Merced | Permits and Fees

Merced, California Permits and Fees: Who Decides, Application Review, Hearings, Appeals, Time Limits, Map Procedures and the Public Facilities Impact Fee

This page covers how a Merced housing project moves from application to approval and what the City charges along the way. A discretionary permit is one where a decision-maker weighs the project and may say no or add conditions; a ministerial permit is checked against written rules only. Merced sets its permit steps in Part 4 of the Zoning Ordinance (Chapters 20.64 to 20.74), its map steps in Title 18, and its impact fee in Chapter 17.62. The department in charge is Development Services, whose planning division handles zoning permits. The City's Planning and Development Application Fee Schedule sits on the City website, which refused this guide's request, so no application fee amount appears here. The Merced overview has the summary.

Who Decides What

Source: Merced Municipal Code 20.64.030, Table 20.64-1.

The Director of Development Services may refer any matter to the Planning Commission instead of deciding it. The site plan review committee has three members: "the chief building official, director of development services, and the city engineer or their respective designees." Section 20.64.040(E) says every Planning Commission decision or recommendation "shall require at least four (4) members of the planning commission to vote to approve such an action; otherwise, the action is deemed denied." ADU permits are ministerial building permits under Section 20.42.020, with no Planning Commission role.

Applying and the Completeness Check

• Pre-application meeting. Section 20.66.020(A) "encourages prospective applicants to request a pre-application conference" with the planning division. What staff says there is not a recommendation for approval or denial.
• Who may apply. Only the owner or the owner's agent with written authorization.
• Fees first. "Permit applications shall not be deemed complete until all required application fees have been paid" (Section 20.66.030(B)). Fees follow "the most current City of Merced Planning and Development Application Fee Schedule."
• Completeness. "Within thirty (30) calendar days of application acceptance," the department must say in writing if the application is incomplete; "If no such written notice is issued, then the application is deemed to be complete."
• Fee changes. The Director may raise or lower a fee, up to the actual cost of staff time. A higher fee must be noticed within five business days of submittal, and the applicant has 10 business days to pay or withdraw.
• No response. If an applicant gives no information within six months of a request, "the application shall expire and be deemed withdrawn." Remaining fees are refunded only within one year of submittal.
• Refunds. "No refund due to denial shall be provided"; a withdrawn application may get a partial refund.

State law sets its own clock. Government Code 65943 says an agency must decide whether an application is complete "Not later than 30 calendar days after any public agency has received an application for a development project." The City counts its 30 days from "application acceptance", and Section 20.66.020(D) lets staff refuse to accept a "substantially incomplete" application. The statute counts from receipt, and it controls. For ADUs, Government Code 66317 shortens the completeness check to 15 business days.

Use Permits, Site Plan Review and Design Review

Conditional use permit. Decided by the Planning Commission after a noticed hearing. Section 20.68.020 lists four findings, including that the use "will be compatible with the existing and future land uses in the vicinity" and is "adequately served by existing or planned services and infrastructure." A conditional use permit "shall expire" if not exercised within five years, and the Director may grant extensions of up to two years.

Minor use permit. Decided by the Director. "No public notice or hearing is required for a minor use permit." The same four findings apply. In housing, Merced uses it for /UR overlay building types such as fourplexes, for front yard changes, for interface sites next to R-1 homes, and for creek buffer areas.

Site plan review permit. Decided by the site plan review committee, with six findings, including that the project "complies with all applicable provisions of the zoning ordinance" and that its design will not interfere with neighbors. No public hearing is held, but when the property is directly next to residential land, "public notice shall be given to those directly adjacent properties at least ten (10) days prior to the site plan review meeting."

Design review permit. Required for most new buildings in parts of downtown Merced and the area directly west of it, shown in Figure 20.68-1, but not for "Single-family detached dwellings" or their accessory structures. Staff may decide new structures under 10,000 square feet "deemed by the director of development services to be minor in nature"; the Planning Commission decides the rest.

For housing that meets objective standards, Government Code 65905.5 says a city "shall not conduct more than five hearings" after the application is deemed complete, and a continued hearing counts as one of the five.

