Ontario | Permits and fees

Ontario, California Permits and Fees: Who Decides, Deadlines, Hearings, Appeals, Planning Fees and Development Impact Fees

This page covers how a housing application moves through the City of Ontario and what it costs: who decides each kind of application, how long the City has, who is notified, how to appeal, and the fees charged by the Planning, Engineering and Building departments. The largest City fee on this page is the development impact fee, which the City charges per home and updated on July 1, 2026. The procedures are in Chapters 2.0 and 4.0 of the Ontario Development Code. The Ontario overview has the summary.

Three Kinds of Decision

Section 2.02.015 sorts every application into one of three groups. A legislative action changes the rules themselves, such as a zone change or a specific plan, and the City Council decides it. A discretionary permit is one where the City weighs the project against findings, such as a Development Plan, a tentative map or a Conditional Use Permit. A ministerial permit is checked against written standards with no judgment call. A note to Table 2.02-1 lists the ministerial items, among them "Building permit issuance," "Density Bonus, without related discretionary applications," "Final subdivision map approval," "Lot Line Adjustment approval," "Single-Family Two-Unit Developments" and "Urban Lot Splits." The same note says "Ministerial projects are exempt from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)."

Who Decides Each Application

Sources: Ontario Development Code, Table 2.02-1 (Review Matrix) and Section 2.02.015 (Rev. 08.18.2026); Section 5.03.010; Section 4.03.030.

Four bodies appear in the table. The City's Agendas page gives their meeting times.

• Zoning Administrator. The position "shall be filled by the Planning Director or the Zoning Administrator's designee." Hearings are at 2:00 PM on the first and third Mondays of the month.
• Development Advisory Board. A board of City department heads. The cover of the Development Code lists its members, among them the City Manager, the Planning Director, the City Engineer, the Building Official, the Police Chief and the Fire Chief. It meets at 1:30 PM on the first and third Mondays.
• Planning Commission. Seven members, who also sit as the Historic Preservation Commission. It meets at 6:30 PM on the fourth Tuesday of the month.
• City Council. Regular meetings "are held at 6:30 PM on the first and third Tuesdays of the month."

Projects filed together are heard together: an application filed with another that needs a higher body "may be subject to concurrent review and action by that higher Reviewing Authority." The Planning Commission and the City Council may also call up a decision of a lower body for their own review within 10 days.

Complete Applications and Deadlines

• Filing. The City's Planning FAQs say "Applications are submitted through the City's Citizen Portal Access system." Review does not start "until such time that all applicable filing fees and/or deposits have been paid in full."
• Completeness, 30 days. "Within 30 days following receipt of an application," the City determines in writing whether it is complete. "If the written determination is not made within the required period, the application shall be automatically deemed complete for processing." Each resubmittal starts a new 30-day period.
• No new demands. "Following acceptance of an application as complete for processing, no new or additional information may be requested of the applicant," though the City may ask the applicant to clarify or correct what was filed.
• Ministerial permits, 60 days. "The Approving Authority shall act on a ministerial approval request within 60 days following acceptance of an application as complete for processing." The limit "may be extended by mutual agreement of the applicant and City."
• Discretionary permits. These are acted on "within the timeframes specified by GC Section 65950, 65950.1, 65951, and 65952," the state permit deadline law, and tentative maps within the Subdivision Map Act time. The California permit streamlining page explains those deadlines.
• ADUs. Section 5.03.010 has its own time limits: 15 business days to rule on completeness and 60 days to decide, after which the application "is deemed approved."
• Stalled applications. If the applicant makes no reasonable progress within 180 days of a City request for changes, the application "shall be deemed withdrawn."
• After a denial. The same or a similar application may not be filed again "for a period of not less than 12 months," unless it was denied without prejudice.

