THE DESIGN AND BUILD PROCESS:
PERMITTING:
OUTERLANDS DESIGN PERFORMS THE NECESSARY STEPS TO TAKE OUR PROJECTS FROM THE DESIGN STAGE THROUGH APPROVED BUILDING PLANS
ALTHOUGH EVERY JOB IS UNIQUE, OBTAINING PERMITS FOR A JOB CAN GENERALLY BE PUT INTO THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES:
OVER THE COUNTER PROJECTS:
THESE ARE PROJECTS THAT INVOLVE NO CHANGES TO THE EXTERIOR OF A BUILDING AND ONLY INVOLVE INTERIOR CHANGES TO THE BUILDING. THESE TYPE OF PROJECTS CAN USUALLY GO FROM THE INITIAL SCHEMATIC DESIGN STAGE TO APPROVED CONSTRUCTION PLANS IN UNDER 3 MONTHS.
NEIGHBORHOOD NOTIFICATION PROJECTS:
THESE ARE PROJECTS THAT INVOLVE CHANGES TO THE EXTERIOR OF A BUILDING OR PROPERTY. FOLLOWING IS A LINK WHICH DESCRIBES IN MORE DETAIL THE NEIGHBORHOOD REVIEW PROCESS:
THESE TYPES OF PROJECTS CAN USUALLY GO FROM THE INITIAL SCHEMATIC DESIGN STAGE TO APPROVED CONSTRUCTION PLANS IN 6 MONTHS TO 1 YEAR, BUT CAN TAKE LONGER DEPENDING ON THE AMOUNT OF TRAFFIC THE VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS ARE SEEING.
PROJECTS REQUIRING A VARIANCE:
THESE ARE PROJECT TYPES WHERE THE PROPOSED DESIGN DOES NOT CONFORM TO TYPICAL BUILDING AND PLANNING CODE STANDARDS. EXAMPLES OF THIS INCLUDE ALTERATIONS ON ADDITIONS TO A BUILDING THAT WERE ORIGINALLY BUILT WITHOUT A PERMIT AND EXTEND FURTHER INTO A SETBACK AREA THAN WOULD TYPICALLY BE ALLOWED. UNDER SOME CIRCUMSTANCES THE PLANNING DEPARTMENT WILL GRANT A VARIANCE FOR A NON-CONFORMING STRUCTURE IF ENFORCEMENT OF THE CODE WOULD "RESULT IN PRACTICAL DIFFICULTIES, UNNECESSARY HARDSHIPS, OR WHERE THE RESULTS WOULD BE INCONSISTENT WITH THE GENERAL PURPOSE OF THE CODE." THE FOLLOWING LINK DESCRIBES THE VARIANCE PROCESS IN MORE DETAIL
http://sf-planning.org/sites/default/files/FileCenter/Documents/549-Variance%20Application.pdf