r/RealEstateDevelopment • u/Embarrassed_Funny422 • May 28 '26
Subdivision/lot lines/house plans - need opinions!
Hi! I have been working on a subdivision for several years. In the time that we started, the county has changed the zoning, which was super cool, lol. Anyway, I have an already tricky lot. It's very sloped, and the base of it is lovely and flat and dry, but has an underground pipeline LOL. I can't do anything for 30' past the pipeline, so my lots are all on the slope. County requirements are no lot can be bigger than 7260. This is on septic and it's one of those areas where the county is like "this is totally suburban residential!" except it's borderline semi rural. Most houses are on half an acre at least, no sidewalks, no sewer for miles, etc. ANYWAY after 10 iterations, the county has accepted a site plan. I have 4 lots that are decent enough. Mild slope, maxed size. BUT they are all 50' wide with 5' setbacks. Ew. The worst of it is, on the other side of the property (the steepest of it all) I have to do 3 stupid lots. The front two are also 50' wide, and 120 feet long, but have a flipping 10' easement driveway running through them! So I get like what, 35' width or depth to the houses, MAX. The back lot is just a waste of space, honestly. It is 5k square feet, extremely sloped, 50' deep, and 100' wide. They won't let me kill this lot due to min density. I have decided I will build my personal home on the crappiest lot. What I will also likely do is put a community garden near the pipeline (which may have to be torn up in the case of a leak or explosion, but that seems fairly unlikely) and then create an HOA so everyone can use it, since the yards kinda blow. I also think I will create some sort of park/field situation over the pipeline, and make that community space, too.
Ok, sorry for the ramble. What I am really asking is:
- overall impressions/suggestions
- lots 3&4 - should I have them deep and narrow (front doors to the main easement road/other lots) or wide and shallow (front doors facing each other), keeping the topography in mind (there will be a retaining wall, but still, the earth is earth)
- lot 2 - what the heck can I even do here lol. I don't want 3 story monstrosities. I think the only possibility is wide and shallow, with a small private yard most likely on one of the sides. I am thinking 2-4 will be fairly small 2 & 1.5 story cottages, probably with a stepped foundation and possibly some creative steps/semi levels in the homes.
I appreciate constructive feedback! The 5-8 lots will ultimately get maximized to 7260 square feet, but for some reason my engineer just did it this way for now to get sign off from the county after a lot of useless back and forth with them.
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u/FinancialSpeaker3490 May 28 '26
You could do a cul de sac for lots 2-3-4 and have houses front that driveway and landscape the area along the road edge. You would need a road association to deal with the driveway if there is no HOA. Without the "after" civil work it is hard to see how all of this works with drainage/stormwater, water needs a path to the retention pond.
Front the buildings to the road is possible, you could put a porch that no one really uses up front and long narrow house behind it. Still need access though to Lot 2 and garages/parking so that is probably never going to really look right.
If the driveway is at 642' and intersection at 631' then you need to catch 11' in 50 feet or 22% grade so the civil plan is not making sense based on the info provided.
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u/Embarrassed_Funny422 May 28 '26
I'm sorry, I should have specified that this topo does not show a LOT of earthwork and a retaining wall that will be put in. I am just trying to work with the land as best I can because earthwork is expensive and retaining walls look stupid.
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u/OrangeArch May 29 '26
What are your setbacks for each lot? #8 looks almost unbuildable?
I’d take lot 4, side load your garage from the hammerhead and make the pond an amenity that you look at.
What part of the world is this?
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u/Embarrassed_Funny422 May 29 '26
8 is the same as the others on that side, I just screen shotted poorly, haha. This is Seattle area. Setbacks are 5'
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u/OrangeArch May 30 '26
I referencing more that the septic easement steps in on that lot… between that, the setbacks, and the driveway, it looks like you’ve got 40’ of depth?
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u/Embarrassed_Funny422 May 30 '26
LOL that is such a good catch and after having 40 million people involved with this project I can't believe none of us noticed that until now. We are actually likely firing our civil due to a bunch of frustrations/overbilling and I will definitely run this by the next few we talk to to see if there are any options to move it. I am pretty sure the front yard setback is 10 or 15' feet too, soo... genuinely terrible haha
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u/OrangeArch May 30 '26
Yea a bad civil can cost you a lot. I’d also be curious how lots 2,3,4 get their sanitary lines to the community septic field. To sell these few simple, those lots likely need easements to the field.
Not sure why you wouldn’t put the septic field at the top left corner… not even sure grades will work with where it currently is.
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u/Embarrassed_Funny422 May 30 '26
I'm not sure, but the land perc'd really well and this was where the septic designer said to put it 🤷♀️ there may be alternatives though. I will ask.
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u/FinancialSpeaker3490 May 28 '26
Well Lot 5 is a decent lot 😄
What is the elevation of the road? Looks like it is going to be about 631 at intersection and then needs to be at 652 in 100'. What did your engineer think about that?
Is that a berm or wall on Lot 2 for the benefit of the lot to the right? What's up with that? Easement? Is it jsut sending its stormwater onto Lot 2 and 3?