Once you decide to undertake a home improvement project, you’ll invest time and energy determining your budget, your floor plan layout, architectural style, and whether your project’s scope necessitates the involvement of a contractor, architect, or both. But it’s important to consider an additional, and equally critical consideration: whether your project will need a building permit, and if so, how to go about obtaining it. Continue reading
Does My Home Improvement Need a Permit?
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The California Coastal Commission is a state agency with quasi-judicial regulatory oversight over land use and public access in the California coastal zone. The Commission’s mission is “To protect, conserve, restore, and enhance the environment of the California coastline”. The Commission was established in 1972 by voter initiative via Proposition 20, initiated in part in response to the controversy surrounding the development of Sea Ranch, a planned coastal community in Sonoma County. Sea Ranch and other similar coastal projects of that era prompted the formation of activist groups whose efforts eventually led to putting Proposition 20 on the ballot. 
Architects are in charge of design and project planning, and they are also responsible for the visual appearance of buildings and structures. The term “architect” refers only to individuals who are registered with a local governing body. To become licensed, architects must meet specific professional training requirements and pass board exams. Architectural services can be obtained from unlicensed persons, but they cannot call themselves architects and generally, with the exception of single-family residences, they cannot sign construction documents. 
As with many things in life, the timing of your construction project can be critical to its success. Construction tends to be a seasonally-driven industry, with the prevailing goal being to avoid breaking ground during the winter rainy season. This is not a hard-and-fast rule of course – there are notable exceptions which we will discuss. To best understand the ins-and-outs of project scheduling, this article outlines the design process, from selecting your design team, to how permit processing can impact your project schedule, to ball-parking how long it takes to build a construction project. 
Santa Cruz County Planning Department indicates that it is committed to an expedited and streamlined process, to ensure that our community can rebuild as quickly as possible. The Department indicates that the immediate first step is for it to conduct Assessments regarding basic infrastructure and property status before an Owner can begin planning for rebuilding. County staff, in coordination with Cal Fire, are in process of assessing public and private infrastructure and are working hard to assess properties as quickly as possible. 
Kitchens are a place of sustenance and sociability. Food, family, and friends mingle to create a winning combination. So it makes perfect sense that remodels are so often geared toward the kitchen. What about thinking of your kitchen in the long-term sense, in terms of investment and return? Will your kitchen remodel projects be a positive contribution to your home’s value or will they erode that value? 
You know you want to build your dream house, but don’t know how to begin? It can seem like a daunting task to build a custom home. And admittedly, it is complicated. This 3-part checklist is aimed at getting you on the right track and providing an overview of the process. 
Santa Cruz County has recently implemented new, more relaxed development standards intended to make building an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) easier and more affordable. Towards this end it’s published three guidebook resources, Santa Cruz County ADU Basics, ADU Financing Guide, and ADU Design Guide. This article outlines the County’s ADU Design Guide. 
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