Our site plan is complete and the entire package has been submitted to the Coastal Zone Management department for review. We had to have the house and cistern plans, site map, topology, flood zone and other maps, adjacent neighbors report and proof of current property and federal tax payments. This is a 45 day process where they take the info and create a packet for adjacent neighbors. They call us and we go pick up the packets and mail them certified to the adjacent neighbors within 150' of our property. Those neighbors have 30 days to review and contest any development plans. We were told this is mainly for commercial use and there's never been opposition to a private home. Either way it's a long process but we're moving now. Once the CZM process is complete then the plans are sent to the Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR) to approve our building permit.
The site plan below shows the placement of the domes, driveway, cistern, septic, drain field and elevations. There's also cross section views but I didn't add them here. The added stuff in the upper left was not part of the submitted plan and only for this blog. It shows the location of the rock area I mentioned in the last post, along with the trail from the house, up the hill through the rocks, west to the camping area we created last week, and over to Tito, the tourist tree.
The Tito area will be another private sitting area overlooking the sea. I mentioned in an earlier post that Tito the tourist tree got his name when we were here in February buying the property. The entire property is in the jungle so this is a private area, and a pretty large tree with a great canopy. A few months ago I dug out a flat area above the tree with the intention of building a retaining wall using the rum barrels from Sajah Farms. Now that we have a few barrels Denise and I went down and started construction of the wall.
The picture below is the Tito area, the tree and the sea are on the right. I forgot to take a picture before I started digging on the hill so it may be hard to visualize what it looked like with a flat area.
Here's what it looks like with one barrel in place. These barrels are heavy with 1" thick oak slats and heavy steel bands. The land in this area of the property is about 75% rock and 25% soil. Denise and I dug out the area for the first barrel and used a gravel screed to separate the rocks and soil. I created a rock base, set the barrel and filled it 50%with rock. The barrel is offset at a 10 degree angle. As we dig out the next barrel position we'll put the rock in the existing barrel and the dirt over the edge. Once the next barrel pad is ready I'll set the barrel, bolt them together in the middle with lag bolts, and fill it with the rock from the next location. When complete we will have a slightly curved retaining wall with 6 or 7 barrels and a rock pad. I'll probably use large flat rocks from around the property for the pad, but that will probably wait until we start excavation. This will give me access to a greater selection instead of hiking the jungle and breaking my back hauling them up or down the hill. Stay tuned.
Dale from the farm went to one of the communications companies and picked up some of their recycled plastic cable reels to be used for the table tops. These turned out far better than the wooden reels we originally had since these are smooth topped. The barrels in the picture below are not on level ground so they appear to be crooked, but are all straight and a standard 30" height. We made 21 tables, 5 garbage barrels, 3 bar tables and 3 coolers for the bartender. This has been a lot of fun for us. I've got some ideas for lights using barrel rings, and a few other ideas for other items we will create.
Yes, it's another awesome sunset! This was from a few days ago when we had a full moon, or pretty close to it.
The moon was so bright as one of our quick showers passed over that we had a moon rainbow on the hill below us. I couldn't get a good picture with my cell phone but added the one below. You might be able to see it if you look at the right side of the tree branches down to the house below near the center. There was no color, only white light bent around the shower below. It was really bright and I wish I could have captured a clear picture. Denise tried with here Canon camera but it was too late and faded away.
Here's a picture of one of our 5 minute showers Wednesday as it passed to the west providing a great rainbow.
Leftovers from tropical storm Kirk will hit us tonight with some wind, rain and lightning, but the sky is still 50% clear and turning a nice orange and pink color from west, all the way to the east as the sun sets.
The sounds of the jungle at night are amazing with the the waves from the sea, bugs, frogs, night birds and the occasional rain shower. It may not be for everybody but we love it. I included a an audio recording and hopefully it will render properly in this blog. (Update 9/30/18: Video should be working.) We discovered that your brain shuts off the sounds while you sleep and you still hear anything around you that's not normal, such as a door closing. If I wake up at night it takes about 15 seconds for me to fully hear the sounds again. Pretty cool phenomenon.
That's all for now.
Kevin & Denise
Sounds like your about 3 months from breaking ground. Pretty awesome. I see I'm on the list as one of the chefs. There's at least 1 Joe Smith that can cook 😀
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