Questions About Lots, Pads, Driveways and Clearing

For a new home, driveway, re-sod or seawall permit, the city wants a burrowing owl and gopher tortoise affidavit. The owner states that the property was inspected within the last 30 days, lists any burrows on the lot, in the right-of-way and on vacant lots next door, and has the form notarized. Owl buffers have to be staked before construction starts.

Owl burrows are protected even when no owl is using them. You keep at least a 10 foot buffer around the burrow, or 33 feet during nesting season, February 15 through July 10. Working inside the buffer or removing the burrow takes a permit from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which usually permits only inactive burrows. The city tells applicants to file six to eight weeks ahead. Our owl and tortoise guide goes through it step by step.

Yes. Lehigh Acres is in unincorporated Lee County, so the county handles it. A county vegetation removal permit applies to single-family lots of 5 acres or more, so most quarter-acre and half-acre lots there skip it, but the state's owl and tortoise rules still apply. Lee County also wants a site fill grading plan when final grade will sit more than 18 inches above the road crown or a developed lot next door.

Charlotte County requires a tree permit for trees 4 inches in diameter or larger and for clearing with anything bigger than a standard lawn mower, and it allows no clearing in scrub-jay areas from March 1 to June 30. In Collier County, native vegetation cannot come out before the building permit is issued, and a new single-family house permit covers clearing up to one acre.

Florida law puts the locate request on the excavator, and grading and trenching count as digging. The call has to go in at least two full business days ahead, not counting weekends, holidays or the day of the call, and a ticket is good for 30 calendar days. It is part of our job before the first bucket goes in.

In a special flood hazard area, Cape Coral limits on-site fill for single-family homes to 12 inches unless the Building Official approves more. The floor still has to reach the flood elevation plus a foot, so the stem wall supplies the height and the fill goes inside it. The stem wall vs monolithic slab guide compares the two.

It checks that the soil under the slab is packed tight enough to carry the house. Cape Coral requires a density test in the bottom of the foundation for all added fill, disturbed soil and questionable soil. Fill goes down in lifts and gets compacted as it goes, so the test passes the first time instead of the pad being dug back out.

Your plans and survey do. In Cape Coral the garage floor has to be at least 1 foot above the crown of the road, and in flood zones the lowest floor goes to the base flood elevation plus 1 foot. The engineer or designer turns those into a pad elevation, and we build the pad to it.

No. Cape Coral does not allow excavated or construction material to block stormwater flow in the swale, and dumping fill into swales, drainage inlets or canals is prohibited. Putting material on someone else's vacant lot can count as unauthorized use of private land. Extra fill gets spread to the plan or hauled off.

The city's stormwater inspector, at the initial cut sheet and stake-out inspection. Based on the site, the drive is classified as a swale, ramp or culvert driveway. Our Cape Coral driveway and culvert permit guide walks through the inspections that follow.

At least 9 feet wide. At the right-of-way, the maximum is 20 feet for a carport or one-car garage, 27 feet for two cars and 36 feet for three. The drive also has to sit at least 6 feet off the side property line.

The city's Stormwater Division lists a $99 drive permit fee per driveway plus a $26 processing fee. Owner-builders can apply online through the city's EnerGov portal. Florida law lists driveway installation as work a local government may not require a licence for.

Lee County DOT sets a 15 inch minimum, or the equivalent 12 by 18 inch pipe, in reinforced concrete, double wall ADS, A-2000 or an equal. Ends are mitered to at least 3 to 1, and the plastic pipes need a poured concrete miter end apron. The Lee County culvert guide covers the permit and inspections.

Clearing and fill on a single-family lot are normally covered by the house building permit. Clearing without one needs a separate land clearing and fill permit under the city's land development code. Check with the city's Permitting Services before anything is cleared ahead of the building permit.

No. Lots in the city's mowing program get mowed about 13 times a year, with none in December or January, to keep growth under the 12 inch limit. Mowing leaves trees, stumps and Brazilian pepper in place, and the city no longer takes complaints about pepper trees. Clearing for a house is a different job.

Only with permission. In Cape Coral a land clearing burn needs a fire department burn permit, with an $80 fee, plus a Florida Forest Service authorization, and no permits are issued during a burn ban. State rules also keep land clearing fires 1,000 feet from other occupied buildings unless an air curtain incinerator is used. On most house lots the debris gets hauled to a disposal or recycling site instead.

Burrowing owl nesting season runs February 15 to July 10, when the buffer grows to 33 feet. Charlotte County bars clearing in scrub-jay areas from March 1 to June 30. The rainy season, May 15 to October 15, softens the ground and slows fill work. None of that stops a job, but it changes how we plan it.

Chop, the owner. He answers (239) 560-2996 himself, often from a machine on another job. The Spanish line is (305) 506-7420.

The lot address and, if you have them, the survey, the site plan with drainage and elevations, and whether the house is going on a stem wall or a mono slab. Photos of the lot help. With that, we can price the job and tell you how it will run.

Yes. Most of our pad, backfill and final grade work is for builders and GCs. Send the plans and tell us where you are in the build, and we fit our days around the foundation, framing and concrete crews.

Ask him. A septic abandonment customer wrote that Chop did the excavation and helped with a few small extra jobs while he was there. If you have something small, mention it when you call so it can be planned in. See our full list of services.