San Mateo | Permits and Fees

San Mateo, California Permits and Fees: Approval Bodies, Notice Tiers, Deadlines, Appeals, Planning Deposits and Development Fees Per Home

This page covers how the City of San Mateo reviews a housing project and what it charges at each step. The procedures are in Chapters 27.06 and 27.08 of the Zoning Code. The fees are in the Comprehensive Fee Schedule the City Council adopts each year; this page uses the one for July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027. School district fees and the building permit fee tables were not read and are left out. The San Mateo overview has the summary.

Three Approval Bodies

Section 27.06.010 says "There shall be three approval bodies for planning applications." A planning application, or PA, is the City's single form for land use approvals, and Section 27.08.010 lists 14 kinds of project that need one, from site plan and architectural review to subdivisions.

• Zoning Administrator. "The Director of Community Development, or designee, shall be Zoning Administrator." This staff position decides, with public notice and no hearing, site plan and architectural review for up to 99 homes that meet the objective design standards, parcel maps without exceptions, variances for houses, ADUs, duplexes and projects of up to six homes, temporary use permits, Single-Family Dwelling Design Review, and special permits such as the removal of a house in R1.
• Planning Commission. It "shall review and take final action, subject to appeal to the Council," on appeals from the Zoning Administrator, most special use permits, larger site plan reviews, tentative maps, parcel maps with exceptions, and applications with an environmental impact report.
• City Council. Section 27.06.050 gives the Council final action on appeals from the Commission, reclassifications (rezonings), planned developments, General Plan amendments, buildings that exceed the General Plan height limit, and historic building demolition permits.
• Development Review Board. "The Board shall review and provide recommendations on all planning applications." Its role under Title 27 is to recommend.
• Combined requests. When one application needs approvals from different bodies, "the approval body with the superior level of authority shall consider and act upon the entire planning application."

Two housing permits are outside this system. An ADU that meets Chapter 27.19 receives a ministerial permit that "may not be appealed," and an SB 9 permit that meets Chapter 27.21 "is not appealable." Ministerial means staff checks the plans against written standards with no personal judgment.

Notice Tiers and the Neighborhood Meeting

The code sets the notice distance as a range: notices go to "all owners and tenants of property located within a radius of 500 to 1,000 feet of the property lines of the project site in accordance with procedures adopted by City Council resolution." The City's Planning Application Guide, with a publication date of April 3, 2026, turns that into four tiers. A note in the guide says it was "developed pursuant to City Council Resolution No. 65 (2024)."

Source: City of San Mateo, Planning Application Guide, page 1, publication date April 3, 2026.

• The meeting. For Tier III and Tier IV, the guide says "Meeting should be held via Zoom, and must be recorded," on a Monday to Thursday between 6 and 8 pm. The minimum length is 40 minutes for Tier III and one hour for Tier IV.
• The mailing. The Planning Division approves the draft notice first. Mailing addresses are bought from the City, and envelopes "shall be postmarked at least 10 calendar days before the Neighborhood Meeting."
• What is filed afterward. A statement that notice was given, a list of attendees, a list of comments, and a link to the recording.
• Study session. A Planning Commission study session "is optional for Tier IV projects," and the guide says housing projects "would not typically require" one.
• Site posting. Under Section 27.08.050 the applicant posts a notice placard on the site "at least ten days prior to any pending Zoning Administrator decision, Planning Commission study session or public hearing, or City Council hearing."

