Backyard & Outdoor Living in Alhambra

City of Alhambra Community Development Department, Building Division. The Building Division of the Community Development Department handles building plan check, permits and inspections, including for pools and spas, and applications and inspection requests go through the city's online Permit Portal. Under Alhambra's zoning code, new homes, all two-story and second-story additions, additions that enlarge a house by more than 50 percent, and exterior alterations visible from a public street that need a building permit go to the Design Review Board, as do fences and walls in a front or street side yard facing the street. Pools, spas and pool equipment may not sit in a required front yard and must be at least three feet from any property line in an interior side or rear yard, or five feet in a street side yard, with setbacks measured from the water line. For a house listed on the city's Inventory of Historic Resources as a potentially eligible individual resource, a major alteration first requires a historic resource assessment by a qualified professional, and if the house is found eligible the work needs a Certificate of Appropriateness reviewed by the Historic Preservation Commission. We prepare the drawings, make the submittal and handle plan-check corrections ourselves, so you are not the one chasing plan check.

Early tract lots ran deep: 1906 advertisements for the Alhambra Park Tract listed an average lot of 50 by 150 feet, and original lots on South 2nd and 3rd Streets in the Ramona Park Tract measured 110 feet wide by 160 feet deep, some since split. In the RL low-density zone a house is limited to two stories, 25 feet and a 0.40 floor area ratio behind a 25-foot front setback, with a rear setback of 20 percent of lot depth up to 15 feet, and detached accessory structures top out at 15 feet. One local condition that shapes the work: Alhambra sits on an alluvial plain formed from the weathering of the San Gabriel Mountains, sloping southeast at about 1.05 feet per 100 feet from 580 feet in the northwest corner to 380 feet in the southeast, on gravelly loams, sandy loams and clays that the General Plan says do not have a high potential for collapse or expansion.

All of it, including Midwick Tract, Emery Park, Lindaraxa Park and Mayfair. Our crews run every job out of our Cahuenga Pass base in Los Angeles, with our own people on site.

Full backyard transformation: generally $50,000 to $250,000+ across Southern California. What moves it is how much hardscape is involved, whether a pool or outdoor kitchen is included, grading and retaining, and the level of lighting and planting. We give line-item pricing after seeing the site rather than quoting a number over the phone.

A patio and turf refresh often finishes in three to five weeks. A full transformation with hardscape, an outdoor kitchen, structures and lighting typically runs ten to sixteen weeks, and longer if a pool is part of the same phase.

Pavers cost more up front but flex with ground movement instead of cracking, and individual units can be lifted and replaced. Poured concrete is cheaper initially, but a crack means cutting out and repouring a section that rarely matches. On most Southern California soil we recommend pavers for anything you will look at every day.

Yes, and on most projects we insist on it. Correcting grade and adding proper drainage while the yard is already open is far cheaper than retrofitting it after new hardscape is down.

Yes. Design, permits, hardscape, structures, kitchen, lighting and planting run through one team and one project manager, so nothing gets lost between trades.