Frackin zoning laws - impervious lot coverage

[bczygan]

Google plastic barrel drywell.
http://www.instructables.com/id/55-gallon-barrel-dry-well/

Now multiply the by dozens of barrels. Get the barrels free from Pepsi or Coke distributors like I did for rain barrels.

Scoop all your gravel into a pile.

Excavate for a double row of barrels all around the perimeter of your pool area.

Install barrels and fill between with proper permeable gravel.

Reinstall your gravel as finish on top.

Result? Giant drywell and no impermeable area.

If gravel is too squishy, install walking boards over with spaces for drainage.

Anternately, cover drywell and slope yard toward inlets to the drywell.

Bill

 

[bczygan]

Another thought.

Are open retention ponds allowed? You could get your capacity that way.

In fact, your pool should be considered a retention pond. The difference between the skimmer height and water level is capacity for that square footage. You should get credit for that.

And you could also put in a decorative dry pond that works as a retention pond, but looks nice.

Just throwing out ideas here.

Bill

 

[Falcon67]

Interesting discussion. Another member here has a similar issue, but he's in Austin and I image the impermeable coverage limits are there because he's over an Edwards Aquifer recharge zone, rather than run off/retention.

 

[Trey T]

Let's step back a bit...

I think the zoning officer could be wrong about your landscape stone as being an impervious slab. When we talk about impervious space, it's about the local soil and its ability to infiltrate. Therefore you have to determine if that landscape-stone slab is as pervious or more pervious than the native soil.

 

[pcmeiners]

Talk to a decent Architect, they know the zoning laws, I talked to a few, no charge. Lawyers are not familiar with zoning unless they specialize in real estate.

You should get the zoning laws in book or download form, familiarize yourself with them, the laws may seem difficult to understand, but they are not.

 

[Tim The Tool Man]

I am a contractor that deals with these very issues on a regular basis. The advise people are giving you to avoid using a lawyer is dead wrong. Make no mistake, a zoning officers sole job is to say no to any development in his or her town and a good zoning office will twist and manipulate the ordinances any way they can to prevent your construction from going forward. I can name two zoning officers in two local towns for which I have documented proof that they have lied to deny some of my clients projects. One zoning officer in a large city I do work in told me that I could not put electrical service in a utility shed I had built for a client. She told me it was against city code for an accessory building. I tried to be as polite as I could and asked her if she could please show me where in the code that was stated because I have a copy of the code where it clearly states that it is allowed. I hired a lawyer and within one hour of his contacting the zoning office, I had my permits.

There are layers whose specialty is dealing with zoning officials. There are also circumstances where even if prohibitions are clearly stated in code, exemptions still exist. For example, my house was built well before my town had zoning ordinances in place. Were I to want to build another accessory building, I would need a lawyer to argue that the town has created this burden preventing my improvement with a code that was written after my home was built.

Bottom line, the correct type of lawyer is absolutely the right way to remedy your problem.

 

[Trey T]

... She told me it was against city code for an accessory building. I tried to be as polite as I could and asked her if she could please show me where in the code that was stated because I have a copy of the code where it clearly states that it is allowed. I hired a lawyer and within one hour of his contacting the zoning office, I had my permits.

....

She told you by mouth or written notice?

 

[pablo94sc]

How does that work? Seems like rainfall over an area is the same regardless of the pitch of the roof.
All the calcs I've seen just goes by sqft, without a pitch adjustment.

It's one of those gotchas that a civil engineer told me about years ago. When you do your calculations for the size of drain pipe and drywells you need, it's best to figure out the approximate area of your roof and use that for your calculations because if you size them too small, you're going to have a bad time.

 

[F124C]

1. You're 720sqft garage is more like 1100-1200sqft of impervious material when calculating rainfall runoff due to the pitch of the roof.

How does that work? Seems like rainfall over an area is the same regardless of the pitch of the roof.
All the calcs I've seen just goes by sqft, without a pitch adjustment.

Maybe pablo94sc is thinking of the calculation for (rain) capacity of gutters/downpipes?

Al. (not in the U.S.)

 

[59 wagon man]

ask him if by going green and installing a rain water harvesting system you would get any credits. i know of a system which can be installed under a parking lot or driveway

 

[Tim The Tool Man]

She told you by mouth or written notice?

To my face and via email to my client. She is not a nice person and I believe somewhat racist as my client at the time was a foreigner.

 

[pablo94sc]

Maybe pablo94sc is thinking of the calculation for (rain) capacity of gutters/downpipes?

Al. (not in the U.S.)

Well, partially. The point of installing drywells is to capture storm water. You route storm water to the drywells via (French) drains, and those attach to gutter downspouts, or the downspouts route into catch basins. If you don't calculate the area of the roof, you'll end up under sizing your wells and pipes, and that can lead to standing water or worse, flooding.