Pomona | Permits and Fees

Pomona Permits and Fees: Who Decides, Deadlines, Planning Fees and Impact Fees

A Pomona project of two to ten homes may need a Planning approval, a map, a historic review, and building permits, and then pays impact fees for parks, sewer, water, storm drains, traffic and public safety. The approvals are in Part 11 of the Zoning and Development Code, as amended on July 15, 2026. The fees are in the City's FY 2026-27 Master Fee Schedule, adopted by Resolution No. 2026-55 on May 26, 2026 and effective July 1, 2026, and in the impact fee resolution of 2021. This page sets out both. The Pomona overview gives the short version.

Who Decides What

Section 1100.A of the code has a table of review authority, and Ordinance No. 4365 rewrote it in 2026. The 2026 text adds that "Only select administrative review decisions are appealable as outlined below." The table below reads the 2026 marked copy, with the struck entries left out.

Source: Pomona Zoning and Development Code, Sec. 1100.A, Summary of Review Authority, as amended by Ordinance No. 4365 (effective July 15, 2026). Historic reviews are on the historic districts page.

Most small housing projects meet three of these steps. A project of 4 to 29 new homes needs a Tier 1 Development Plan; a project that also divides land, for example into condominiums, becomes Tier 2 and goes to the Planning Commission. A project under 4 homes needs no Development Plan, and the Ministerial Permit in Section 1170.C, required for most permitted uses, makes an exception for "Dwelling Unit." Building permits follow in every case. The three or more homes page explains the tiers.

Filing and Processing

Section 1110 sets the steps for every application. Applications are filed with the Planning Division of the Development Services Department, and "Before review of an application, all filing fees must be paid in full." The Planning Division decides in writing whether the application is complete and, if not, lists what is missing; a second finding of incompleteness can be appealed under Government Code 65943. Once the application is accepted, "no new or additional information may be requested of the applicant," though staff may ask the applicant to clarify or correct what was submitted. The staff report must be available "at least 72 hours prior to the public hearing."

• Inactive applications. "Within 180 days following a written request by the City or other governmental agency for plan changes, corrections, revisions, or the submittal of additional information," an application "must be deemed withdrawn" if the Zoning Administrator finds no reasonable progress. Processing then needs a new application and new fees.
• Expiry. "Unless otherwise stipulated by the conditions of approval, a discretionary permit/action must become invalid if not exercised within 12 months." For a building project, exercised means a building permit has been issued and construction has started and is being diligently pursued.
• Extensions. A request filed before expiry gets "an automatic 90-day time extension" while it is processed, and the Approving Authority may grant extensions "in up to one-year increments, not to exceed a total of two." Tentative maps follow Government Code 66452.6. "No retroactive requests for time extensions will be accepted."
• Refiling. After a final denial, the same or a substantially similar application may not be filed for 12 months, unless the denial was without prejudice.

Appeals

Section 1130.C allows an appeal by "Any person having legal standing," including an applicant, resident or property owner. "An appeal request must be filed with the City Clerk on a City application form, along with any appropriate fees established by resolution of the City Council, within 20 calendar days following the action or decision being appealed." The appeal is "limited to those matters raised during the hearing and contained in the appeal statement." The hearing is set within 45 days, or 30 days for a tentative subdivision map, and the decision follows within 30 days of the hearing, or 10 days for a tentative map. The FY 2026-27 appeal fee is $1,200, or $250 for a single-family appeal.

Planning Fees for FY 2026-27

Resolution No. 2026-55 adopted "the proposed annual FY 2026-27 Master Fee Schedule updates," attached as Exhibit A, effective July 1, 2026, after a public hearing on May 26, 2026 at which the motion carried 7 to 0. Exhibit A is the City's "Comprehensive User Fee Study," prepared with Willdan Financial Services. Its tables show each current fee, the full cost, a subsidy percentage and a "Suggested Fee"; a June 2026 staff report says "All proposed fees were approved and effective July 1, 2026." The Planning amounts for housing projects:

Source: City of Pomona, FY 2026-27 Master Fee Schedule, Development Services, Planning, items 8 to 35, 55 and 76 to 77, "Suggested Fee" column.