Hearings, Notice and Appeals

• Notice. Section 2.03.010 requires notice "a minimum of 10 days in advance of any public hearing," by mail to owners "within 600 FT of the exterior boundaries of the property that is the subject of the hearing," and in a newspaper. For a Minor Variance the notice goes to owners with a common property line.
• A 2026 change. The staff report of August 18, 2026 says the amendment revised the section "such that discretionary and legislative projects have the same 600-foot public noticing boundary." The minutes of that meeting record the adoption of Ordinance No. 3339 on a consent calendar that "carried by a vote of 5-0."
• Large signs. A project must also post "a 6-foot-tall freestanding sign, having a sign face measuring 4 feet tall by 8 feet wide" when it "is planned to be developed at a higher density or intensity than the existing surrounding neighborhood," needs a General Plan amendment, specific plan amendment or zone change, or needs an environmental impact report. A cash deposit covers the sign's removal.
• Staff report. The written report is made available to the owner and applicant "at least 72 hours prior to the public hearing."
• Appeals. Section 2.04.010: an appeal is filed with the Planning Department "within 10 days following the action or decision being appealed," with a statement of the grounds and the relief asked for. "The Appeal Authority shall not consider any matter that was not raised during the hearing before the Approving Authority and contained in the appeal statement."
• Who may appeal. "Any person having legal standing, including but not limited to an applicant, resident, business owner, or any person owning real property within the City."
• Effect of an appeal. A decision "shall be immediately suspended upon the filing of an appeal." The appeal body decides within 30 days after its hearing, or 10 days for a tentative map.

How Long an Approval Lasts

• Discretionary permits in general. "a discretionary permit/action shall become invalid if not exercised within 12 months following the effective date of application approval."
• Development Plans. 24 months.
• Tentative maps. The time set by Government Code 66452.6. See the lot size and subdivisions page.
• What "exercised" means. All conditions are met and, for a building project, "a Building Permit shall have been issued and construction shall have been diligently pursued toward project completion."
• Extensions. "in one-year increments, not to exceed a total of three, one-year time extensions." Filing a request before the expiry date gives "an automatic 90-day time extension" while the City processes it. The fee schedule lists a Development Plan Time Extension at $1,725.00.
• When a decision takes effect. A discretionary approval is effective "on the City business day following Approving Authority action," a ministerial one "immediately," and an ordinance "30 days following the date of adoption."

Planning Department Fees

Source: City of Ontario, Planning Department Fee Schedule, Rev. 08.22.2026.

Three notes on the schedule change the total. An asterisk means "a 5% General Plan Fee is included in the total fee." Two asterisks mean "a public hearing or review fee is also required, in addition to the application fee(s)." And "T & M" items, such as a specific plan, a Planned Unit Development or an environmental impact report, are charged on time and materials against a deposit. So a Development Plan for a small apartment site costs $20,712.30 plus $401.00 and $746.00 in hearing fees, or $21,859.30 (VanPlex arithmetic), before any environmental review fee.

The schedule has no line for an accessory dwelling unit, a two-unit project, an urban lot split or a density bonus request. The code lets the Council set a fee for two-unit projects and lot splits "by resolution"; ask the Planning Department what it charges today. The City Council agenda of June 23, 2026 carried the resolution "to approve the Fiscal Year 2026-27 Proposed Citywide Fee Schedule Updates," and the Planning and Engineering schedules are both dated August 22, 2026.

Engineering and Building Fees

• Engineering plan check. The Engineering Department fee schedule effective August 22, 2026 charges plan check by the construction cost estimate of the public improvements: 6 percent up to $50,000, 4.65 percent from $50,001 to $500,000, and 3.62 percent above that. The fee covers three plan checks.
• Engineering inspection. 5.97 percent, 5.45 percent and 4.24 percent of the same estimate, by the same brackets.
• Maps and plats. Final map review is $12,580 plus $220 per lot. A Lot Line Adjustment is $4,000 plus $64 per parcel, a Certificate of Compliance $869, and an easement review $4,000.
• Other Engineering items. Grading review $1,508, hydrology and hydraulics review $6,526, an encroachment permit $130, and a water quality management plan review $3,934.
• Building permits. The Building Department Fees page sets plan check at "80% of permit fees" and lists a "Sewer Assessment (On Site)" of "$6,955 per dwelling unit," subject to annual increase. It says school district fees are paid directly to the school district. The page asks readers to use its figures "as an estimate only" and to call permit technicians at 909-395-2023.

