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AuthorPosts
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UCGal
ParticipantI agree with the idea to use less grass and more drought tolerant plants. A good source for info is
I have friends who one a “best garden” from the water district – their yard is lush, lots of flowering succulants, mixed with cactii and a small patch of grass in the back. In the shady spots they have ferns. A nice combination of hardscape, ground cover and succulants – you’d never assume it was a water thrifty yard. The hummingbirds LOVE their yard.
I aspire to have their garden – we’re recovering from construction and need to do a lot of work.
UCGal
ParticipantI agree with the idea to use less grass and more drought tolerant plants. A good source for info is
I have friends who one a “best garden” from the water district – their yard is lush, lots of flowering succulants, mixed with cactii and a small patch of grass in the back. In the shady spots they have ferns. A nice combination of hardscape, ground cover and succulants – you’d never assume it was a water thrifty yard. The hummingbirds LOVE their yard.
I aspire to have their garden – we’re recovering from construction and need to do a lot of work.
UCGal
ParticipantThe post about top secret says specifically it was “in house” studies from the power distribution company. So this isn’t a DOD top secret.
Private sector rarely follows the governments prefered terminology. I’ve worked for a defense contractor and in private sector – both have used the term “top secret”. The difference is the defense contractor prefaced it with “DOD” or “Government”.
As far as the power lines- it reduces the resale potential – so that should be enough of a discouraging factor. If I wanted to be ultimately paranoid I’d say it matters a lot. I lived under power lines in Clairemont till I was 4. My parents bought the house a year before I was born. (The ones that are just east of Mt. Everest, south of Balboa). Who knows if this is/was a factor in the fact that 3 of my 4 immediate family members have died of cancer in the past 5 years. Parents and older brother. Probably not related… but who knows for sure.
UCGal
ParticipantThe post about top secret says specifically it was “in house” studies from the power distribution company. So this isn’t a DOD top secret.
Private sector rarely follows the governments prefered terminology. I’ve worked for a defense contractor and in private sector – both have used the term “top secret”. The difference is the defense contractor prefaced it with “DOD” or “Government”.
As far as the power lines- it reduces the resale potential – so that should be enough of a discouraging factor. If I wanted to be ultimately paranoid I’d say it matters a lot. I lived under power lines in Clairemont till I was 4. My parents bought the house a year before I was born. (The ones that are just east of Mt. Everest, south of Balboa). Who knows if this is/was a factor in the fact that 3 of my 4 immediate family members have died of cancer in the past 5 years. Parents and older brother. Probably not related… but who knows for sure.
UCGal
ParticipantThe post about top secret says specifically it was “in house” studies from the power distribution company. So this isn’t a DOD top secret.
Private sector rarely follows the governments prefered terminology. I’ve worked for a defense contractor and in private sector – both have used the term “top secret”. The difference is the defense contractor prefaced it with “DOD” or “Government”.
As far as the power lines- it reduces the resale potential – so that should be enough of a discouraging factor. If I wanted to be ultimately paranoid I’d say it matters a lot. I lived under power lines in Clairemont till I was 4. My parents bought the house a year before I was born. (The ones that are just east of Mt. Everest, south of Balboa). Who knows if this is/was a factor in the fact that 3 of my 4 immediate family members have died of cancer in the past 5 years. Parents and older brother. Probably not related… but who knows for sure.
UCGal
ParticipantThe post about top secret says specifically it was “in house” studies from the power distribution company. So this isn’t a DOD top secret.
Private sector rarely follows the governments prefered terminology. I’ve worked for a defense contractor and in private sector – both have used the term “top secret”. The difference is the defense contractor prefaced it with “DOD” or “Government”.
As far as the power lines- it reduces the resale potential – so that should be enough of a discouraging factor. If I wanted to be ultimately paranoid I’d say it matters a lot. I lived under power lines in Clairemont till I was 4. My parents bought the house a year before I was born. (The ones that are just east of Mt. Everest, south of Balboa). Who knows if this is/was a factor in the fact that 3 of my 4 immediate family members have died of cancer in the past 5 years. Parents and older brother. Probably not related… but who knows for sure.
UCGal
ParticipantThe post about top secret says specifically it was “in house” studies from the power distribution company. So this isn’t a DOD top secret.
Private sector rarely follows the governments prefered terminology. I’ve worked for a defense contractor and in private sector – both have used the term “top secret”. The difference is the defense contractor prefaced it with “DOD” or “Government”.
As far as the power lines- it reduces the resale potential – so that should be enough of a discouraging factor. If I wanted to be ultimately paranoid I’d say it matters a lot. I lived under power lines in Clairemont till I was 4. My parents bought the house a year before I was born. (The ones that are just east of Mt. Everest, south of Balboa). Who knows if this is/was a factor in the fact that 3 of my 4 immediate family members have died of cancer in the past 5 years. Parents and older brother. Probably not related… but who knows for sure.
UCGal
ParticipantI just thought of a couple of other restrictions on companion units in the city of San Diego…
Max sf of the unit is 700sf.
Owner must occupy one of the two units. (Primary or CU). In other words – you can’t rent both the primary house and the companion unit – owner must occupy one of the two.
If you are designing it with handicapped features (accessible bathroom, wheelchair ramps, etc.) then that portion is NOT included in your property tax assessment for the CU.
To get some of the politics behind the city’s dislike of CU
http://www.friendsofsdarch.com/SanDiegoaduleg.htmAt the time our permit was approved, only 5 applicants had made it past the first weed out phase in the previous 5 years. (They won’t consider your application till you show the double lot.) We, as far as I know, are one of only 2 permits issued in the past 5 years. And when we got this information, we’re the only ones who completed the companion unit. The link above shows only 18 CU’s had been approved between 1984 and 2003.
