Check out your local ADU rules!
By Renée J. Schomp, Director of the Napa Sonoma ADU Center
Are you trying to parse out what your local ADU rules are? It can be confusing that every different city and unincorporated county has slightly different rules that govern how you build your accessory dwelling unit or junior accessory dwelling unit. But we are here to help!
In partnership with the cities and unincorporated counties across Napa and Sonoma County, we’ve published easy to digest one-pagers on our website that provide a synopsis of your local ADU rules right here.
How do local ADU rules work? Local jurisdictions (also known as cities and unincorporated counties) each have their own specific ordinances that govern the building of accessory dwelling units in their jurisdiction. These local rules must adhere to the California statewide standards for ADUs, which were updated in January 2020 to make it much easier for homeowners in our state to build ADUs or JADUs. However, they can be less restrictive than the California state laws. Plus, their local permitting fees and processes can be different.
To learn more about the local rules that govern ADUs in your particular jurisdiction, select your jurisdiction from the dropdown on our Your Local ADU Rules webpage. Keep in mind that if you don't live inside the city limits of an incorporated city, then your jurisdiction corresponds to whichever unincorporated county jurisdiction you are in (Sonoma or Napa County).
Each one-pager also includes information about sample ADU permit fees, who to contact at your local agency with questions, and links to the local ADU ordinances and web resources for your specific jurisdiction.
Many homeowners that we speak with in Napa and Sonoma Counties list as one of their top concerns in building an ADU scrutiny from their planning & permitting department.
If you’d like to hear directly from your local jurisdiction about their local ADU rules and their efforts to make the ADU planning, permitting, and building process easier for folks, you can also check out the recorded, on-demand webinars we’ve created in collaboration with multiple local jurisdictions for this very purpose:
City of Sebastopol (coming February 11, 2021 - register here!)
City of Healdsburg (coming March 4, 2021 - register here!)
And more to come!
As always, if you have questions or trouble navigating the ADU rules or process, our nonprofit the Napa Sonoma ADU Center is here to help. Just reach out to us here: https://napasonomaadu.org/stay-in-touch. We’re excited to get to hear from you!