Starting the Addition Paperwork

Ok, while this is the first post, in all honesty we are already several weeks into this process.
Sorry. I would have started sooner but we've been busy filling out paperwork.

Just to bring you up to speed:
My wife, tree kids and I live in a modest brick rambler on the East Coast. We like our location and have decided that this is the house where we will be living in for the next, ohhh, let's say 75-100 years. (What can I say, I'm an optimist.)

The house meets most of our needs but there were always a few bits of oddness about it that we wished we could change. Well, the time has come around to make those changes.

We have pretty simple tastes so we really aren't going high end on this. We just want to make the house meet some more of our needs and eliminate a few annoyances. But there will time enough to list those later.

Let me describe the first round of paperwork.

Our house is situated on an odd lot. The house sits relatively far back on the property. Because of the typography of the lot and the nature of what we want to build, the back of the house is the only practical place for us to build an addition. However, the corner of the house is only 25ft from the back property line and that is the minimum setback in our county.

Bummer.

Luckily our county has a "Special Permit" process whereby we can build up to 12' 6" from the property line provided we dot the "I's" and cross the "T's". And oh yeah... PAY $900.00 for the privilege of begging to build on our own property! (Sorry for the outburst. I know full well these sorts of rules are there for a good reason...but still. I thing George Washington, Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson would beat the hell out of  us for blindly accepting these sorts of things.)

The basic plan we have come up with is to add a box to the back of the house. Because of the angle of the house, we are making the addition a trapezoid to maximize the space. This way, the outside wall will maintain a distance of 12'6" from the property line. (Clever, huh?)

Okay, so here is what we needed to turn in to start the special permit process:

• 15 copies of our plat completed by a surveyor showing both our existing house and our existing house plus the proposed addition.
• 1 8 1/2x11 reduction of those plats.
• A notarized application.
• A written narrative as to why we are building the addition this way. (Apparently, "Because we want to." is not an acceptable answer.)
• A signed sheet affirming that my wife and I actually own the property.
• Photographs of our house from all angles to show the existing building.
• Photographs of the houses in all directions from our house so they can get a sense of the neighborhood.
• Drawings of all four angles of how the house will look with the addition.
• A copy of our zoning map with our lot outlined in red.
• A check for $910.00

The process can take up to three months in their office before it is referred to the zoning commission for a vote.

Once it has been referred to the commission, they can take up to three additional months to schedule their hearing and vote.

The staff in the zoning office has been VERY friendly and helpful. Two trips out there and everything is in order and submitted. They will contact us when (it is almost pointless to hope for an "if") they find something wrong or something that needs clarification.

However, as I review the paperwork in my head and look at what I still have on hand... I'm almost positive I colored in the wrong lot on the zoning map. Grrrrrrrrrrr.