Fontana | Permits and Fees

Fontana Permits, Review Deadlines, Planning Fees and Impact Fees

Before building more than one home in Fontana, an owner usually needs a planning approval, a building permit and a set of fees. An impact fee is a one-time charge on new building that pays for streets, parks, sewers and other public facilities the new homes will use. This page explains who decides each application under the Zoning and Development Code, the review deadlines, the City's 2026 planning fees, the impact fees per home and when they are paid, and the new fee schedule that starts in July 2027. The Fontana overview sums up the whole guide.

Who Decides Each Application

Sources: Fontana Zoning and Development Code Table 30-22, 30-467, 30-434.1 and 30-302.1, Supplement 18.

How a Project Moves Through the City

The Applications and Fees page says to "Click on Build Fontana to create an account, verify checklists and submit your applications." Most projects start with a pre-application meeting with the Director of Community Development and staff, which costs $2,390 in planning fees plus $536 for fire and $1,090 for engineering. A ministerial approval, such as an ADU or an SB 9 project, is a staff check against fixed rules with no hearing. A discretionary approval, such as design review or a conditional use permit, lets the decision body weigh the project and add conditions at a public hearing.

Section 30-116 requires design review by the Planning Commission for "Residential projects of five units or more." The administrative site plan rules in Sections 30-77 and 30-87 cover commercial, industrial and institutional projects. Design review checks the whole site, including buildings, landscaping and parking. A conditional use permit is needed for uses marked "C" in the district tables, such as a major planned unit development in R-1, R-2 or R-3, senior housing, or mixed use in R-4 and R-5.

Section 30-20 gives the City 30 calendar days to say in writing whether an application is complete, and another 30 days after each resubmittal. An incomplete application "shall not be scheduled for a public hearing" until it is complete. Under Section 30-21, amended by Ordinance No. 1989 on June 9, 2026, an application expires if the missing items are not supplied within 180 days of the notice, with one 180 day extension available on written request. If a decision body misses its deadline, Section 30-25 lets the applicant appeal to the City Council within 15 days.

Deadlines and How Long Approvals Last

• ADUs. 15 business days to decide completeness and 60 days to approve or deny a complete application (Section 30-467(d)).
• SB 9 projects and lot splits. 30 days to report an incomplete application (Sections 30-434.1 and 30-302.1); Government Code 65852.21 and 66411.7 deem a complete application approved after 60 days.
• Parcel and tract maps. Deemed approved if no action is taken within 50 calendar days of the notice of filing (Sections 26-56 and 26-218).
• No Net Loss bonus. Processed ministerially within 30 days (Section 30-971).
• Appeals. Within 15 calendar days of the decision (Section 30-29). An appeal "stays proceedings until a determination of the appeal has been made" (Section 30-25).
• Design review and administrative site plans. Void after two years unless permits are pulled, the main building is started and the first inspection is passed; one two-year extension by the Director (Sections 30-85 and 30-124).
• Conditional use permits. Two years to begin, with up to two more years for "unavoidable delay not caused by the applicant," requested 60 days before expiration (Section 30-154).
• Tentative maps. 24 months, plus up to five years by the Director, never beyond 15 years (Section 26-58).

A change is pending. On October 6, 2026 the Planning Commission adopted a resolution recommending that the City Council amend Sections 30-124, 30-133, 30-144, 30-154, 30-164 and 30-173 to allow time extensions of up to three years for design review and conditional use permit approvals (Planning Commission file 26-1261). Until the Council adopts an ordinance, the two year limits above apply.

Planning Application Fees

Source: City of Fontana, Planning Application Fees, last revised August 2026.

Notes on the sheet cut some fees when applications are combined: a 25 percent reduction for items marked with note 1 "when combined with either GPA, a DR, or ASP," and for zone changes and code amendments a 50 percent cut with a General Plan amendment or 25 percent with design review or a site plan. A time extension costs "25% of original application fee." A fire fuel modification plan in the fire hazard overlay adds $894. CEQA review, the state environmental review, costs $990 for an exemption and $1,630 for an initial study.

