Building Setbacks and How They May Affect You
When building an addition to your building, home or detach garage you will need to consider the building setbacks for your city and subdivision plat.
In the city in which I live, the standard building setbacks are 5-feet from the property line to the building sides; 10-feet from the property line to the back side of the building; and 25-feet from the front property line to the front of the building. This can change if special city council consideration was given to the subdivision while in the platting stages.
I have seen some subdivisions where special consideration was given so that the house width is 40-feet wide in a 60-foot wide lot. This means no attached garage. What happens is that the garage was put in the back yard with a drive way leading to the back. You may think that this may not be such an appealing home but I have seen these homes and look darling.
Today a gentleman came in and reported that his mother’s next door neighbor was constructing a carport to cover their mobile home. He came in because the structure came right up to the property line. He was concerned there would be future conflicts if he did not say something.
I dispatched the building inspector to the location and sure enough the construction was not permitted and it was constructed right up against the property line. This person now had to take the structure done and start all over. He will have to provide building construction plans with an engineered wind load set of plans. This is a loss to the home owner or the company doing the work.
Don’t build without checking with the city in which you live to make sure your plans are acceptable and permit BEFORE you start construction.
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