I have 1.3 acres in S. Sac that is in the county, but not city boundaries. It's bare land that would be on well and septic. Currently zoned R-1 (residential). Most of my neighbors are same size lots with one house. It's on Victory Ave. 95828 in case you want to google map it. I want to build a larger than normal garage/shop for personal use. Current regs state that for residential, the garage can only be 50% of the living space of the house, with a max of 1200 sq ft. Frankly, I don't need at 2400 sq ft. house. 1400 would suite me just fine. Not only that I don't want to spend the money for a 2400 sq ft. house. Personally, I'd rather buy a nearby house and build just a shop on the property (regular suburbs are nearby). That would be cheaper with the current economy. I'm currently in Afghanistan working as a contractor hoping to be able to pay cash for this project. options so far: 1. Attempt to rezone to AR-1 (agricultural/residential). This would allow me to build a 1000 sq ft shop "to work on my farm equipment", without restriction to the size of the house. Of course this would be up to the planning board, which will probably want to charge me up the wazoo to do this, after I've jumped through all the loopholes. 2. Build a larger house but have a 'game room/man cave' type of room off the garage and initially set it up as living space. Then after the certificate of occupation, repurpose the room with my mill, tools, welder, storage, etc. Probably line the walls with thin sheetmetal over the sheetrock. This would give me extra sq ft. as the initial living space, to build a larger garage, then give me more elbow room in the garage afterward. This actually wouldn't be so bad since I could have some heating/AC in some part of my shop. Of course I'd probably lose some convienence with regs on how a garage is setup relative to a house i.e. lower plane than the house, fire doors, single vs. double doors....I dunno, i'm not a general contractor. 3. Is there something I don't know or I'm missing? Anyone have any ideas? thanks in advance. G.K.
build a grarage that is a attached to the house and then built another one beside it. don't know if it would work but rise it up the flag pole
Hire a local, experienced, and recommended plan expediter to push your project through. He can advise you of feasability and how much it will cost. Most cities will allow you to build anything anywhere, but it's all about effort and money you will spend. A zoning variance could cost you a few thousand dollars. Show how your workshop will be in conformance with the character of the area, landscaped, and not a giant steel eyesore. Forget the re-zoning idea. That will be next to impossible and take forever.
I know a guy who built a large "game room" behind his attached garage. 12 foot walls plus the pitch of the roof. I'm guessing 30 feet deep, and wider than his standard 2 car garage. cement floor the same level as the garage. got everything signed off and then knocked out the back wall of the original garage. now he has a huge garage and is only a little bit illegal. this is right in the middle of suburbia.
Yeah, that actually would be ideal since I could buy a house cheaper than building right now. The only thing that sucks is I already own the property and selling it right now would be very tough. But who knows. Also, finding a house where there's no room behind the garage can be a challenge. Most have something there such as a kitchen, living room etc.
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