Building plan check and permit fees follow the comprehensive fee schedule adopted under Resolution 2024-054. The Development Fees sheet adds a planning plan check of $191 per submittal ($95 for a room addition), engineering plan check of $120 per submittal, a residential fire plan check of $90 per submittal, a computer fee of $0.05 per building square foot, a $4 training fee per permit, and $3 per plan page for archiving.

Impact Fees per Home

Source: City of Fontana, Development Fees, update of 09/01/2024 per Resolution 2024-054, last revised 10/07/2024; amounts match the FY 2024-25 annual report (Resolution 2022-065).

By VanPlex arithmetic on this sheet, the per-home fees in the table, leaving out the inclusionary fee, add up to $30,239 for a single-family home, $27,082 for a multifamily home of up to two bedrooms and $27,646 for one of three or more bedrooms. A fourplex of two-bedroom homes would pay $108,328. The inclusionary fee applies only to projects of five or more homes. Storm drain fees, school fees and building permit fees are extra. ADUs follow their own sheet: an ADU of 750 square feet or more pays municipal services, landscape median, public facilities, police, library and fire fees, and sewer fees only if it connects to City sewer; see the ADUs and SB 9 page.

Storm drain fees are charged per net developable acre by drainage area under Chapter 26, Article VI. The sheet lists $5,827 in I-10 South, $8,102 in Middle Etiwanda, $16,550 in Fontana East, $27,182 in Declez North and $32,274 in Declez South, among others, plus a $9,790 Etiwanda flood control fee. Section 26-261 exempts additions to an existing single-family home and garages, carports and storage buildings. The sheet tells builders to "See School District for all applicable fees" and lists six districts.

When Fees Are Paid

Section 21-122 sets the timing: per-home and per-square-foot impact fees on new homes are paid "upon the issuance of a certificate of occupancy for each residential unit." Fees charged by acreage are split per home and paid at each certificate of occupancy, but "should the entirety of the development impact fee not be paid within a period of five years following the issuance of a building permit for the first residential unit, then the entirety of the unpaid balance ... shall become immediately due and payable." A condition of approval may set another time in the cases the section lists. The state rule on fee timing is Government Code 66007.

Two fees fall due earlier. The affordable housing impact fee for a rental project of five or more homes is paid "prior and as a condition precedent to issuance of a building permit" (Section 14-74.2). Park land must be dedicated when the tract map is recorded (Section 21-96). Park fees rest on 5.0 acres of parks per 1,000 residents (Section 21-84), and a development of 50 parcels or fewer pays a fee instead of land (Section 21-87). Alterations or additions that do not create a new home pay no park fee (Section 21-82).

The New Fee Schedule for July 2027

On July 14, 2026 the City Council adopted Resolution No. 2026-078, which adopts a development impact fee nexus study, a report that ties each fee to the facilities new building needs, and a new fee schedule as Exhibit B. The signed copy records four votes in favor and Council Member Sandoval absent. Section 11 says "The new DIF schedule attached hereto shall become effective July 1, 2027." Section 7 says that from "July 1, 2028, and each July 1 thereafter," the schedule rises with the California Construction Cost Index, with no change in a year when the index falls.

The nexus study posted with City Council file 26-1017 says residential fees in the new schedule are "per square foot to comply with California AB 602," which means larger homes will pay more than smaller ones. The posted copies do not show a readable Exhibit B, so this guide does not list the new amounts. Until July 1, 2027, the per-home amounts above apply. Check which schedule applies on the day your fees fall due.

Where City Documents Disagree

• Design review threshold. Section 30-116 requires design review for "five units or more." The fee sheet lists design review for "Residential > 5 Dwelling Units." The code controls: a five-home project needs design review.
• ADU impact fees at 750 square feet. The ADU fee sheet applies fees to "UNITS 750 SF OR GREATER," and Section 30-467(h) says fees apply at 750 square feet. Government Code 66311.5 bars impact fees on an ADU of "750 square feet of interior livable space or less," so the statute controls.
• Lot line adjustment appeals. Section 30-302 sends appeals to the Planning Commission "as set forth in Division 4," but appeals are in Division 5.
• Park fee formula references. Section 21-87 takes the density factor from "section 21-85" and costs from "section 21-88"; those rules are in Sections 21-86 and 21-89.

Where to Go Next

Related on VanPlex: the California impact fees page, the CEQA and permit streamlining page and the Fontana overview.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)