Santa Ana | Permits and Fees

Santa Ana Permits and Fees: Who Decides, Review Deadlines, Appeals, Planning Fees and Impact Fees for 2026-27

A multiplex in Santa Ana passes through Planning, then Building and Public Works, and pays fees at each step. The decision makers and procedures are in Chapters 34 and 41 of the Municipal Code, Supplement 33 Update 1. The amounts are in the City's FY 2026-27 Adopted Miscellaneous Fees Schedule, posted with the City's FY 2026-27 budget documents. State law sets deadlines the City must meet and limits when it may collect fees. The Santa Ana overview sums up the guide.

Who Decides Each Permit

Source: Santa Ana Municipal Code, Chapter 41, 41-194.2, Article XX, Article V; Chapter 34, 34-126 and 34-127; Chapter 30, 30-6.

Most small projects start at the counter. The City's Planning Application Review page lists the work Planning must approve "prior to submitting plans through the Building Safety Division Electronic Plan (E-Plan) Review process," including a "New Single-Family Dwelling Unit," "Standard Accessory Dwelling Unit/Junior Accessory Dwelling Unit Review," residential additions under 2,500 square feet, front yard fences and landscape projects. It says "anything over 2,500 sq. ft. requires Development Project Review." The City's forms page announces "Accela: New Permit Portal/Land Management System Effective July 1, 2026."

Development Project Review is the director's check of a larger project's plans. Section 41-668 defines a development project as new construction or additions of "two thousand five hundred (2,500) square feet or more," excluding "Single family homes" and "Room additions to duplexes," plus any project that needs a discretionary approval. "No building permit shall be issued for any development project unless consistent with plans that have been approved" (Section 41-669). The plans must meet six standards: consistency with the General Plan and any specific plan, the City's design standards, adequate access and parking, emergency access, utilities, and the rest of Chapter 41 (Section 41-670). A hearing is held only when approval "will constitute a substantial or significant deprivation of property rights of other landowners" or when a discretionary approval needs one (Section 41-672). The director's decision may be appealed to the Planning Commission, whose "decision ... shall be final" (Section 41-674).

Discretionary approvals go to hearing bodies. The Planning Commission grants "minor exceptions to, and variances from the provisions of this chapter, and to grant conditional use permits" (Section 41-630), while the Zoning Administrator acts on the minor exceptions listed in Section 41-632 (Section 41-631). A conditional use permit, variance or minor exception "shall automatically become void after two (2) years" if the owner has not started work, though the approving body may set longer terms and the City Council may extend it "for a period or periods not exceeding three (3) years in total" (Section 41-647).

Review Deadlines and Appeals

State law sets the clocks. Government Code 65943 requires a written decision on completeness "Not later than 30 calendar days after any public agency has received an application for a development project." Government Code 65950 then requires a decision within set periods, such as "Sixty days from the date of adoption by the lead agency of the negative declaration" or 60 days from a finding that the project is exempt from environmental review, and one hundred eighty days from certification of an environmental impact report. Government Code 66452.1 requires an advisory agency with authority over a tentative map to act "within 50 days after the filing thereof."

Faster clocks apply to small housing. For an ADU, the City must decide completeness "not later than 15 business days after" receiving the application and act "within 60 days" of a complete one when a home stands on the lot (Government Code 66317). SB 9 two-unit projects and lot splits must be decided within 60 days or are "deemed approved" (Government Code 65852.21 and 66411.7). The CEQA and permit streamlining page explains the statewide rules.

Appeals are short. "Any appeal made under the terms of this article shall be made within ten (10) calendar days following the date of the decision," and the period "shall end at 5:00 p.m. on the tenth calendar day" (Section 41-645). Any interested party may appeal. Zoning Administrator decisions go to the Planning Commission, and Planning Commission decisions to the City Council, which hears them in the same manner as the original hearing. Map appeals follow the same 10-day rule in Sections 34-129 and 34-132.

Planning and Map Fees for 2026-27

Source: City of Santa Ana, FY 2026-27 Adopted Miscellaneous Fees Schedule, Sections IX (Planning and Building) and XII (Public Works).

