Phase One: A Hole in the Ground

Woke up this morning to a lot of noise in the neighborhood: banging, crashing, crunching, smashing noise. There was a giant dumpster truck in the driveway behind us, and several little bulldozer things that I use to know the names of when my grandson was little and we studied those things together. In fact, his little self would have loved all the action: they demolished an old garage that was on the left of the lot, including breaking up the concrete floor and carting off all the rubble. They were done with the demolition by lunchtime, when we had an hour of blessed silence before they started up again, going back and forth with things that beeped until this very large hole was revealed. By that time I'd called the property manager to find out what the heck was going on. They are building an ADU (auxiliary dwelling unit) in their backyard, to accommodate 3 tenants in addition to the five who already live in that little house. The footprint looks bigger than the existing dwelling. There is a creek running in front of that green swath, and I don't understand how they are allowed to build so close to it. I thought a 50 foot easement was mandated, but things must have changed.  This project seems to have taken all the neighbors by surprise. Our deliciously quiet environment is about to change. We will have the disturbance of this construction project right over our back fence for at least a year.