Permit fees waived for granny flats

Permit fees for accessory dwelling units in unincorporated San Diego County will be waived for five years.

A 4-0 San Diego County Board of Supervisors vote Jan. 9, with Greg Cox in Washington for a National Association of Counties meeting, approved the first reading and introduction of the ordinance to waive permit fees on a trial basis.

The second reading and adoption is scheduled for Jan. 30, which would make the ordinance effective March 2, although applicants who pay fees between Jan. 9 and March 2 will be eligible for a refund once the ordinance becomes effective.

The supervisors also appropriated $1,100,000 for the Department of Planning and Development Services and the Department of Environmental Health to cover the lost fiscal year 2018-19 revenue from the waiver of the permit fees and found the fee exemptions categorically exempt from California Environmental Quality Act review.

The fee waivers will automatically expire Jan. 9, 2024, unless subsequent Board of Supervisors action extends the waivers and the supervisors also direct county staff to provide a report on the program's results during fiscal year 2023-24.

"Anything we can do to make housing more affordable is a great thing for San Diego County," said Supervisor Jim Desmond.

"This is a five-year pilot project," said Supervisor Dianne Jacob. "This is a huge opportunity for the potential of thousands of accessory dwelling units."

The Board of Supervisors updated the county's general plan in August 2011, and that update included principles to place development in the most appropriate areas such as near town or village centers and transportation corridors. The density calculations were based on the expected increase in population for unincorporated San Diego County, so projects with densities lower than the general plan stipulates decrease the amount of available housing and create a shortfall which tends to be not at the expense of luxury homes but at the expense of more affordable housing.

In April 2018 the county supervisors directed the county's chief administrative officer to investigate options to promote the expedient building of homes in unincorporated San Diego County and the closing of the housing gap through incentive programs and/or regulatory relief.

County staff provided 19 potential options and, in October 2018, the Board of Supervisors voted to receive the report and find the preliminary planning actions exempt from California Environmental Quality Review. Separate votes were taken on moving forward with specific recommendations which required Board of Supervisors action.

One of those recommendations, which was advanced to the next step on a 5-0 vote, addressed accessory dwelling units and directed county staff to prepare plans and implement programs to reduce permitting time and costs by providing pre-approved plans to property owners and expediting the plan check review process and to develop a program for future Board of Supervisors consideration which would waive development impact fee costs for a five-year trial period.

The vote also directed staff to prepare an ordinance to create a Junior Accessory Dwelling Unit category for additional units derived by converting existing space and which do not require additional parking, and to monitor the results of other jurisdictions' pilot programs to encourage accessory dwelling unit construction by providing a grant or loan to the property owner in exchange for renting the additional dwelling unit at an affordable rate through a deed restriction or other similar mechanism.

The ordinance for a Junior Accessory Dwelling Unit classification will require California Environmental Quality Act review and a hearing of the county's Planning Commission before such a change is brought to the Board of Supervisors. The waiver of the permit fees does not involve a zoning change and could be brought directly to the Board of Supervisors.

"This is the easiest and quickest way to get there," Jacob said.

An accessory dwelling unit is sometimes called a granny flat because such structures or portions of houses are frequently occupied by family members of the primary dwelling unit. State legislation passed in 2017 relaxed requirements for accessory dwelling units including the elimination of minimum lot sizes and required setbacks.

The supervisors' action will waive Transportation Impact Fee, Park Land Dedication Ordinance fee, drainage fee, building permit fee, and on-site wastewater system permit fee payments for accessory dwelling units.

"This is big for San Diego County," Desmond said.

Desmond noted that San Diego County workers have been commuting from further distances due to the lack of affordable housing. "It hopefully helps people and families," he said of the fee waiver.

"This will act as an incentive for these property owners to do more with their land," said Supervisor Dianne Jacob.

Jacob noted that unincorporated San Diego County currently has approximately 120,000 dwelling units and approximately 10,000 vacant parcels on which a residence can be built. "It's not going to happen on all of them, but there is a pool there," she said.

During fiscal year 2017-18 the county processed 97 permits for accessory dwelling units. The county anticipates that the fee waiver will increase the annual number of permits processed to 150, which equates to a $2,200,000 annual cost of the permit waivers.