Site Features
Site features are what is already on the property that the septic system has to keep away from: outbuildings, paved areas, driveways and trees. Draw them before you place the system. Smart design and Auto design keep the system the setback distance of your area away from each of them, and they show on the site plan and in the report.
The tools are in Tools > Septic design: Aux. building, Hardscape and Driveway in the Buildings group, Right-of-way in the Site group, and Tree in the Landscape group.
For features named in your area's rules, such as wells, streams and easements, use the Isolation tool instead: it draws the setback buffer with them.
Auxiliary building
An auxiliary building is a building the septic system does not serve: a garage, a barn, a shed, a pool house. It has no flow. The house the system serves is drawn with Building instead.
- Click Aux. building in the Buildings group (garage, shed under its name).
- Click each corner of the building on the map, and double-click the last one to finish.
The building is named Auxiliary Building with a number. Smart design and Auto design keep the system your area's building setback away from it.
To turn an auxiliary building into the house, right-click it and choose Use as residence (Building With Flow). See Use as residence.
Hardscape
Hardscape is a paved or built surface: a patio, a parking area, a walkway, a pool deck. The system can't go under it, and your area may set a setback from it.
- Click Hardscape in the Buildings group (patio, paving under its name).
- Click each corner of the area on the map, and double-click the last one to finish.
The tool stays on for the next area until you click the tile again or press Esc. Smart design and Auto design keep the system your area's driveway setback away from every hardscape area, driveways included.
Driveway
The Driveway tool draws a driveway from its centreline and width, so you don't have to trace both edges.
- Click Driveway in the Buildings group.
- Draw the centreline: click each bend and double-click to finish, or drag with Freehand on.
- Driveway Width opens. Enter the Driveway width (12 ft by default) and click Create Driveway.
The driveway is added to the Hardscape layer as an area with smooth curves, named for example Driveway, 12 ft wide. The tool stays on for the next driveway until you click the tile again, press Esc or pick another tool. Cancel in the width dialog drops that centreline.
Like any hardscape, the driveway keeps the system your area's driveway setback away.
Road right-of-way
Parcel lines often run to the middle of the road, with no road right-of-way taken out. Your setbacks from the property line are then measured from the road's centreline instead of the edge of the right-of-way. The Right-of-way tool takes the right-of-way off the parcel for you, so you no longer need to draw an inside buffer on the parcel line by hand.
Click Right-of-way in the Site group (road ROW under its name).
Road Right-of-way opens and lists the public roads within 150 ft of the parcel (from OpenStreetMap). A road whose right-of-way reaches the parcel is already ticked.
For each road, check the Road class and the Right-of-way width. The width starts at the low end of the typical total width for the class, and you can change it:
Road class US Canada Local / residential street 50–60 ft 18–20 m Rural county / township road 66 ft 20 m Collector 60–80 ft 20–26 m Arterial 80–120 ft 30–45 m State / provincial highway 100–200 ft 30–60+ m Freeway / interstate 150–300+ ft 90+ m If a road is missing, click Draw a road centerline. Click along the middle of the road, double-click to finish, and the dialog opens again with the line added.
The dialog shows how much of the parcel the right-of-way takes. Click Save Right-of-way.
Each centreline is widened by half the right-of-way width on each side. The part of the parcel inside it is saved on the Buffers layer as Road right-of-way. Smart design, Auto design, the design review and the soil boundary fit then measure the property line setback from the right-of-way's edge. Saving again replaces the saved right-of-way, and Remove it in the dialog puts the setbacks back on the parcel lines.
If the dialog says the right-of-way doesn't reach the parcel, the parcel lines already stop at the road and there's nothing to take off.
Generated right-of-way
When no right-of-way is saved and a public road runs along the middle of the parcel lines, landplan.io makes one for you. It does this in the background when the map opens, and again when Smart design or Auto design reads the site. It uses the county's right-of-way data where it has it, otherwise the road's class and the low end of the widths above. A message, or a note in Smart design, tells you when one is made.
The generated right-of-way is saved on the Buffers layer as Road right-of-way (generated), with the roads and widths it used in its description. You can:
- Change it. Edit its shape on the map like any buffer, or open Right-of-way, set the roads and widths, and click Save Right-of-way. Your own right-of-way always replaces the generated one.
- Remove it. Click Remove it in the dialog. The setbacks go back to the parcel lines, and no right-of-way is generated for this parcel again. Generate it again in the dialog turns it back on.
Nothing is generated when the road is more than about 15 ft from the parcel lines, because the parcel most likely stops at the right-of-way already.
Tree
The Tree tool marks a tree by its canopy, so the system keeps clear of its roots.
- Click Tree in the Landscape group.
- Click where the tree stands.
- Tree Size opens. Under Size given as, pick Diameter or Circumference, and enter the Canopy diameter or Canopy circumference. For a circumference, the diameter it gives shows under the box.
- Click Create Tree.
The canopy is drawn as a circle on the Tree layer. The size you used is offered for the next tree (20 ft across the first time). Where your area sets a tree setback, Smart design and Auto design keep the system that far from the canopy.
Smart design can also find tree canopy in the aerial photo, with Use land cover and learned preferences on. Check what it finds on the map and draw the real trees. See Smart Design and Auto Design.