UPDATES 10-22, City called and wanted some plan clarifications and also a grade map showing the grades as they are concerned about flooding (and so AM I). City also wanted a sewer line map showing where the sewer lines are, architect explained that the nearest serwer line is 50+ft. away and no lines are being brought in so they ok'd that one, grading has been checked and sent back, this is good news as it appears I am ahead of schedule for my permit.

UPDATE 10-28, YES YES YES a Porta Pottie was delivered today !!! that means my contractor has the permit (and did not tell me), never thought I would be excited over a porta potty but contractors here in Santa Barbara are required to use them as they are not allowed to use house facilities on any job lasting more than 1 day. Construction starts tomorrow I bet :) I will take pics of the porta potty :) and confirm the start date.

10-30-2008, ITS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW, earth is being torn up and moved, deconstruction is happening right now !!! I can't wait to get home and take pics.

DONE DONE DONE !!! 2-13-2009 10:15AM its done, inspector signed off and its finished (picture at the bottom).

Its moving along quite fast now...pictures are at the bottom.

This is becoming quite a mess but also finally becoming reality, permits are "due" to be available Nov. 5, 2008

We are moving into this new house that has a "legal non-conforming" 20'x20' detached garage which is smaller than my current crowded garage, so naturally I had grand plans and visions for what I would build. Of course the city of Santa Barbara had other ideas. My first thought was since I am on 1/3rd of a acre was a 30'x40' garage, since my wife would not give up that much of the yard that she grew up in for me to have 40'x50', I even considered 30'x50' as I have the space (wifely limit was 30ft. wide). The city said... nope, the max for your zoning is a 500sq.ft. garage, I just about blew a gasket. Back to the idea board and I read the rules, I had a few options.

1. Ask for a variance, I decided against that due to high risk of failure and time constraints, it would take a minimum of 1 year to get find out I failed.
2. Ask for a exception, I decided against that one also due time again and also because this requires me asking permission of all my neighbors and if no one complains then I can build, the other reason I decided against is that at my current property, way back in 1972 and 2 owners ago the then current owner asked and got a exception to build a den, when I went to build a garage there, I was told I could not because a property is only allowed one exception for the life of the property so he used it up and I could not build a garage, for this new property there is enough land that I might need my exception for something else down the road.
3. Stay within the ridiculous rules and work with what the city allows, I chose this option.

By reading the rules I discovered I was allowed to have a 500sq.ft. garage and a 500sq.ft. workshop and in the city's logic a workshop is something I can't drive a car into. Continuing on the city's logic, I can't get a car into the workshop if there is no driveway to it so I am allowed big doors but no driveway to it (because we all know you can't drive a car on the lawn of course), interesting logic and it turns out in my favor, a loophole big enough to drive a Hummer through (if I owned one).

Next step was to tear down the existing 20x20 (400sq.ft.) garage and build a 25x20 in its place to get to my 500sq.f.t limit, oops can't do that, its "legal non-conforming" any change at all means I have to tear it down and move it to the 6ft. setback. I did not want to move it and lose that space since due to its location the 6ft. from the property line would just become wasted space that my neighbor would end up using (nice guy but no thanks), so I wanted to stay 18" from the property where it was now. Ok, keep it where it is and its current size but lets lift the roof so I can get my lift in it, you guessed it, any work that alters the exterior in any way requires a tear down and moving to the setback. I was really getting upset now but ok, I will put in scissor joists in it and with the lift in the middle be able to work on my cars since they are small, it would just mean some reconfiguring of the garage, I can live with that and the scissors will not change the exterior but... you guessed it, nope that is major work and you can't do that to a "legal non-conforming" garage. Geez...more reading of the rules and I found some earthquake retrofitting that I am allowed to do and in the name of termite repairs I ask for and finally get permission to do a seismic retrofit and put in the scissor joists that I was turned down for 2 days earlier. Ok front half is done ! now the easy back half since I am staying within the rules.

Here is the lot that I am working with, its the pie shaped lot at the end of a cul-de-sac and by far the largest lot in the neighborhood, the back fence is 210ft.
You can see the old garage is up against the property line so the new one has to move 4'6" to be 6' from the property. The back fence setback is 10ft. which is great for me since that allows me to drive my boat and car trailer and park them out of sight behind the garage. I really do wish they had let me move the existing garage up towards the street/house and make a bigger garage but nope.