Development Impact Fees

A development impact fee is a one-time charge on a new building that pays for the public facilities the building will use. The City's Development Impact Fees page says the fees "are collected at Building Permit issuance." The amounts come from City Council Resolution No. 2025-010, adopted March 18, 2025, and the current sheets are headed "EFFECTIVE 07/01/2026." The City publishes one sheet for the General City area and one for Ontario Ranch.

Sources: City of Ontario, General City Development Impact Fees effective 07/01/2026 and Ontario Ranch Development Impact Fees effective 07/01/2026. The grouped rows above the totals are VanPlex sums of the General City columns; the totals are the sheets' own. The high density components as printed sum to $22,966, one dollar more than the sheet's total of $22,965.

• Parks are half the fee. The parks component is $19,328 of the $37,595 detached total, which is 51.4 percent (VanPlex arithmetic).
• Three home types. The sheets price "Detached Dwellings," "Attached Dwellings" and "High Density Dwellings" separately, and a fourth line prices mobile home dwellings at $29,373. The sheets do not define where attached ends and high density begins. Ask the City which line applies to a duplex, a townhome or an apartment.
• Ontario Ranch. The totals there are $58,576, $42,405 and $31,026. Water is the largest difference: regional and local water together are $16,116 for a detached home in Ontario Ranch against $5,439 in the General City area (VanPlex sums). Ontario Ranch adds fiber optic components and a habitat mitigation fee of $4,320 per acre collected at the grading permit.
• An in-lieu fee. The Ontario Ranch sheet lists an "Affordability In-Lieu" fee of "$3.58 per sq. ft." effective July 1, 2026. The sheet does not say which projects pay it.
• ADUs. Section 5.03.010 charges no impact fee on a junior ADU or an ADU under 750 square feet and a proportional fee above that. Government Code 66311.5 sets the exemption at "750 square feet of interior livable space or less." See the ADUs and SB 9 page.
• Subdivisions. Section 6.08.030 says a subdivision of 50 lots or fewer pays park fees and gives no land, and that park fees are paid with each building permit.

For a fourplex of attached homes in the General City area the impact fees come to $118,696 (VanPlex arithmetic: 4 times $29,674), or $91,860 at the high density rate, before the sewer assessment and school fees. The California impact fees page explains the state rules on how cities set and collect these fees.

Short-Term Rentals

A buyer who plans to rent a new unit by the night should read Section 5.03.363 first. A permit is required, and "A short-term rental permit shall only be issued to authorize hosted stays and un-hosted stays. Vacation rentals are prohibited." A vacation rental is "A dwelling unit that is not a primary residence." The host must be the owner, a close relative of the owner, or a tenant with the owner's written consent, and "The dwelling unit shall be the primary residence of the host." Un-hosted stays "shall be limited to a total of 90 days within a calendar year." The permit lasts 12 months, costs $570.00, and renews for $285.00. Homes in an SB 9 project and all ADUs are barred from rentals of less than 30 days by their own sections.

Limits of This Page

The fee schedules were read as posted on October 11, 2026: Planning (Rev. 08.22.2026), Engineering (effective 8/22/2026) and the two impact fee sheets (effective 07/01/2026). The Building Department's permit fee tables, the Ontario Municipal Utilities Company's water and sewer connection charges, and the fee schedules of the school districts were not read. The Building page names the Chaffey Joint Union High School District and the Chino Unified School District among them. This page uses the department schedules. The citywide fee schedule attached to the June 23, 2026 agenda was left unopened. City Council agendas from January 7, 2025 to October 6, 2026 were read, with minutes for two meetings. The rest of the Ontario Municipal Code is hosted by an outside publisher whose site blocks scripted requests, so any fee or tax rule in it was not read. Confirm every amount with the department before budgeting.

Where to Go Next

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)