Good news. You can ignore my last post. Yes, the new house will be more than 50% larger than the existing house if you ignore the basement level of the old house. But it will not matter. According to the Concord building inspector, as long as the house is conforming (does not violate setback requirements, which is 40′ from the road and 15′ from the sides of property), and as long as the house is at least 10′ away from the existing garage, it will not matter that the existing garage is non-conforming. We will not need a special permit.

Based on the recommendations of friends, we had planned on a breezeway (not enclosed) between the planned kitchen door and the new garage side door. This breezeway was to protect us from rain or snow when we went between the detached garage and the house. However, based on this new information, we will not be allowed to build a breezeway since it would connect the house to the garage and make the whole thing non-conforming (and then we run into that no more than 50% larger issue). The planned deck does not count as connecting the two structures.

So, we move ahead, optimistically, that we will not need a special permit. But we will need some umbrella stands. Then, after 5 years, we should be able to add a breezeway if we want.

Here is a diagram showing the plans. Dotted red lines are the required setbacks. Solid red line is the wetlands setback (different town committee). The breezeway in green will have to be removed from the design. (The green main entrance is still fine). The proposed shed (garage addition in blue) will be allowed.

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