UCGal
ParticipantI just thought of a couple of other restrictions on companion units in the city of San Diego…
Max sf of the unit is 700sf.
Owner must occupy one of the two units. (Primary or CU). In other words – you can’t rent both the primary house and the companion unit – owner must occupy one of the two.
If you are designing it with handicapped features (accessible bathroom, wheelchair ramps, etc.) then that portion is NOT included in your property tax assessment for the CU.
To get some of the politics behind the city’s dislike of CU
http://www.friendsofsdarch.com/SanDiegoaduleg.htmAt the time our permit was approved, only 5 applicants had made it past the first weed out phase in the previous 5 years. (They won’t consider your application till you show the double lot.) We, as far as I know, are one of only 2 permits issued in the past 5 years. And when we got this information, we’re the only ones who completed the companion unit. The link above shows only 18 CU’s had been approved between 1984 and 2003.
UCGal
ParticipantI just thought of a couple of other restrictions on companion units in the city of San Diego…
Max sf of the unit is 700sf.
Owner must occupy one of the two units. (Primary or CU). In other words – you can’t rent both the primary house and the companion unit – owner must occupy one of the two.
If you are designing it with handicapped features (accessible bathroom, wheelchair ramps, etc.) then that portion is NOT included in your property tax assessment for the CU.
To get some of the politics behind the city’s dislike of CU
http://www.friendsofsdarch.com/SanDiegoaduleg.htmAt the time our permit was approved, only 5 applicants had made it past the first weed out phase in the previous 5 years. (They won’t consider your application till you show the double lot.) We, as far as I know, are one of only 2 permits issued in the past 5 years. And when we got this information, we’re the only ones who completed the companion unit. The link above shows only 18 CU’s had been approved between 1984 and 2003.
UCGal
ParticipantI just thought of a couple of other restrictions on companion units in the city of San Diego…
Max sf of the unit is 700sf.
Owner must occupy one of the two units. (Primary or CU). In other words – you can’t rent both the primary house and the companion unit – owner must occupy one of the two.
If you are designing it with handicapped features (accessible bathroom, wheelchair ramps, etc.) then that portion is NOT included in your property tax assessment for the CU.
To get some of the politics behind the city’s dislike of CU
http://www.friendsofsdarch.com/SanDiegoaduleg.htmAt the time our permit was approved, only 5 applicants had made it past the first weed out phase in the previous 5 years. (They won’t consider your application till you show the double lot.) We, as far as I know, are one of only 2 permits issued in the past 5 years. And when we got this information, we’re the only ones who completed the companion unit. The link above shows only 18 CU’s had been approved between 1984 and 2003.
UCGal
ParticipantI just thought of a couple of other restrictions on companion units in the city of San Diego…
Max sf of the unit is 700sf.
Owner must occupy one of the two units. (Primary or CU). In other words – you can’t rent both the primary house and the companion unit – owner must occupy one of the two.
If you are designing it with handicapped features (accessible bathroom, wheelchair ramps, etc.) then that portion is NOT included in your property tax assessment for the CU.
To get some of the politics behind the city’s dislike of CU
http://www.friendsofsdarch.com/SanDiegoaduleg.htmAt the time our permit was approved, only 5 applicants had made it past the first weed out phase in the previous 5 years. (They won’t consider your application till you show the double lot.) We, as far as I know, are one of only 2 permits issued in the past 5 years. And when we got this information, we’re the only ones who completed the companion unit. The link above shows only 18 CU’s had been approved between 1984 and 2003.
UCGal
ParticipantYes the total sf matters. Unless you have a large part of it closed off to HVAC you are paying to heat/cool 5500 sf.
What is your insulation/window quality? Do you have a lot of insulation? Do you have double pane or thermal windows? If it’s new construction you’ll meet current title 24. But if it’s older, there’s probably a lot of places you could invest to reduce your energy bill.
Also 3 fridges… Could you move some of the beverages from the beverage fridge to the regular fridge – so that only one fridge gets open/closed a lot?
We’ve knocked about $10/month off of our bill by changing our habits with respect to power plugs for various devices – cell phones, kids NDS’s, etc… We only plug in the charge when it’s in use. (We used to leave it plugged in – but disconnected from the device when not charging.) We also unplugged the things that don’t get daily use but in their “off state” where really on, waiting for the remote signal… this included our dvd players, one of our stereos, the kids wii. (I only let them play it on the weekend for homework reasons. I’m a mean mom.)
UCGal
ParticipantYes the total sf matters. Unless you have a large part of it closed off to HVAC you are paying to heat/cool 5500 sf.
What is your insulation/window quality? Do you have a lot of insulation? Do you have double pane or thermal windows? If it’s new construction you’ll meet current title 24. But if it’s older, there’s probably a lot of places you could invest to reduce your energy bill.
Also 3 fridges… Could you move some of the beverages from the beverage fridge to the regular fridge – so that only one fridge gets open/closed a lot?
We’ve knocked about $10/month off of our bill by changing our habits with respect to power plugs for various devices – cell phones, kids NDS’s, etc… We only plug in the charge when it’s in use. (We used to leave it plugged in – but disconnected from the device when not charging.) We also unplugged the things that don’t get daily use but in their “off state” where really on, waiting for the remote signal… this included our dvd players, one of our stereos, the kids wii. (I only let them play it on the weekend for homework reasons. I’m a mean mom.)
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