which
would make for a nice courtyard in between.
Also, all the big windows on the new house will face south, toward the
street. If the house was in the front,
there wouldn’t be much privacy. My way,
the windows will face the private courtyard.
The other challenge was how to add an accessory
dwelling. Half Moon Bay recently changed
the zoning rules to encourage homeowners to add additional living units to
help with the housing shortage. It is
also a way for seniors to downsize by moving into the smaller unit and renting
the main house. Logical Homes has
several small house designs made from single containers. Using Sketchup, I tried placing one of these
on the lot along with the house and garage.
I had trouble finding an arrangement I liked, given the narrow lot and
the setbacks. The only other option was
to put it on top of the garage. We tried a number of different designs ending up with a 320 square foot studio apartment above the garage made from two 20’
containers placed side by side.
I made a few other changes, as well. For one I was worried that 2 bedrooms was not enough. While it would work fine for me, I won't always be the one living in the house. I decided to add another 20' shipping container to the side of the house which will contain a third bedroom and bath. It could be used for an office or a bedroom for someone unable to go up the stairs. The roof of the container now becomes a deck off the master bedroom. I also made some changes to the kitchen layout.
During this design phase, I made numerous visits to the
HMB Planning Department. They were
extremely helpful and encouraging from the beginning. Having never done this before, I had lots of
questions and they walked me through everything. By the time we were ready to submit the
design review application on May 16th, 2016, it went right
through. The public hearing, a normal
part of the process, was then scheduled for August 17th. A notice is mailed to the neighbors and published
in the paper so any interested parties can voice their opinions of the
project. Peter was more worried than I was about the hearing. He has
experienced a mix of reactions to his container projects due to this unconventional building technique. In
order to be fully prepared for any negative comments, he had his assistant,
Andrew, build a model of the new house and they brought it to the meeting. Not only did Andrew make an amazing model of the new
house, he also did a less detailed model of the existing house which made it easy to see
how they would look together.
As I expected, the meeting couldn't have gone any better. Only 2 interested parties showed up and they were friends and neighbors expressing their support. The Planning Department officials were also totally supportive. They commended my efforts to build a sustainable house and were open to the innovative and modern design. Needless to say, Peter was surprised and amazed. After the 10 day comment period expired, the design was approved and we were ready to move on to the next step--finalizing the plans for the building permit!!
