Riverside | Permits and Fees

Riverside Permits and Fees: Approving Authorities, Deadlines, 2026 Planning Fees and Impact Fees

Before a Riverside project can be built, it passes through up to three steps: a planning approval, a building permit, and the payment of development fees. This page shows who decides each planning permit, the deadlines the City and state law set, the planning fees in the schedule effective July 1, 2026, the building permit fees, and the impact fees in Title 16 of the Municipal Code. An impact fee is a one-time charge on new building that pays for parks, roads and other public works. The Riverside overview sums up the whole guide.

Who Decides Each Permit

Riverside uses two kinds of review. A ministerial permit is approved by staff when the plans meet written rules, with no hearing. A discretionary permit needs a decision maker to weigh the project and make findings, often at a public hearing. Table 19.650.020 of the Zoning Code and Table 18.140.040 of the Subdivision Code assign each permit to a decision maker.

Sources: Riverside Municipal Code Table 19.650.020, Table 18.140.040, Sections 19.443.030 and 18.085.020; Government Code 65852.21, 66317 and 66411.7.

Two voting rules shape discretionary projects. Note 9 to Table 19.650.020 says "Conditional Use Permits, including revocations, and Planned Residential Development Permits require approval by a ⅔ majority of the Planning Commissioners present and voting." Note 11 says "All tied votes of the Planning Commission mean that an application failed to be approved and will be treated as a denial."

Staff decisions are not final at once. Section 19.650.020 C says all decisions of the Director and the Development Review Committee "shall be transmitted to the City Council," where "The Mayor or any member of the City Council may refer the matter for consideration by the City Council at a public hearing." Without a referral or appeal "within ten days of transmittal," the decision is final. Planning Commission decisions follow the same ten-day rule.

Multi-family projects that meet every standard get a shorter route. Section 19.710.020 D sends "stand-alone multi-family or age-restricted senior residential housing" to an administrative design review by the Director when the project meets the code, the water quality rules and the airport plan, and needs "No other discretionary review" except variances. A single-family infill house, or a new house in an approved conventional subdivision, skips design review and gets a check of its plans "during the building permit plan check process."

Deadlines

• Completeness. "Within 30 calendar days of application submittal," the Director or Development Review Committee decides whether a planning application is complete, and again within 30 days of each resubmittal (Section 19.660). The City "may withdraw any application that remains incomplete 180 calendar days from the date of the original submittal," after 30 days' notice. Subdivision applications follow the same 30-day rule in Section 18.150.040.
• Notice of decision. Within seven days of a final action on a zoning permit, the City sends a written notice of the decision.
• Maps. The Planning Commission acts on tentative tract maps "within 50 days of the filing of a complete application," and "Failure to act within said 50 days shall be deemed approval" of a map that meets the codes (Section 18.150.110). A lot line adjustment decision comes "within 30 days."
• ADUs. Under Government Code 66317, the City has 15 business days to decide completeness and 60 days to approve or deny when a home already stands on the lot, or the ADU "shall be deemed approved."
• SB 9. Government Code 65852.21 and 66411.7 give 60 days from a complete application for a two-unit project or a lot split, or the application is deemed approved.

Approvals expire. Under Section 19.690, a discretionary permit "shall become null and void if not exercised within the time limit specified in the approving document or within one year if no time has been specified." Variances, administrative design review and minor conditional use permits "may receive a maximum of two, one-year time extensions." A PRD vests when the first building permit is issued; before that, the Director may extend it up to a total of five years. Each year of extension needs its own fee.

Planning Fees in the July 1, 2026 Schedule

The Planning Services Fee Schedule states: "Effective July 1, 2026, by Resolution 24253." It also warns "Fees subject to change. Please Contact CEDD Staff for verification of current fees." The fees most often met on housing projects:

Source: City of Riverside Planning Services Fee Schedule, effective July 1, 2026, Resolution 24253.

