San Marcos | Permits and Fees

San Marcos, California Permits and Fees: Who Decides, Completeness, Notice, Appeals, Permit Life, Growth Management, and Public Facilities, Park, School and Inclusionary Fees

This page covers how a San Marcos housing project moves through review and which fees it pays. The steps are in Chapters 20.500 to 20.545 of the zoning code and in Title 19 for maps, and the fee rules are in Chapters 17.36, 17.44 and 17.52 of the San Marcos Municipal Code. The code sets who pays which fee and when, and leaves the amounts to City Council resolutions. VanPlex could not read those resolutions, because the City's website refused automated requests on October 11, 2026, so this page names each fee and its timing without dollar figures. An impact fee pays for the public facilities that new homes use, such as roads, parks, fire stations and storm drains. The San Marcos overview has the summary.

Who Decides Each Approval

Sources: San Marcos Municipal Code Table 20.500-1, 20.515.020 and 20.515.050, 20.260.060, 19.24.120 and 19.24.140 and 19.12.080 and 19.12.085.

Section 20.500.030 says "All applications for a single project shall be processed concurrently" and "The highest designated approving authority for all requested permits shall take final action on all permits." A project that needs a conditional use permit and a tentative map is therefore decided as one package by the highest body involved. A Director's Permit is a staff decision with no hearing unless appealed; the Director first issues a public "Notice of Intended Decision" and must find that the permit "would not result in detrimental impacts to adjacent properties or the character and function of the neighborhood."

Site Development Plan Review is the City's review of a project's layout, buildings, parking, landscaping and drainage. It is done by a Development Advisory Committee of "the Director, Building Official, and City Engineer and representatives of Special Districts." For attached housing in R-2 and R-3 it goes to the Planning Commission at two to nine units and to the City Council at ten or more. Ten findings apply, including that the project "preserves mature trees" where feasible, will "preserve natural landforms and ridgelines", and "provides all required on-site and off-site public improvements."

Deadlines, Notice and Appeals

• Completeness. "The applicant shall be notified in writing within thirty (30) days if the application is complete." If not, the Director lists what is missing, and the application waits until it arrives.
• Fees at filing. "All fees related to permits, review, or processing related to any application shall be paid at the time of application submittal." Map applications are not "deemed complete for purposes of calculating the processing time" until fees are paid.
• Site plan notice. Mailed notice to owners and occupants within 500 feet; anyone notified has 15 days to ask in writing to be heard. Preliminary conditions become final ten days after notice if the applicant agrees.
• Review of a committee decision. An applicant unhappy with a Development Advisory Committee decision may ask for review "within ten (10) calendar days after the date of the preliminary decision."
• Appeals. "Within ten (10) days of the decision being appealed", by the owner or anyone with an interest in the property or in property within 500 feet. Director decisions go to the Planning Commission and Planning Commission decisions to the City Council. "The decision of the City Council in the case of any such appeal shall be the final determination of the City."
• Effect of an appeal. "An appeal stays all proceedings in furtherance of the action appealed from", and no permit issues while it is pending.
• Permit life. Work must start within one calendar year of permit issuance. A Site Development Plan approval lapses after two years unless a grading or building permit is issued and work is "diligently pursued." After a denial, a new application waits three months.
• State clocks. ADUs: completeness in 15 business days and a decision in 60 days (Government Code 66317). SB 9 units and lot splits: 60 days by statute, and 50 days for a split in Section 19.44.100. Starter home maps: 60 days.

Two state processes are written into Chapter 20.350. An SB 330 preliminary application holds the project to the rules in effect on the day it is complete, if the full application follows within 180 days; a change of 20 percent or more in units or floor area loses that protection. Streamlined approval under Government Code 65913.4 sends qualifying affordable projects to the Development Advisory Committee for objective review, with a 10-day appeal to the Planning Commission.

The Fees and When Each Is Due

Sources: San Marcos Municipal Code Chapter 17.44, Chapter 17.36, Chapter 17.52, 20.310.050 and Chapter 19.08.

