County of Santa Cruz Updates: New Fees, New Procedures, New Website

New County of Santa Cruz Fees in Effect!

The County of Santa Cruz Planning Department has slightly modified their fees for the 2012-2013 fiscal year, which became effective at the end of August. While various fees have increased or remained the same, many fees have slightly decreased, though the differences are fairly insignificant. The biggest change or addition to the Planning Department’s Fee Schedule is the new “CUREC” fees (Construction Unpermitted-Recovery of Enforcement Costs), which are being enforced as of August 27, 2012.

According to the County, “Any person, who commences work which requires a building permit and is issued a stop work order or notice of violation, shall be subject to the CUREC (Construction Unpermitted-Recovery of Enforcement Costs) fee. This means that 100% of the Building and/or grading permit, processing, plan check and inspection fees shall be added to the basic fees associated with permitting the construction. Additional fees may be added as warranted for zoning and environmental permits, county counsel time, court costs and other non-building permit costs related to the resolution of the violation”.

The fee is enforceable by California Building Code (CBC) Section 109.4, which states that “any person who commences any work on a building, structure, electrical, gas, mechanical or plumbing system before obtaining the necessary permits shall be subject to a fee established by the Building Official that shall be in addition to the required permit fees.”

In other words, CUREC fees apply to projects that are issued a violation or stop-work order on or after August 27, 2012. Applications that are made to recognize unpermitted work on good faith, which do not have a violation or stop work order, are not subject to these fees.

If you own or are interested in a property which has unpermitted work, it may be beneficial to assess the cost of applying to either un-do or legalize the unpermitted work on “good-faith”, to avoid paying double fees if a violation (“red-tag”) or stop work order is ever issued. Please contact our office for additional information.

County Expedited Plan Check and Over-the-Counter Permits

In an effort to better serve the public and ease the permitting process for small projects, the County of Santa Cruz is now offering various over-the-counter permits and expedited plan checking for certain projects. Over-the-counter permits are permits that can be obtained without plan check or zoning review, and typically do not require plans (just the applicable form and payment of fee). Projects which qualify for expediting plan checking typically require three (3) sets of plans, and take 1-5 days to process.

Over-the-counter permits are available for:

• Re-roofs, replacement of windows, siding, sheetrock, and certain remodels that do not involve alteration of walls
• Decks less than 18” above grade (decks 18” – 12’ above grade require a site plan and review by zoning to check setbacks)
• Electrical, mechanical, plumbing
• Demolition
• Special Inspections

Expedited plan checking is available for:

• Small sheds, gazebos, trellises, sunrooms, and greenhouses less than 500 s.f.
• Residential remodels (with altered walls and no engineering)
• Photovoltaic (PV) systems (solar energy installations)
• Solar hot water systems
• Electrical vehicle charging systems
• Small residential additions, less than 500 s.f. (not requiring a soils report)
• Small tenant improvements (TI), less than 3,000 s.f. with no structural alterations

Feel free to contact our office if you have questions about these services and/or if your project may qualify.

New County Planning Department Website!

Launching sometime in the next week, the County Planning Department has designed a new website with some great new features, including a Building Permit Fee Estimate Worksheet for estimating your project fees online! The Planning Departments website can be found at: http://www.sccoplanning.com/ We look forward to the upgrades!