Completeness, Decisions and Appeals

• What makes an application complete. "A planning application is determined to be complete when all documents, reports, data, maps, fees, and other information prescribed in Section 27.08.010 are submitted and are determined to be adequate."
• Disputing an incomplete letter. An applicant "may appeal the incompleteness determination to the Planning Commission within 14 days of the date of the incomplete letter," and the Commission decides "not later than 60 calendar days after receipt of the applicant's written appeal."
• Applications left incomplete. The Zoning Administrator "may close out an application" when requested information "has not been submitted" within 120 days. A closed application counts as withdrawn and unspent fees are refunded.
• Staff decisions. "The Zoning Administrator shall make a decision on applications within the Zoning Administrator's authority or refer the application to the Planning Commission within twenty-one (21) days from the date the application is complete." Notice is mailed "at least ten calendar days before a decision is reached by the Zoning Administrator, but no hearing shall be held."
• Commission hearings. Applications "shall be set for public hearing by the Planning Commission within twenty-one (21) days from the date the application is complete and the environmental review process is completed."
• When a decision takes effect. Decisions of the Zoning Administrator or the Commission "shall become effective ten (10) calendar days after the decision is made, unless an appeal is filed." Council decisions take effect the day they are made.
• Appeals. "All appeals must be filed prior to the effective date of a decision, in writing, and be accompanied by payment of the filing fee." A denial may be appealed only by the applicant; an approval "by the applicant, any interested citizen or taxpayer." The appeal hearing is a new hearing on the whole record. A Commissioner or Council member may also ask in writing for review of a decision, with no fee.
• A second application. After a denial, a new application for the same project is not accepted "for a period of one year from the date of the final action," unless the approval body waives the limit or denied the project without prejudice.

After Approval

• Expiration. "Final approval of a planning application shall expire two years from the date of approval." The approval continues if "A completed building permit application is filed before the expiration date and a building permit is issued prior to or within six months after the two year expiration date."
• Extensions. "The Zoning Administrator may approve up to two extensions of a planning approval, each for up to two years." The request must be filed before the approval expires, and the Zoning Administrator must find the project is still consistent with the General Plan and the Zoning Ordinance and adds no environmental impact.
• Changes. Section 27.08.080 sorts modifications into three kinds: "(a) substantial conformance, (b) minor, or (c) major." The first is handled with the building permit, the second by the Zoning Administrator, and the third by the body that decided the project.
• Building permits. "No building permit shall be issued authorizing work upon property for which a planning application is being processed unless such work is unrelated to the planning application." No new building that needed a planning application may be occupied until the Zoning Administrator approves the certificate of occupancy in writing.
• Special use permits. "If a special use for which a special use permit has been granted is discontinued for one (1) year, the permit shall become null and void."
• Conditions. Conditions of approval "shall run with the land and are binding on the successors, heirs, and assignees of the applicant."
• Revocation. The Planning Commission may revoke or suspend an approval after a hearing if its terms are violated.

Planning Deposits and Flat Fees

Section 27.12.010 lets the Council "fix the amount of fees to be charged for processing all applications and appeals" by resolution. The current fee schedule charges most planning applications as a deposit that staff time is billed against.

Source: City of San Mateo, Adopted Comprehensive Fee Schedule, July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027, Planning Division and Public Works sections.

• Refunds. "If the cost of the staff time spent on the application(s) is less than the amount of the deposit, the balance shall be refunded to the applicant."
• More deposit. "If at any time before action is taken on an application, more than 70% of the deposit has been expended on the application, the applicant shall be required to pay an additional deposit."
• Consultants. "The applicant shall pay the actual cost of any consultant services required to process a planning application including the environmental (CEQA) clearance processing."
• At the building permit. The building section of the schedule adds a planning support fee of "10% of Building Permit Fee," a General Plan maintenance fee of "0.59% of valuation" and a technology fee of "0.15% of valuation." The building permit fee tables themselves were not read.
• ADUs. The schedule lists flat ADU permit fees of $2,831.57 for new construction and $1,454.02 for a junior ADU; see the ADUs and SB 9 page.

Development Fees Per Home

An impact fee is a charge on new construction that pays for the public facilities the new homes will use. The City's Development Fees summary, revised July 1, 2026, lists the ones below. It says "The fees are updated annually per the adopted Comprehensive Fee Schedule."

Source: City of San Mateo, Development Fees summary, revised July 1, 2026, and Adopted Comprehensive Fee Schedule 2026-2027. The sums add the four rows for a two-bedroom multi-family home and for a single-family home; they leave out school, building permit, utility connection and Below Market Rate fees.

