Engineering

We need to make the driveway as long as possible to minimize the slope as we descend into the lot. So there will be a nice curve as it heads down behind some large (10' tall) rocks which will hide a portion of the house. The view direction toward the lake is North-West, and to the valley (Sacramento) with city lights is to the west. So the house will likely have sections facing both those directions (i.e. rotate the footprint shown on this plan about 30° clockwise).

This plan also shows several retaining walls that we will probably not need, and will simply grade the property to a 2:1 slope at those points. We will certainly have a large wall just off the street where we're bringing in dirt for the driveway.