| >But realistically the whole Bay Area should be at “if you want to build a 10 or 20 story apartment building on your own land, go for it.” While I think apartments are fine, it would help immensely if the absurd setback and height requirements were revised to something reasonable. For example, take a standard sized lot in Alameda County (Basically all of the East Bay Area): A standard lot is 5,000 square feet. 50'x100' - Front setback requirements: 20' - Back setback requirements: 20' - Side setback requirements: 5' per side - Max building height: 25' (2 stories max) Total setback square feet: 2,600 out of 5,000 Taken together, it's illegal to build on 52% of the land one owns! Another way to think about this is that one must buy at least 52% more land than necessary to build on. This is completely absurd, and is contributing to the housing shortage throughout the Bay, and the state. Some setbacks are fine, but really, 52%?! Source: https://www.acgov.org/cda/planning/ordinance/documents/R-2_D... |