Hearings, Decisions and Appeals

• Notice. Mailed at least 10 days before the hearing to the owner, the applicant, service agencies and "All owners of real property within three hundred (300) feet of the exterior boundaries of the subject property", published in a local newspaper and posted on the City website. Where more than 1,000 owners would get mail, a display advertisement of at least one-eighth page may replace it.
• Effective date. A Director or Planning Commission decision is final "after 5:00 p.m. on the fifth (5th) business day following the date the decision is rendered" if no appeal is filed. A City Council decision takes effect the day it is made.
• Appeal deadline. Five business days, excluding City holidays, after a decision by the Director, the site plan review committee or the Planning Commission. "Any person or persons may submit an appeal." Filing an appeal suspends all action on the project.
• Appeal hearing. "Should be heard within ninety (90) calendar days of receiving the appeal." The body hearing the appeal may look at the whole project again, "de novo", and may affirm, reverse, add conditions or send it back. If it cannot reach a decision, the earlier decision stands.
• Time limits. A permit not exercised within two years "shall be eligible for revocation." It is exercised when a building permit is issued and construction has started, an occupancy certificate is issued, a business license is issued or the use begins. The Director may add one year if asked at least 10 days before expiry.

Map Procedures and Fees

Parcel maps go to the minor subdivision committee, filed at least 25 days before its meeting, and must be recorded within twelve months, with extensions of up to two years. Tentative maps go to the Planning Commission, filed in 30 copies at least 21 days before the meeting, and final maps to the City Council within twenty-four months, extendable to three years. Section 18.04.070 says "The city council shall establish the filing fees by ordinance or resolution adopted from time to time." The map steps are on the lot size and subdivisions page.

The Public Facilities Impact Fee

An impact fee is a one-time charge on new development to pay for the public facilities it will use. Merced's is in Chapter 17.62. Section 17.62.040 establishes it "on issuance of building permits for development in the City of Merced to pay for municipally owned public facilities, including, but not limited to, fire stations, police stations, community park and recreation facilities, traffic related improvements, bikeways facilities, public works facilities, and information technology infrastructure." Table I sets the amounts:

Source: Merced Municipal Code 17.62.040, Table I, effective March 2022.

Section 17.62.040(4) says the fee "shall thereafter be adjusted annually beginning January 1,2023, in accordance with the Engineering Construction Cost Index as published by the Engineering News Record," so Table I gives the 2022 starting amounts. The City's current figures would be in a fee schedule on its website, which this guide could not open. Ask the City for the amount in force on the day the building permit is issued. On the 2022 figures, a fourplex of four apartments would pay $34,080 and a duplex of two single-family homes $23,342 (VanPlex arithmetic, before the yearly adjustment); ask how the City classes a duplex.

Section 17.62.030 says the fee rests on a public facilities financing plan "adopted in May 1998, revised in July 2003, and further revised in January 2006, October 2012, and December 2021." The fee goes into separate accounts and must be "expended, encumbered or committed" within five years, or refunded with interest on request within one year. A developer may ask the City Council in writing to reduce, adjust or waive the fee for lack of a reasonable relationship to the project, at least 10 days before the Council's first approval of the project, or with the building permit request where no Council approval is needed. The Council decides "at the same time as the development approval or at a separate hearing held within sixty (60) days."

The City Council accepts a yearly impact fee report. Its item 25-857, recorded as passed on December 15, 2025, accepted the "Annual Report on Development Impact Fees for Fiscal Year 2024/2025 as Required by Government Code Section 66006(b)" with Resolution 2025-76. ADUs have their own rule: under Section 20.42.040(D), no impact fee applies to an ADU of less than 750 square feet, and Government Code 66311.5 extends that to 750 square feet or less. School district fees, water and sewer connection charges and building permit fees are separate and were not read for this guide.

Recent Code Changes That Touch Permits

• Fire hazard map. Section 17.32.105, added by Ordinance 2578 on July 7, 2025 and amended by Ordinance 2583 on December 15, 2025, says "The city hereby designates the fire hazard severity zones as recommended by the California Department of Forestry" under Government Code 51178. Check whether a lot lies in a mapped zone.
• Building codes. The City Council agenda system lists the second reading of ordinances "Adopting Title 24, Parts 1-12 of the California Code of Regulations", the state building codes, in item 25-1057, recorded as passed on December 15, 2025.
• Zoning text. The latest Title 20 history note is Ordinance 2571 of November 18, 2024, on cannabis. Supplement 85 includes ordinances through Ordinance 2589 of March 2, 2026.

Where to Go Next

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)