A case study in how a protected tree turned into an $11k savings on a residential ADU

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Take an ADU project that started with a hand drawing of a cottage over a detached garage, brought to the planning counter in 2022. A quick review there found the garage sitting two feet inside the rear setback, tolerated on the existing structure since 1948 but not tolerated for a new second story. That ends the first meeting. The project sits for a year while the city rewrites its ADU chapter, after which detached units become allowed on basically every lot in that zone, opening the door to a real set of drawings. Then a neighbor files a letter, not about the unit itself but about shade falling on her vegetable beds. Planning does not weigh in on the beds, but the letter happens to mention an oak tree on the property line, which triggers an arborist review nobody had flagged. The tree turns out to be protected, with a critical root zone that no footings can sit inside. Moving the footprint four feet toward the house, losing a closet and a window seat in the process, clears the review in six weeks. Total cost of the delay: two full years and roughly 9k in redrawn plans. The part worth remembering is that the tree ends up saving money. Sliding the footprint toward the house shortens the sewer run by 30 feet and allows tying into the existing electrical panel instead of installing a new service, a change that an electrician priced the alternative at around 11k on its own. A case like this is a reminder that a constraint that looks purely like a cost can sometimes cut cost somewhere else in the same plan.

6 replies

samantha_ruizPassivePRO

The tolerated nonconforming garage is such a classic trap. Mine was the same story, except the city made me choose between demolishing it or keeping it as a garage forever. I kept the garage and built new in the corner. Cost me the cheap shell I thought I was buying.

laurenkim53 PF4APRO 14

In a lot of small counties, nobody's reviewing arborist reports. A one building official department, often the same person handling septic, cuts both ways. Permits move quickly, but there isn't anyone to flag that the leach field can't handle a second kitchen until the kitchen is already paid for.

angela_burke CP4CPRO 12

$11k for a service upgrade sounds low honestly, depends who's pulling the meter. Nice that the four foot move paid for itself twice over.

kevin_lombardPassivePRO

Critical root zone was new to me. So the protected tree basically has its own setback that you can't put footings inside? Is that a city thing or is it everywhere?

raj_mehta14 PF4BPRO 10

@kevin_lombard it's local, and plenty of towns have nothing like it. Anchor, the striking part is that you spent two years waiting for an ordinance rewrite you had no control over and it worked out. Most people would have talked themselves out of the lot.

bmoreno23ActivePRO

I've got zero deals under my belt, and what stands out is that the counter person told you the real problem in eight seconds. I keep imagining these processes as mysterious and they sound more like a person looking at a drawing.

A case study in how a protected tree turned into an $11k savings on a residential ADU

6 replies