Land Question

[Asloren1]

A few additional thoughts as we’ve recently gone through the full state and town permitting process:
- Full survey and topographical site plan is step 1 so you know what you actually have and where you can actually build per property boundaries, wetlands, slopes, possible septic locations, well, etc
- NHDES and town Shoreland permit process requires a full site plan AND proposed building footprint with all pervious/impervious areas, so you will need some aspect of that from the Architect (you don’t need full building permit plan, but do need the foundation and surrounding elements like patios, driveway, etc)
- Your surveyor should be able to help manage that permit process for you, but you’ll need an architect or designer for the house footprint parts

Hope that helps…

[John Mercier]

If they have existing cottages across the street on the water... probably outside the shoreland permitting requirement.

[secondcurve]

Typically your observation would be correct. However, our existing cottage sits right on the street and also right on the water. We enter on the top floor and go down a series of stairs to the water. The lot is very shallow so the second lot is only about 175 feet from the water. Bottom line we need to deal with the Shoreline Protection even if the expansion is higher up on the hill and out of the 250 foot buffer because the new curb cut/driveway is within the 250 foot buffer.

Thanks

[John Mercier]

Well, then you have quite a bit of paperwork at hand.

After that, a builder or a design program may be able to help the process along.

If you get it close, the lumber yards have internal structural engineers that can further the details along.

[Lakegeezer]

Contact your town's conservation commission. They may be willing to give high-level advice about what can be done, do it more quickly than builders and likely without charge. DES is also a good route once you have specific ideas about what you want to do, as they are willing to talk things over with you before you go for permits.

[tis]

Depending on the town, your code officer can be very helpful also.

[Lake Fan]

Very good answer there. The surveyor/civil engineer should also be able to advise on lot grading, drainage, and the location of the house and improvements after all the encumbrances are accounted for.

Just out of curiosity, how long did the permitting process take? I know someone just getting started building on an island and was wondering what the timeframe was like? Thanks in advance for any info.

Originally Posted by Asloren1

A few additional thoughts as we’ve recently gone through the full state and town permitting process:
- Full survey and topographical site plan is step 1 so you know what you actually have and where you can actually build per property boundaries, wetlands, slopes, possible septic locations, well, etc
- NHDES and town Shoreland permit process requires a full site plan AND proposed building footprint with all pervious/impervious areas, so you will need some aspect of that from the Architect (you don’t need full building permit plan, but do need the foundation and surrounding elements like patios, driveway, etc)
- Your surveyor should be able to help manage that permit process for you, but you’ll need an architect or designer for the house footprint parts

Hope that helps…

[Descant]

Originally Posted by Lake Fan

Very good answer there. The surveyor/civil engineer should also be able to advise on lot grading, drainage, and the location of the house and improvements after all the encumbrances are accounted for.

Just out of curiosity, how long did the permitting process take? I know someone just getting started building on an island and was wondering what the timeframe was like? Thanks in advance for any info.

DES is pretty good (30 days) once an application is complete. If you DIY, it make take a bit of back and forth to be complete. A hired pro should not have much in delays. The delay comes when DES sends the application to the local CC. They may take 30-60 days to get you on the agenda, and they meet mostly once a month. If it's a complicated plan and they want to do a site visit, that can add time. A CE or surveyor can tell you what his experience is in most towns. Ask before you hire.

[Asloren1]

Lake Fan: Town and DES have 30 days to respond…if they have any questions, you will have 30 days to rep,y to that….then they have another 30 days to reply to you again….so, plan ahead and expect it to take several months.

For our recent project, we had submitted plans in November and I believe I had DES approval in Jan.

Also…to the original poster…if your structure is out of the 250 and it’s just driveway, you may be able to avoid shoreland permitting, but check with the town and survey engineer on that .

[secondcurve]

Hi:

That is a good piece of information. Depending upon where I site the house on the lot it could partially be in the 250 foot zone or totally out of the zone.

Thank you

[codeman671]

We used David Dolan for our survey, variance with Meredith for our deck and shoreland permitting. He did a great job getting everything we needed.

If you have an idea of what you want for a house, I would pick out a design so that they can work it into the plan to ensure you have the space and grades that work.