[Cob] Process for buying land/building cob

[Ms. Copper Harding]

Scott,

The best of luck!  You  might want to look at both the building and 
zoning codes in the county before you embark on such a plan!  After 
that I would recommend that you speak with the local building 
department where you are hoping to build.  If their response is highly 
negative and not "workable" you know you have an uphill battle.

What you are asking is a question most builders/developers have been 
asking for a few years now.

If you buy land and the regulations on the land change after you 
bought it restricting your "use" of the land it is called a "taking" 
by the governemnt and is illegal - however recent court cases have 
indicated that the government has a much stronger right to protect the 
land - in other words if there is "any economic use" left in the land 
you have not been harmed by the government regulations.

So - in english.  You buy land.  You plan to build a 20 story 
waterfront hotel.  The government says no.  You can still build a 
small guest house - you have not been harmed.

So in your situation the government says that the land is zoned 
residential and you want to build something that is either NOT covered 
in the building codes or is "experiemental" then you have not been 
harmed because you can still reasonably be expected to build a 
"normal" house on the land.

In short, someone else on the list may have more exerience with this 
issue in the area that you are looking to build than I.  What I can 
tell you is that, and please consult a local land use/realestate 
attorney, your best option is to talk to the local 
building/planning/zoning departments before buying.  However, in the 
area I live they don't like to talk to "prospectives" unless that 
person already lives in the area and is planning on doing a "second" 
development.

My advice is general experience, I recommend you talk to someone from 
California (probably on this list) and your local departments.

I wish you the best of luck and when dealing with them keep your 
patience, politeness and perseverence!

Good luck!

Copper


Quoting Scott Race <scottrace at comcast.net>:

>Hello,
>  Wanted to clarify this for myself and see if
>anyone had some better ways
>to go about what I'm trying to do...
>
>I'm looking at buying land in El Dorado County,
>California.  The land would
>be zoned residential and possibly have electric and
>water hookups.  I would
>make sure to get a perc test done before making an
>offer on the land to
>ensure I could install septic.
>
>If all that passed, I bought the land and my
>building permits were not
>approved, I'd be stuck with the land.  Is there any
>way to find out if
>you're building plan would be approved before
>actually buying the land, or
>is that the chance you take?  Any ideas would be
>appreciated!
>
>Scott
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>Coblist mailing list
>Coblist at deatech.com
>http://www.deatech.com/mailman/listinfo/coblist
>
>



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