Development user fees. Ordinance 2024-1553, adopted December 2, 2024, amended Chapter 17.44 "in its entirety." Development user fees "recover in whole or in part the costs" of reviewing, permitting and inspecting a project, and were "adopted pursuant to Resolution 2024-9385", with an annual adjustment factor under Resolution 2024-9389. For hourly work the City may ask for a deposit at filing and more as it is used.

Public facilities fees. Section 17.44.060 lists the components: "Transportation Facilities, Parks, Recreation, and Trails, Fire and EMS Facilities, Advanced Planning, Habitat Conservation, Storm Drainage Facilities, and appurtenances thereto." The amounts are "set forth Resolution 2024-9385", and the City Manager's power to adjust or waive them is limited to the cases in Resolution 2024-9386. An appeal of the City Manager's decision goes to the City Council in writing within ten days. The fee deferral program in Section 17.44.080 covers new commercial and industrial units only.

Park fee. Chapter 17.36 asks "each builder of each dwelling unit" for a park and recreational development construction unit fee, set by City Council resolution and "due and payable upon issuance of a building permit." It says the fee is "assessed pursuant to the taxing power of the City and is solely for the purpose of producing revenue." For subdivisions, the amount is figured as of the date the City Council approved the tentative map. A dwelling unit includes each unit of a duplex or apartment building.

School fees. Chapter 17.52 lets the City require land, fees or both for interim school classrooms only where a school district finds overcrowding "supported by clear and convincing evidence" and the City Council concurs. "Only the payment of fees shall be required in subdivisions containing 50 parcels or less", and fees are paid when a building permit is issued. School districts also charge their own fees under state law; this guide did not read them.

Other charges. The inclusionary in-lieu fee is due at the first residential building permit (see the three or more homes page). Section 17.44.120 may require a project to join a community facilities district or offer to annex into one. Density bonus projects may pay fees set by resolution "for the ongoing administration and monitoring of the target units." A Ridgeline Development Permit carries "a processing fee as established by the City plus appropriate environmental fees."

Growth Management

Chapter 20.315, updated by Ordinance 2025-1568, finds that "several of the City's general plan neighborhoods do not have adequate public facilities and services" and requires "that all new development bear the cost of providing the public facilities and services needed." Under Section 20.315.040 anyone receiving a tentative map, site development plan, rezoning or other discretionary approval must "assure funding and timely construction of all threshold public facilities or services" named in the neighborhood facilities plan, before building permits issue, and must pay "the public facilities and services fee that was previously established by the City Council." The plans cover "each of the City's eight general plan neighborhoods."

Section 20.315.030 exempts "the issuance of a building permit for a single family residential building on a lot legally existing on June 7, 1988 requiring no discretionary approval." A new house on an older lot can therefore skip the growth management findings, while a subdivision or a multifamily site plan cannot.

Where the Code and State Law Differ

• Fee timing for homes. Government Code 66007(a), as amended by SB 499 effective January 1, 2026, says a local agency "shall not require the payment" of fees for public improvements on a residential development "until the date of the final inspection, or the date the certificate of occupancy is issued, whichever occurs first", with exceptions in subdivisions (b) and (h). Section 17.44.070 follows that statute for public facilities fees. The ADU fee rule in Section 20.410.060(G) and the inclusionary in-lieu fee are due at the building permit. Ask the City which date applies, and cite the statute.
• Ridgeline permits. Table 20.500-1 lists the Director as the deciding body for the Ridgeline Overlay Zone, while Section 20.260.060(C) says the permit "must be reviewed and approved by the Planning Commission."
• R-2 and R-3 building permits. Section 20.515.020 sends projects of two to nine units to the Planning Commission, while Section 20.515.050(C)(2) says no building permits shall be issued in R-2 and R-3 "until such plans have been approved by both the Planning Commission and City Council."
• A missing section. Section 20.350.030(D) points to "Section 20.350.040.E" for parking; the chapter ends at Section 20.350.030, whose subsection (E) holds the parking rule.

Where to Go Next

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)