Three month’s ago I moved into my first house. Being located in the city, it doesn’t have much of a lawn and no driveway to park. Needless to say, this morning I received my forth-parking ticket because I keep forgetting to move my car on Wednesdays for street cleaning. I want to build my own driveway on the side of my house. There’s room, and I know where the property lines are because I had the house staked out before I moved in. What should be my first step in getting a driveway put in? Is this something I could do my self? I’m pretty handy, but I never tackled something this big. Do I need a permit from the city?
Building a driveway is not a project to be taken lightly. There are a lot ways to get the job done and an equal number of ways to screw it up. Not being familiar with the building codes in your city I cannot say for sure what all the requirements would be for your permit, which more than likely will be required. I would contact the planning and zoning department in your city to find out for sure. Good luck
Definitely you have to check about a building permit. But in the meantime, if it’s just grass or something flat and empty, why don’t you just pull your car into the spot?
Permit: odds are one is needed
Drawing: Odds are, drawing is need relative to property and property lines
Codes: for materials, concrete would have to be a certain depth
Materials: concrete - just pay someone. Cheap enough to pay somebody
Gravel: Get it delivered, get ready to make wheel barrow trips
Pavers: nice, slow and tedious but pretty in town
The first step will be to call the city’s development and review department to see if/how/where you can build the driveway. They may want you to go down with a site map (or the survey from when you bought the house) to discuss options.
Alternately, you could have the concrete contractor handle the permit, but I’d call the city first to make sure you have a legal location for the driveway.
Wilmington, DE Department of Planning
Main Office: (302) 571-4130
Land Use & Planning: (302) 571-4130
The big question for me is what are you going to do about a curb cut so you can get in the driveway?
Im pretty handy, I would get a couple Quikret (sp) concrete molds ($19ea) &
several bags of their cement mix ($1bag?) & make one with that. Should take
a day depending how big it is. the molds are beautiful & one bag
fills one mold. The molds duplicate delicate stone mason work-very artsy. I saw them at OSH.
Urban planner checking in - with lots of experience in plan review.
First, call the local planning department to find out if a setback from your side property line is required. It will probably not be required, as a driveway isn’t likely to be considered a structure.
Second, contact the local building official to determine if a permit is required for the construction. Probably not, since you’r merely pouring concrete for a driveway. You aren’t pouring a footer for a foundation and there aren’t any safety issues if you do a poor job.
Third, contact the public works department (or whoever handles curb, sidewalks, etc). If you are crossing from the street onto your lot, you will be crossing city property (the sidewalk doesn’t belong to you). You’ll need to get permission to do the curb cut and perhaps a driveway permit (there may be a required distance between adjacent driveways, or between your driveway and an intersection if you’re on a through street).
Don’t just put the driveway in. If you do violate a City ordinance you’ll get caught, have to correct the problem anyway, and just get a horrendous headache that could have been avoided by doing it the right way in the first place. I know, I used to give people really big headaches all the time.
Hey, I’m “Gorgeous Kamandi”, but I don’t go around advertising it!
thanks everyone. i guess i should start makeing phone calls. it’s a good thing i asked and didn’t just put one in.
Are you going to park on the driveway?
I tried to resist.
ratatoskK said:
“But in the meantime, if it’s just grass or something flat and empty, why don’t you just pull your car into the spot?”
I do not know the rules where aceospades lives, but in many areas that is illegal, plus, IMHO it looks trashy to have cars parked in your yard.