Webinar: How to Build an ADU in Sonoma County

Author: Renée J. Schomp, Director Napa Sonoma ADU

Watch Our Most Recent Webinar

We had the pleasure of joining homeowners and others for the final installment of our free Fall ADU Webinar series and for those of you who missed the live webinar, you can check out the recording right here!

For this webinar, homeowners and housing professionals alike joined the Napa Sonoma ADU Center and staff at Permit Sonoma, who walked viewers through the planning, permitting, and building process in unincorporated Sonoma County and answered homeowners’ questions live. 

(“Unincorporated” Sonoma County means folks who have parcels that lie outside of any “incorporated” cities in Sonoma County.)

Katrina Braehmer, Permit Sonoma Planner II, joined the webinar as a panelist along with Senior Engineer & Building Plan Check Division Supervisor Bryan Waters. 

Katrina shared, “Renée and her team [at the Napa Sonoma ADU Center] are a helpful resource for detailed information about Sonoma County ADU standards and regulations. Permit Sonoma is glad to partner with the nonprofit to support Sonoma County homeowners who want to build an accessory dwelling unit.”

We were joined for our live homeowner Q&A by not only the Permit Sonoma staff, but also our statewide expert on ADU law and policy, Joshua Abrams of Baird + Driskell Community Planning.

You can view the entire slide presentation right here for easy access to an overview of the content provided, and to hear the details you can check out a brief index of content below if you’d like to skip to the parts of the recorded webinar that are most relevant to your ADU questions.

Join us for future ADU webinars by registering for upcoming opportunities on our new Events page on our website! 

Our next webinar will be held on Tuesday, December 15 and will be relevant for homeowners across all of Napa and Sonoma Counties. It will include a dive into helpful ADU tips from our local ADU Expert Scott Johnson followed by an extended live audience Q&A with planning and building department staff from multiple cities across Napa and Sonoma Counties.

You can catch the recordings of all of our nonprofit’s past ADU webinars on demand here.

The content in our ADU webinars is simply information, and is not legal advice regarding your specific ADU project. Keep in mind that local ADU rules change over time, and every homeowner’s ADU project and parcel is unique so always make sure to consult directly with your local city or county before diving into your ADU project.

How to Build an ADU in (Unincorporated) Sonoma County Webinar Content Index:

  • Minutes 1:00 - 22:21 | Napa Sonoma ADU Overview, including:

    • At minute 16:28 there is a helpful ADU Process Map recap

  • Minutes 22:21 - 34:39 | ADU Permitting Process with Permit Sonoma, including:

    • Permit Sonoma contact information

    • Permitting process

    • Local ADU rules

    • Water & septic guidelines

  • Minutes 34:39 - 51:43 | ADU Building Process & Requirements with Permit Sonoma, including:

    • Building permit submittal process

    • Geotechnical, structural, flood zone, energy code, fire division, building code, & engineering requirements

    • Legalizing unpermitted ADUs

    • Overview of common building inspections

  • Minutes 51:43 - 1:04:11 | ADU FAQ’s & ADU stories

  • Minutes 1:04:11 - 1:28:25 | Audience Q&A with our panel of ADU experts

ADU 101, WebinarRenée J. SchompWebinar