An email discussion/thread with Dave Hardy (planning Supervisor for the Sonoma Coast - 707-565-1924) regarding the direction for solving Caltrans Access, PG&E service and the solution to the wetlands requirements.

 

Doug Spicher (WRA Environmental Consultants, Inc.2169-G East Francisco Blvd. San Rafael, CA 94901 415-454-8868 ext. 126) elaborates on his investigations into the wetlands designation on the subject property - click here and here.  An aerial map of the wetlands indicating the test locations as performed by WRA and the approximate extents of the County designation - be sure to zoom in for inspection.  These tested wetlands locations are also referenced in this document (also provided by Doug Spicher of WRA) - these GPS coordinates are included in the lower right corner site plan and the references therein were converted to CAD and inserted by the surveyors during the Survey process - four wetlands locations were found and none appear to have any effect on planning to date.  In addition, according to Doug Spicher, it is unlikely that wetlands would be found under the pine trees located down the hill and closer to Highway One and he was somewhat at a loss to explain the designation by the County.  Discussions on this subject with Dave Hardy of PRMD, indicate that while there is the wetlands designation, use of specific portions of the land is only subject to testing by a biologist where the test results indicate that no wetlands habitat exists.

 

The percolation testing of the property included two locations, one (the upper) of which conflicts with the primary building site.  The site plan includes the test locations for the lower area as inserted by the surveyors at the time of the Survey - the references were provided to the surveyors by Adobe Associates and the test results are available here.  Adobe Associates subsequently proposed an agreement to provide the septic system design based upon those test results, in this case however, it would be premature to choose a septic field location prior to choosing an approved building site.

 

During the course of the Survey of the property, CAD drawings were prepared that will be necessary for an engineer to make the plan for Caltrans to approve an encroachment on Highway One.  The surveyors (Phelps and Associates of Sebastopol - 707-829-0400) have agreed to provide the actual CAD drawings to the selected engineer when the time comes.  Email discussions with Dave Dowdy of Caltrans have provided a preliminary positive finding on the location detailed in the above drawings - click here and here for those discussions.  Dave Dowdy was also the recipient of the this drawing, which is a much more basic view of the plan and which calls for the retention of the existing driveway for the purpose of supporting water company access and water main easements - the drawing was attached to the early email from which the discussions originated.

 

This email discussion represents a preliminary discussion with Mike Chesharek (PG&E engineer for Bodega Bay - 579-6303) regarding the possibilities of power provided via the anticipated new Highway One encroachment.  The upshot of this discussion and our brief onsite meeting was that there was little doubt that the route could be made to work.

 

This email discussion covers a conversation with a civil engineer one Stephen Bowser - quite a bit of work has been accomplished in this regard and contrary to the comments therein, the opening to the highway is now relatively clear of trees and brush.  The latest conversation with the county regarding obtaining the encroachment permit from Caltrans requires that a Coastal Use Permit needs to be approved prior to the issuance of a new driveway encroachment.  That task needs to be accomplished by the person(s) who have made the decision regarding what kind of and where a new home is going to be built - very personal choices.

 

The requirements detail for well testing in Western Sonoma County and the results of the test conducted for the well that serves this parcel of land.  The county will accept these test results for the purpose of obtaining a building permit during a period of three years beginning on the date of the test.  The test results have not been filed with the county and may be filed at any time including in conjunction with the application for use and building permits.  Click here for a photo of the 5000 gallon storage tank and here for the fire hydrant installed near the potential building site.

 

A potential floor plan with elevations (these plans were adapted from the plans of an existing coastal home not too far from Bodega Bay - photos are available), a possible site plan and a conceptual photo montage showing the rear elevation inserted into a photo of a potential building site.  All referenced CAD drawings are available/included with the sale.  In my conversation (reference above) with Dave Hardy we also discussed the removal of trees and his response was, "there are only two cases where there is concern by the county": one is if you plan to remove an entire stand of trees on a give parcel and the other is the removal of any tree which is part of a site plan and which is destined to provide some sort of mitigation relative to parcel development.  This effectively gives one significant latitude when siting a home.

 

The site plan includes some references to exclusive easements and to two pending Lot Line Adjustments.  The easements have been agreed to in order to expedite the conveyance of control of the locations to the neighbors and allow for them to convert the easement to ownership via a Lot Line Adjustment (see item number four) at some convenient future date.  The pending Lot Line Adjustments are currently in a state of needing County approval and some discussion will be necessary regarding these two transactions.

Two panoramic photos of the heart of the quaint village of Bodega Bay and the surrounding unique vistas as taken from the approximate finished floor height of the conceptual home design - click here and here.  From the left you will find Tomales Head, Point Reyes, the East jetty, Bodega Rock, Bodega Head, the jetty entrance, the complete channel, the ocean beyond the Head, the homes along Bay Flat Road and the Bodega Bay Marinas and the hundreds of boats neatly moored at the docks.  Be sure to zoom in and pan completely to the left.