One row disagrees with itself. Beside the $10,000 conditional use permit fee, the notes column for the new fee says "Application is subject to Public Works review fee of $4,884. Total application fee is $21,099 ($16,215 + $4,884)," which adds the full cost of $16,215.82 instead of the $10,000 fee. The zone change, code amendment and General Plan amendment rows carry the same kind of note. Ask the Planning Division for a written quote of the total, including any Public Works review fee, before you file. Map review by Public Works is charged separately: $9,524 for a parcel map and $10,512 for a final tract map, each plus $247 per additional lot.

The fee study also prints the hourly rates behind the fees: $132.58 an hour for an Associate Planner and $152.26 for a Senior Planner. Work with no fee category is charged at $132 an hour.

Impact Fees per New Home

Impact fees pay for the parks, pipes and roads that new homes use. Chapter 70, Article III of the City Code says the Council sets the amounts by resolution and that the fees are "cumulative such that each person seeking a permit for a development project shall be charged each applicable fee." Resolution 2021-89, adopted August 2, 2021, sets them, and the City's FY 2024-25 impact fee report, placed on the Council agenda in December 2025, lists the same schedule as the fees in place, "Effective October 1, 2021." Residential fees vary by home size:

Source: Resolution 2021-89, Exhibit A, reprinted in the City of Pomona Annual Report on Development Impact Fees for FY 2024-25.

Three more fees apply to every project: a Traffic Signal and Control Device fee and a Road and Highway fee of "$5.00 per trip generated by new construction" each, and a Public Safety Improvement fee of "$0.25 per square foot for new construction." The resolution does not print a trip count per home, so ask Public Works how many trips it assigns. By VanPlex arithmetic, three new infill homes of 501 to 1,499 square feet pay $28,947 in park fees, $12,978 in sewer connection fees and $12,963 in water connection fees, before the trip, public safety and storm drain fees.

Section 70-72(c) says "Live/work units, up to 1,200 square feet shall be allowed to use the second tier category of 501 -14,999 square feet," while the fee tables use 501 to 1,499 square feet as the second tier. Ask the City which range it applies to a live/work unit. ADUs over 750 square feet pay a share of the fees in proportion to the house, as the ADUs and SB 9 page explains.

When the Fees Are Due

The City Code gives three answers. Section 70-72 first says fees "shall be paid for the property on which a development project is proposed at the time of the issuance of any required building permit"; its subsection (a) says residential fees "shall be collected in accordance with the provisions of California Government Code sections 66007 and 66013"; and its subsection (b) says "Unless otherwise stated in this article, applicants shall pay fees at time of certificate of occupancy." Section 70-80 says park "In-lieu fees shall be paid to the city prior to issuance of building permits."

State law settles most of it. Government Code 66007 says a local agency "shall not require the payment of those fees or charges, notwithstanding any other provision of law, until the date of the final inspection, or the date the certificate of occupancy is issued, whichever occurs first," for fees on residential development that pay for public improvements, and lets "utility service fees related to connections" be collected when service is applied for. Where the City Code asks for public facility fees earlier on a residential project, the statute controls. The inclusionary in-lieu fee is a separate charge under Chapter 74, paid "at the time that the first building permit is obtained."

Section 70-75 lets the Council "grant a waiver of fees for units constructed as part of an inclusionary housing project" and set up deferrals for rental projects that are 100 percent affordable to low and very low income households. Section 70-66 limits the article to projects that build new dwelling units or add to existing ones.

Other Charges to Budget

• Inclusionary in-lieu fee. For projects of three or more homes that pay instead of building affordable units, per square foot on a schedule set by Council resolution. The rates are not in the FY 2026-27 schedule read for this guide.
• Historic reviews. $150 for a Minor and $1,000 for a Major Certificate of Appropriateness, $1,800 for a Determination of Historic Significance and $6,000 for a Certificate of Deconstruction; see the historic districts page.
• Demolition mitigation fee. For a historic resource or any building 50 years old or older, by a formula in Section 800.C.11.
• Environmental review. $1,000 for an initial environmental analysis, and actual cost for a consultant-prepared study.
• Building permits and school fees. The building permit fees in the schedule were not read for this guide, and school fees are charged by the school district.

Where to Go Next

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)