ddawg 16, I know that area well... spent my share of time at ECC. I'm just south of LAX in the Gundo. At the time I had my plans approved, the city would let you build an accessory structure (non-residential, less than 1000 sq ft) on TWO property lines. My garage sits on the south property line (just like my old one did). I could have backed it all the way up to the back of the property, but that is a retaining wall as the lot behind me sits about 2 feet lower. So, for ease of maintenance, stucco, painting etc. on that back wall, I kept it 2' off the property line.
So the east wall faces the house, south wall on the line, west wall 2' off the line, and east wall is 5' off the line. I'm kinda surprised they let me do it too, but I got the City stamp of approval so I took off before they changed their minds.
One thing to keep in mind is that most cities have "Lot Coverage" rules, as in you can only cover 60% of your lot with structure. Build a big garage and you may be limiting what you can do to your house. I think they are trying to avoid becoming the next beach city where you can clean your neighbor's upstairs windows from your own...
