Last week I dropped off at the planning department my various applications — design review application, use permit application, and demolition permit application — and all the supporting drawings and documents. And I also delivered a painfully big fat check payment to the city to fund processing of my applications and other related city services.

The very nice man who took my applications flipped through them at the counter, hmmmm’ing and nodding. I started to get nervous, what with all the hmmmm’ing and flipping. . . Then the nice man says to me, “I’ve only been working here for a year, but so far this is the most complete submission I’ve seen yet!” Whew! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the thorough submission — and all the beautiful drawings from WA+D — will help get this project through planning without any big hitches. Hopefully come November we’ll get the green light to move forward!

But first, we’ve got to woo the neighbors and convince them not to raise any objections. . . Our plan is to ply them with wine and food. That usually works, right? More on that soon.

It’s not hard to spot them, they’re everywhere:

Outside my office. In the patio planter at Public House. And in my landscape plan, of course. Apparently Phormium like it here in the Bay Area, so they are going in at Scott Street. Oh, and what about Trachelospermum Jasminoides? Yeah, that’s “Star Jasmine” to you and me. Plenty of that, too. And some Miscanthus Transmorrisonensis, and some Sedum Spathulifolium, and some Olea Europaea (uh, yeah, that’s an olive tree). Of course, it’s wine country, so plenty of Lavandula Dentala:

Can you tell I’m having fun with the Latin names? Well, a girl’s gotta do something to get through the tedium of a landscape plan, especially coming on the heels of that scintillating water use analysis report. Sheesh.

But there’s an exciting milestone coming up, hopefully on Monday: Submitting all our planning paperwork to the City of St. Helena! Bring it on down to City Hall, then hit the road back to San Francisco, just in time to head to the airport for a week’s vacation in Hawaii! I think they plant lots of Phormium there, too.

Do you know what an acre foot is? I didn’t until a few weeks ago, but I do now.

An acre-foot of water is 325,853.383688 gallons.

One gallon is 3.06888328 × 10^-6 acre foot.

Why the hell do I now know that? Well, to build/enlarge a house in St. Helena, the owner has to demonstrate that the new residence will be “net neutral” with respect to its water usage. To get my permit from the planning department for Scott Street, I have to submit a “water analysis report” showing the net water neutrality. And rather than pay a civil engineering firm to write my report, I decided to do it myself . . . But first I had to learn about acre-feet.

The whole process has been kinda fascinating. And it feels pretty good to know that the new, bigger house we’re building will actually use less water than the old small one. Putting in water-saving appliances, and low-flow faucets and toilets, really makes a difference. And tearing out the water-hogging lawn and replacing it with a much less water-intensive landscape is even more impactful. I’m going to save more than 186,000 gallons of water every year!

Anyway, this water report has been a ton of work. Which is why I haven’t blogged in a while. . . Oh, and I’m also doing my own landscape plan instead of hiring someone to do that. More about that later!