The same schedule lists historic fees: a Certificate of Appropriateness costs $38 over the counter, $715 for staff review and $1,528 for the Cultural Heritage Board. Environmental review carries the largest planning fees: a minor-scope Initial Study is listed at $40,462 and an Environmental Impact Report at a minimum review fee of $142,946. SB 9 lot splits use the filing fee on the City's SB 9 checklist, "$5,117.46 + $61.56 per parcel," which is $5,240.58 for two parcels. Section 18.240.010 adds that map filing and map checking fees are set "by resolution of the City Council and shall be paid at the time the application, petition or map is filed."

Building Permit Fees

The Building and Safety Division posts its fees in a handout, form 126, version 2.0, linked from the City's permits page. The handout shows no effective date, so confirm amounts with the One Stop Shop. For new homes it lists:

• New single-family home: $0.53 per square foot for plan check and $0.53 per square foot for the permit, with a 700 square foot minimum and a 7,000 square foot maximum.
• Multi-family building: $0.27 per square foot each for plan check and permit, with a 3,000 square foot minimum and a 50,000 square foot maximum.
• Garage conversion: $251.50 for plan check and $251.50 for the permit up to 400 square feet, plus $25.00 each per added 100 square feet.
• Surcharges: a General Plan maintenance surcharge of "All plan check and permit fees x 10%" and a technology surcharge of 4 percent.
• State fees: the seismic program fee on homes at valuation × 0.00013, and "$1.00 per every $25,000 or portion thereof, in construction valuation" for the building standards fee.

VanPlex arithmetic for a 1,200 square foot detached ADU, if the City applies the new single-family rate: $0.53 × 1,200 × 2 is $1,272 for plan check and permit, and the two surcharges add 14 percent, $178.08, for $1,450.08 before state fees and the $39 permit issuance fee. The handout does not name a separate ADU rate; ask which line the City uses.

Impact Fees in Title 16

Title 16 sets each development fee in its own chapter, and the dollar amounts in most of them are set "by resolution" of the City Council. The park development fee page names "four types of Park Development Fees, including the Regional/Reserve Fee, Local Fee, Aquatic Facility Fee, and Trail Fee." This guide did not find a current City resolution listing the 2026 amounts, so it gives none; ask the One Stop Shop for an estimate on your plans.

Source: Riverside Municipal Code Title 16, Chapters 16.44, 16.52, 16.56, 16.60, 16.64, 16.68, 16.72 and 16.76.

The TUMF (Transportation Uniform Mitigation Fee) is a regional road fee that the Western Riverside Council of Governments (WRCOG), a group of the County and 18 cities, collects. Chapter 16.68 says it is paid "at the time a certificate of occupancy is issued for the Development Project or upon final inspection, whichever comes first." It classes duplexes and townhomes as multi-family, says ADUs and junior ADUs "are exempt from TUMF," and from July 1, 2026 adjusts the fee each year for building costs, capped at five percent. The MSHCP fee funds the Western Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan and "shall be calculated on the basis of the acreage of the project area."

Replacing homes lowers fees. The park, trail and fire station chapters exempt "Residential development which replaces on the same lot previously existing residential development, unit for unit," within one year for the regional park, trail and fire station fees. The local park chapter exempts a unit-for-unit rebuild "of the same type" with no time limit. These exemptions cover "The construction of an accessory building," but the park chapters say "excluding second dwelling units," so ADUs above the state threshold pay. Drainage fees apply where a map lies in an adopted area drainage plan, under Section 18.240.020. School fees are set for the school districts, covered on the California impact fees page.

For ADUs, Section 19.442.030 K says "For ADUs under 750 square feet, no City impact fees shall apply," and larger ADUs "shall be charged proportionately in relation to the square footage of the primary dwelling unit." Government Code 66311.5 bars impact fees on an ADU with "750 square feet of interior livable space or less," so at exactly 750 square feet the statute controls and no fee applies. Fee computations under the park and fire chapters can be appealed to the Planning Commission "not later than 30 days from the date the person is informed of the computation."

Where to Go Next

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)