ADU Surveys in Martinez, CA

Martinez asks for a plot plan with surveyor DNA: lot dimensions stated as metes and bounds, dimensioned setbacks for all existing, proposed, and adjacent structures abutting the property, every projection and eave dimensioned to the property lines, a copy of the property's title report, easements and restrictions, and trees with species, trunk size, and the extent of their canopy. Then comes the elevation trigger — on lots with more than 5 feet of elevation difference, the checklist requires topography with existing and proposed contours at 2-foot intervals, plus pad and garage floor elevations and a ground-slope drainage scheme on hillside sites, with retaining walls labeled top-of-wall and bottom-of-wall. Five feet of relief is a low bar in Martinez: outside the flat downtown grid, the neighborhoods climbing toward Alhambra Hills, Vine Hill, and the Franklin Canyon edges cross it in a single backyard.

A soils report prepared by a California-licensed civil engineer sits on the checklist as an as-applicable item, and the city's ADU page tells applicants to consider FEMA flood zones and fire-severity zones early — Alhambra Creek's corridor through downtown carries real flood history. Martinez also requires sanitary district approval before the building-permit application is even submitted, so sequencing matters. Our laser-scanned site survey covers the checklist in one visit: boundary resolved from record research (the metes-and-bounds requirement makes deed work unavoidable), title-report easements mapped onto the plan, tree canopies captured as measured driplines, and dense elevations that produce the 2-foot contours and pad-elevation data the moment your lot crosses the 5-foot threshold.

As the county seat, Martinez keeps the recording loop short — the Contra Costa County Recorder and County Surveyor are both in town. Deliverables are a stamped base map, layered DWG, and staked corners; for terrain-led projects see our Martinez topographic surveys.