Land Surveyors in San Pedro, CA

Hillside Los Angeles

San Pedro has been part of the City of Los Angeles since 1909, when it consolidated with the city to give Los Angeles a harbor. It climbs from the port up the eastern slopes of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, so compared with the flat grid of Long Beach, its streets are steep and its lots uneven. Permits here go through the Los Angeles building and planning departments, whose hillside rules apply to many of its streets.

Ground That Slides

At Point Fermin, the southern tip of San Pedro, a neighborhood of 1920s ocean-view homes began sliding toward the sea in 1929, dropping more than seven feet in six months. The remains, known as the Sunken City, are still there. The weak, seaward-sloping sedimentary rock behind that slide is a reminder of why grading, retaining walls and bluff-top projects in San Pedro start from a detailed map of the existing ground.

Harbor Streets and Bluffs

Nearer the port, older houses on the grid above Gaffey Street and the waterfront sit on small lots with alleys and aging retaining walls. Up the hill toward Rancho Palos Verdes, larger lots and view homes bring retaining-wall and drainage design into almost every remodel. Many of these lots also sit in areas the city maps for landslide or hillside review, which adds geology reports to the permit package.

What Gets Ordered Here

The topographic survey is the backbone, required for almost any hillside design. Buyers and neighbours with sloped, fenced yards order a boundary survey, and backyard units on uneven lots begin with an ADU site survey. New homes and retaining walls need construction staking and an as-built survey. Port-side commercial property brings ALTA/NSPS work, owners reshaping awkward hillside parcels use a lot line adjustment, and low-lying harbor-edge parcels sometimes need an elevation certificate.

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