San Rafael, CA – For almost a decade, Marin County Supervisors held off on increasing fees for building and safety permits in unincorporated Marin. On February 11, the Marin County Community Development Agency (CDA) gained approval to raise permit fees an average 44% to cover the rising cost of providing building permit services.
The Community Development Agency will keep open its Friday customer service hours as part of the Board's approval to raise permit fees.CDA Director Brian Crawford and Chief Building Official William Kelley emphasized the necessity for the fee increases because of the past deferral of fee adjustments if the County wanted to ensure timely service delivery to permit customers and continued progress in customer service enhancements.
Leading the list of promised service enhancements for permit customers was providing same-day permitting for all but the most complex building permit applications, maintaining Friday counter service for plan reviews and inspections, inspection scheduling via texting, and online digital plan submittal and review.
Supervisors also approved a 1% hike in the additional fee charged to each building permit to support permitting technology such as online permitting and digital plan review software.
In a move to assist special needs within Marin communities, the Board agreed to allow constituents to make their homes and businesses more accessible for residents and receive a 100% fee reduction on the required building permit application. The County will continue to waive permit fees for affordable housing projects and reduce fees for community-based projects and accessory dwelling units.
The new fees and services will take effect July 1, 2020.