OUT OF THE MUD — Property Improvement Enterprises

Life as a first time residential developer is enlightening. It all started when Property Improvement Enterprises purchased a beautiful land parcel surrounded by trees in Kensington MD and the dream of building two contemporary houses on it. If someone would have told me I would be working with agencies and understanding their unique permit processes over the last six months, we most likely would not have chosen to do the Midvale project. However, we anticipated a year-long slog in the mud to get the property subdivided by the county with a state tax identification assigned. Before we received our building permit from the county, we had to obtain permits for demolition, sediment control, storm-water management and right of way! . Afterwards, it has to be approved by the Maryland National Capital Parks & Planning Commission which is a cross jurisdictional organization that focuses on preservation of trees. Luckily our lot is less than 40,000 sq ft, we got to skip this step. We engaged CPJ Associates to assist us with navigating the process for the land planning, surveying and engineering efforts.

We started with the initial topographical survey and soil test to determine if we could divide the lot and have appropriate drainage. The lot has a significant slope dropping of a total of 20’ from Midvale road to Upton Lane. For the Property Improvement Enterprises team to figure out how to fit two houses on the property, we had to consider the building restriction lines on Midvale Road and Upton Rd which are 30’ and 40’ setbacks, respectively.

We ended up being able to fit a 2850 sq ft house in the back land a larger home 3690 sq ft in the front of it. In order for the designs to be approved by Montgomery County, we went through a few iterations in storm-water management due to the slope and amount of hard surfaces created by driveway and roof structures. After this, Montgomery County approved our designs. We currently have sediment control as well as tree protection fencing up and plan to break ground on the foundation for the first house next week which will include hauling away some mud.

In addition to obtaining approval from the county for the site work and building designs, we also have to consult with the utility companies for sewer, water, gas and electric connections. In order to begin construction we needed a permit to tear down the house. In order to do that, we needed the utilities turned off and disconnected at the curb or pole, as well as a building release certificate from Washington Suburban Sanitation Commission Permitting department - more on that in our in future blog!

After all of the above we are looking forward to breaking ground next Monday… let the fun continue. Come check out our latest Property Improvement Enterprises projects in our gallery.