# Lot Grading Surveying and Standards in FL



## Seth_Thomas (Jun 28, 2017)

I know this is not the exact forum maybe, but general enough.  Foundation forum seems to not get much activity, but it is in regards to lot grading and any standards, if any in my area.

Having a home built in Pasco Cty, FL.  The foundation of the house is considerably lower that all the surrounding homes.  Grading plan is a B.  All the Pasco Country Section 902 of the Storm water drainage document says is it is required to be 16in. above the Road grade?  

Then I talk to the builder/supervisor and tell him why is the lot so low compared to all the others?  He said it is per the Lot plan/master and it has been surveyed, and is being surveyed again this week to ensure it meets the requirements.

What requirements?  Anybody have info on this mystery grading, or any standards of how they determine if the slop/grading is appropriate?  Besides the generic Grade B, I can't find anywhere besides the 16in above the road grade, the crown? The gutter?  The highest/lowest in a distance?  No clue.

Anyway, if anybody has some standards/direction and info particularly in this country regarding this would appreciate it.

All I can find at this point is that a licensed surveyor needs to have notarized it meets the Grading/Storm plan for the Lot in this community.  How that is determined, or if the drainage/runoff is sufficient is a mystery.

Issue is the driveway slopes down about 1% grade, not as much as the other homes clearly do.  Then the bottom of the paver driveway meets the concrete sidewalk/portion to the street gutter.  Problem is, due to the house sitting clearly lower than all the others at the garage, they had to put a swail/dip in the sidewalk.  But the water clearly will not run out to the street from the side of the lot or driveway itself.  Come Florida rain storm, I will likely having a pooling issue and not runoff to the street to get to the storm drains/retension.  Pool in my driveway/side easement. 

So who is responsible, if anybody to make sure this happens?  Or does Pasco County not really care?  Frustrating.....to say the least. Next move is to call a surveyor and get some other input/opinions out of pocket to find this out if nobody seems to know around the forum.

Thanks...sorry, long post.


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## cda (Jun 28, 2017)

Have you contacted the authority over your house ?

Should be a building and zoning question, possibly these people would have to answer, since there are a lot of variables.

Go knock on their door and keep knocking till you get an answer.

With my limited knowledge lot elevations are fixed before any work gets started in a housing area.

There should be a legal plan showing your lot and adjoining lots, get a copy of it and confer with the surveyor to assure your lot meets what was submitted.

If it meets what was submitted, than seems only recourse is to elevate your lot.

You might have the drainage lot, water drains to your lot than to some drainage system.


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## tmurray (Jun 29, 2017)

You should be speaking with the planner for your area. There is typically a subdivision drainage plan that must be adhered to. Alternatively, speak with the surveyor and see what they have to say.

Hard to answer localized questions like this without anyone from around that area.


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## Seth_Thomas (Jun 30, 2017)

Yeah, so called around and waiting for a callback from the county department who deals with stormwater.  I have the proposed survey document for the lot they survey company submitted to the county and is posted on the permit board at the house.  It is a master planned community and they of course have the plat and lot/stormwater grading etc..planned.  It is just the fact trying to determine what standard, particularly why this lot is so low, when all lots on this and the other side of the street are a Grade B plan, yet my lot is 6" below and how that is allowed, if at all.  Plus knowing if there is code/height requirement for the finished floor height on the livable space above the street, which one documents/code specifies that if any.  Along with who is responsible to determine and know this.

Hopefully, will get a hold of the county department who I found on the website along with my permits that handles the inspection so I can talk with them and have them point and tell me exactly where/what they are doing out there and looking at?  Show me the code and requirements..otherwise, what are they doing out there and requiring 3 inspections.  Plus, the builder supervisor (whole other story with this guy, going to contact the people up the ladder from him and deal with that issue itself) said they are having a surveyor out like I mentioned.  Ok, well, he is looking at the Lot grading plan and the proposed survey. I asked my building supervisor for a copy of that document when/if it is complete.  Might contract my own surveyor to go over it and survey the lot just because.  $300 investment.

The saga continues.....this nightmare needs to be over.  Either walk away from this situation or keep plugging away and get some satisfaction.

Thanks


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