Two charges ride on top. The schedule lists a "Technology Fee" of 7 percent "Per Transaction," and the Planning Division's fee sheet says "certain applications may be subject to" it "to recover the cost of implementing the City's new permitting and licensing system." The same sheet says "Beginning July 1, 2026, the City of Santa Ana will implement a 2.5% processing fee for credit card and debit card transactions." Section 34-2 makes map fees due "at the time of initial filing."

Building permit fees are set per square foot by model building type in Section X of the schedule. For a 2,500 square foot two-story house, the structural plan check is $3.14 per square foot ($1.42 if one story) and the structural inspection $0.81 per square foot. For a 10-unit apartment building, assumed at 10,000 square feet, the structural plan check is $1.42 and the inspection $0.33 per square foot. Electrical, mechanical and plumbing work is priced item by item. Public Works charges $255 per hour for improvement plan checks.

The City's two fee lists disagree on one line that matters for multiplexes. The Planning Division sheet, titled Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Fee Schedule, lists Development Project Review base costs of $5,916 for up to 999 square feet and $12,605 for 2,000 to 4,499. The adopted schedule lists $5,688 and $12,120. This page uses the schedule labelled adopted; confirm the charge on your invoice.

Park, Drainage and Sewer Fees

An impact fee is a one-time charge on new building to pay for the public facilities it will use. Santa Ana's main one for homes is the park fee in Article IV of Chapter 35. "Any person adding net residential units or converting apartments to condominiums in the City of Santa Ana shall pay to the city fees in such amounts as shall be set by resolution of the city council" (Section 35-110). The money goes to a "Park Acquisition and Development Fund," aimed at "two (2) acres of such facilities per one thousand (1,000) population" (Section 35-108). A net residential unit is "Any increase in the number of residential units constructed on any given piece of real property" (Section 35-109), so replacing one house with four homes adds three.

Source: City of Santa Ana, FY 2026-27 Adopted Miscellaneous Fees Schedule, Section VIII; Santa Ana Municipal Code Sections 35-108 to 35-114.

By VanPlex arithmetic on the schedule, four new two-bedroom homes on a vacant lot owe 4 times $5,905, or $23,620. Section 35-114 also imposes a residential development tax "in the same amounts," reduced by the park fee paid for the same project, with the money going to the general fund. An owner may instead offer park land, and if the City Council accepts it, the fee does not apply (Section 35-113).

Drainage fees come from Chapter 34. "The city is divided into six (6) local drainage areas" (Section 34-191), and no final map, parcel map "nor any building permit for new development" may issue until the fee is paid, set "for each gross acre of land being subdivided or developed" and prorated for part of an acre (Section 34-193). The FY 2026-27 rates per acre are $8,715 in Area 1, $10,506 in Area 2, $5,656 in Area 3, $8,348 in Area 4, $9,511 in Area 5 and $9,353 in Area 6. The Sewer Connection Fee is $53.00 per plumbing fixture unit.

ADUs get state relief. Government Code 66311.5 bars "any impact fee upon the development of an accessory dwelling unit that has 750 square feet of interior livable space or less," and larger ADUs pay in proportion to the size of the house. Affordable housing fees, the in-lieu fee and monitoring fees, are on the three or more homes page.

When Fees Are Due: Code and State Law

Section 35-111 says the park fee "shall be due and payable prior to the issuance of a building permit for any construction which adds net residential units. No building permit shall be issued until such fees are paid." Section 34-193 sets the same timing for drainage fees. Government Code 66007, amended effective January 1, 2026, says a local agency that imposes fees on "a residential development for the construction of public improvements or facilities 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," except under its subdivisions (b) and (h). Where the two conflict, the statute controls. Ask the City which exception, if any, it relies on before paying early.

Utility connection fees are different: the statute allows them "at the time an application for service is received," if they do not exceed the cost of the connection. The state impact fees page covers Government Code 66007 and school fees in more detail.

Where to Go Next

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Official sources (checked October 2026)