• Park fee. The summary explains the two legal bases: Chapter 13.05 "established the impact fee on new residential development that does not include a subdivision map," and Chapter 26.64 "established the in-lieu fee on new residential developments that includes a subdivision map." An in-lieu fee is paid in place of dedicating park land. Section 13.05.070 says the impact fee applies to new homes "which are not one-family detached dwellings or secondary units allowed under Chapter 27.19," so a single house on an existing lot is outside it. Ask the City which park charge applies to a house that is not part of a subdivision.
• Park and recreation tax. Chapter 3.58 is a separate tax on "the construction within the City of any residential building which requires issuance of a building permit," at "thirty cents for every one hundred dollars of valuation stated in the application for building permit." A lot in a subdivision that dedicated land or paid park fees receives an exclusion up to that amount.
• Transportation improvement fee. Chapter 27.13 charges it "for each new dwelling unit," and "No fee is applicable for remodeling or for an addition to an existing unit not resulting in a new unit." It "shall be paid in full to the City of San Mateo before the first building permit is issued."
• Childcare development fee. Chapter 23.65 imposes it "on all residential and commercial development."
• Wastewater capacity charge. Charged per home by bedroom count, and at $5.87 per square foot for an ADU.
• Art in public places. The summary says projects "with a building permit valuation of $3 million or more" are subject to Chapter 23.60, with an in-lieu fee of "1.19% of the total construction valuation."
• Below Market Rate fee. Projects of 5 to 10 homes pay $157,187 to $342,545; see the three or more homes page.
• Trees. Projects other than single-family that remove trees under a planning application pay a replacement or landscape in-lieu fee, listed at $357.07 per landscape unit.

By VanPlex arithmetic, four two-bedroom homes in one building owe $185,358.60 in these four fees (4 times $46,339.65). ADUs of 750 square feet or smaller pay no impact fee under Section 27.19.050. A fee may be appealed: for the transportation fee, the appeal body "shall uphold the fee and deny the appeal if it finds that there is a reasonable relationship between the development project's impact on transportation facilities and the amount of the fee."

Where the Texts Differ

• Notice distance. Section 27.08.050 sets 500 to 1,000 feet by Council resolution. The revocation section, 27.10.020, still uses "a three-hundred-foot radius."
• Tentative maps. The Planning Application Guide lists a "Tentative Map without exceptions" under Tier III, decided by the Zoning Administrator. Chapter 26.48 has the Planning Commission act on a tentative subdivision map, and Section 27.06.020 gives the Zoning Administrator "Parcel Maps without exceptions." Ask the Planning Division which body decides a tentative map.
• A missing section. Sections 27.10.020 and 26.58.010 send appeals to "Section 27.08.070." Chapter 27.08 has no section with that number; appeals are in Section 27.08.090.
• The transportation fee standard. Section 27.13.030 describes Level of Service D as an "Average Delay of 45 seconds." The definition in Section 27.13.040 prints "0.45 seconds or better."
• Tree fee. The Development Fees summary lists a 24-inch box replacement tree at $824.00. The fee schedule lists the tree replacement cost for a 24-inch box tree at $845.00.
• The park fee and houses. The fee tables list a single-family park fee, and Section 13.05.070 exempts one-family detached dwellings from the impact fee. The in-lieu fee for subdivisions in Chapter 26.64 is the other basis.

Limits of This Page

The code was read from the City's bulk copy, whose index page prints "Current through" October 8, 2026. The fee schedule was read from the adopted document for July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027; the resolutions that adopted the fees, the transportation fee technical report and the City's fee reports under the state Mitigation Fee Act were not read. Building permit fee tables, fire district fees, water and other utility connection charges, and school district fees were not read. State deadlines for housing projects apply on top of the City rules and are outside this page. Ask the Planning Division for a fee estimate for your project.

Where to Go Next

Related on VanPlex: the San Mateo overview, the California impact fees page and the Measure T and height limits page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)