So to get past the city the workshop rules I will have a 9ft. door for my uh...riding lawn mower, with just a 4ft. wide walkway to the door because remember I can't drive a car into it and that means I have to have only lawn in front. I was able to meet the "solar rules" with 9ft. walls (solar rules means that on Dec. 21 at 4:30PM the shadow of my building can not touch any building on my neighbors property, say what ? its true) and I will have scissor trusses so plenty of height.

The one item that upsets me is that I can't have water because water makes it potential living space according to the city so no sink to wash my hands or car parts. I got around that by plumbing a water line for the lawn against the wall and will have a outside sink for now. The drain will have to be handled by a sump pump since the garage is lower than the house by 2 inches.

This is what I ended up with, I will pour a slab on the setback area ( I can legally do that) and that is where my air compressor and other large bulky items like engine hoist that I don't use everyday will go and I will have a total of 860sq.ft., very near the 500sq.ft. workshop limit I am allowed plus the existing 400sq.ft. garage.

To get the permit, I had to leave a short wall between the front and the back, it will be about 3ft. tall, basically a bolted down workbench so that I can't drive from front to back, I can already envision the casters on that workbench to move it aside and open it all up. Although I plan on doing my restoration work in the back half and my daily drivers in the front half so it might remain as I think it would be very workable. It would keep daily drivers seperate and protected from my working area.

I know this page is messed up with some news at the top and more here, I will organize it better someday.

Well, here are some pictures as its moving along, one thing I have noticed is how TINY 20x22 is! I look at the forms and I am shocked at how small it is, even though I had drawn it up on the property with a chalk line now that the forms are in, WOW its tiny. But its the best the city will let me have so I am going for it and I am overjoyed and excited by it. It will be bigger than my old garage and have more space for storage so it will be just fine.

My Garage build (also known as the SingerMahal)

The front of the existing garage, you can see where we removed the back wall and the walkway that was poured on the side, gives a good view of the property line on ly 18" away on the left.
The back of the garage after removal of the stucco and the beginning of the grading.
More of the prep work on the back and grading. Studs will remain there until the framing of the new one starts to hold the roof up, would not want a termite to sneeze and have the whole thing come down.
Grading is almost finished, trenches are cut for the footings and the form is in, rebar will come later. See where the guy is standing ? that is where a 9ft. door will go...oops 2 inches below the dir/ground level, I wonder where the water is going to go ? my contractor and architect both say not to worry, surrounding area will be properly graded and there will be no flooding (I am worried and almost removed the doors from the plans but they say not to worry)
A great view from my neighbors 2nd story window, used to be a very nice tree to blocked his view but the tree had to go so I could build this (guess what is my next project, you guessed it, plant another tree.)
all rebared up and signed off by the city, ready to pour.
lots of rebar, the code here calls for 24" On Center (o.c.) and this rebar is 18" o.c. figured the cost is minor and should be stronger. You can see at the top of the pic where the 9ft. door will be and the dirt that is 2" higher, still worried about drainage.
Nice clean concrete slab (ignore the ugly house in the back, that is next to fix).
The 36" door into the garage
looking GREAT
Trusses are here, the trusses are here, this means BIG progress... little did I know that there would be other delays because my architect called for steel Simpson walls instead of quick and easy to get wood ones.
The infamous Simpson Steel Strongwall, that delayed construction by one full week and pushed me into the rain (which will cause more delays)
no back wall, no garage door but the lift is in and the "special" car is in.
As you can see in the existing garage the lift will have some "issues" but that will all be fixed.
in the new area there is no limitation on that lift height, that is one tall ceiling.
we have a garage door !
I like it !!!
Now you can see the big picture, too bad its going to rain the next 2 days especially since they cut the skylight holes and my car is going to get wet.
Still have quite a mess but you can see how the scissor trusses will be in the new garage compared with the old trusses in the existing garage. I wish I could have changed out the existing to scissor but the city said no, so I will make do.
Wow, we are getting REALLY close now :)
Took some time but ITS DONE and they say Friday the 13th is bad luck !!! not this time for me. I was concerned about quite a few things but inspector came and signed off, time to fill it with tools and get to work. I don't like my barn "dutch" door very much, I need to figure out how to build them better, they work though and its pretty cool to be able to open the top half. I am so thrilled.