If you’re looking for a building lot and find one that seems promising, please make no assumptions about what can be built there. Selecting the right property is a complex process which should involve deep examination by professionals. In my many years of building homes, I have more than once met with clients who were excited about the lot they had bought, only to discover unknown and sometimes costly challenges of which they had been unaware.
Let's Talk about Zoning
Zoning Codes vary from municipality to municipality, and familiarity is essential. Zoning regulations affect density: how many dwelling units can be built on a property. For lots offered for single-family homes, the acceptable density for a single-family home has been usually been previously established, but this should be verified.
Zoning regulations also include side, front and rear setbacks. Carrboro measures from the roof edge; Chapel Hill from the building itself. A corner lot will have 2 front setbacks, which is usually more constraining to the buildable area than a non-corner lot.
Heights & Setbacks
Zoning regulations include building heights. This may inhibit the number of levels desired for a home, the height floor-to-ceiling of some of the floor levels, or the steepness of the roof.
In the Chapel Hill area, building setbacks from various types of streams are highly regulated and can cut into what appears to be a buildable area. Even a stream that is only occasionally wet may have setback requirements.
Some lots have impervious surface limitations to mitigate potential damage to the groundwater by restricting the amount of hard surfaces allowed on the property. When this is a factor, our site planning reaches another level to be sure your home complies. We use special driveway and/or walkway materials when needed to bring the project within the impervious surface limit. This will add cost.
What about Easements?
We examine the property for easements (such as sanitary sewer easements, shared driveway easements) and advise of any limitations. Recently I looked at a very well-located lot in Carrboro, and when we examined the lot plat, both the shared driveway easement and the sanitary sewer easement created what was not readily apparent: a very small buildable footprint.
The buildable area did not justify the asking price. Our clients passed on the property.
Another aspect of our involvement with our clients’ quest for the right building property involves our examination of the slope of the terrain. How high will be the foundation at various sides of the home, especially at the front door? How high will be the crawl space? Is this potentially a basement lot? What will your home look when sited on this property?
What about Well and Septic?
Outside of the very tight Urban Services Boundary in Chapel Hill, where municipal sewer and water are provided, homes use well water and septic fields. Well and septic are very common for new construction in our area. Not only do we understand zoning regulations, but we delve into well and septic issues prior to recommending to our clients that a property is suitable for their project.
Properties with marginal soil (too compact to absorb water properly, or too loose and unable to filter wastewater effectively) for septic are sometimes permitted to use unconventional septic systems, which can add significantly to the cost. You want to know this before you make your offer.
Thinking about an ADU?
Recently, we have had a few inquiries about designing and building ADU’s (Accessory Dwelling Units) – smaller housing units on the same property. Question: does the topography lend itself to second structure? These separate structures require all new systems, and of course they are not connected to the main home. Because of this, ADU’s carry a high cost per square foot. Sometimes the need for an ADU can be addressed with changes or additions to the primary home.
We are happy that our deep research and creative thinking, which are naturally a part of our early process, are valuable assets which we can offer to our clients.
