Scaled Surveys/Plats

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chasnr

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I deal with many pool companies that I pull permits for there in-ground pool projects. On these jobs, the most important part of the project is the site plan/survey. Noting to scale the location/size of the pool and the setbacks to all pertinent property lines and/or septic, well, septic reserve areas and drain fields.
I've been doing it old school basically with a ruler and measuring on the pdf and using hand drawing tools via Adobe. This is obviously more time consuming and tedious and more prone to inaccuracies making sure the scale is correct, etc....I haven't subscribed to blue beam or other cad type programs, but, am considering it. I'm not opposed to investing in this type of program, but, it may be overkill as I am not really doing design plans/drawings 90% of the time for my various permit projects. Maybe in the future there will be more of a need, but, not just yet. Any recommendations of the best way to approach this? Free software or just a better step by step with adobe?
 
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When I did my own permitting for a laundry room remodel last summer, the building department asked that I simply annotate a Google Earth aerial for the site plan. See below. I used the snipping tool to capture the aerial image of my house from Google Earth, then pulled that into Microsoft Paint for annotation. Google Earth also has a measurement tool, which I used to identify distances to property lines and the road. I added those measurements, along with other required annotations, to my aerial image in MS Paint. I think the end result looks reasonably polished and it was plenty sufficient for obtaining plan approval from my building department.
1747762447214.png
 
Thank you for your response. It's kind of funny when jurisdictions ask for site plans when all work is interior. Some will ask for a site plan no matter what. In those cases, what you did is sufficient. Otherwise, when there is exterior work, an actual survey is required. This is helpful though.
 
chasnr said:
Thank you for your response. It's kind of funny when jurisdictions ask for site plans when all work is interior. Some will ask for a site plan no matter what. In those cases, what you did is sufficient. Otherwise, when there is exterior work, an actual survey is required. This is helpful though.
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Yeah, no idea why a site plan was required when all proposed changes were interior. Just a standard requirement for San Marcos, CA, I guess.
 
Eric said:
Yeah, no idea why a site plan was required when all proposed changes were interior. Just a standard requirement for San Marcos, CA, I guess.
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A garage conversion or change of use would be the only reason a site plan should be needed in my opinion. Our jurisdiction requires two paved off-street parking spaces, so the site plan would be reviewed as part of the garage conversion to confirm this condition is still being met. Change of use, such as a patio to habitable would confirm that this change meets current set back requirements from property lines and/or other structures. There is also the possibility that it was not permitted initially. We take the stance that when something changes use, it is no longer "Grandfathered" in.
 
Kimberly L said:
A garage conversion or change of use would be the only reason a site plan should be needed in my opinion. Our jurisdiction requires two paved off-street parking spaces, so the site plan would be reviewed as part of the garage conversion to confirm this condition is still being met. Change of use, such as a patio to habitable would confirm that this change meets current set back requirements from property lines and/or other structures. There is also the possibility that it was not permitted initially. We take the stance that when something changes use, it is no longer "Grandfathered" in.
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Agreed. Requirements should be tailored to match the review need with less reliance on catch-all policies. I think we should trust staff to exercise this kind of discretion more often, e.g., deciding to omit the site plan requirement when it makes sense to do so.
 
There are times though when taking things on a case by case basis is too time consuming. If a jurisdiction is back-logged and short-staffed, corners will be cut.
If public safety doesn't suffer, it should be good enough.
 

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