DATE: March 23, 2026
TO: Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Stefan Chatwin, City/District Manager
Marlene Subhashini, Assistant City Manager
FROM: Sofia Mangalam, Community Development Director
Chuck Venook, Chief Building Official
Nori Jabba, Housing and Sustainability Manager
SUBJECT: Proposed changes to Community Development Department (CDD) Master Fees and Service Charges Schedule
RECOMMENDATION
Staff seek policy direction from the City Council regarding changes to the Fees and Service Charges for the Community Development Department for FYs 2026-2027 and 2027-2028.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Master Fee Schedule is a document that details fees for services that the city provides to its residents and customers. The Community Development Department recommends amending the Master Fees and Service Charge Schedule, including introducing new fees for various services and revising a few existing fees.
BACKGROUND
California State Law, Government Code 66014(a), stipulates that certain zoning and permit fees (“user fees”) charged by local agencies “…may not exceed the estimated reasonable cost of providing the service for which the fee is charged”.
User fees recover costs associated with the provision of specific services benefiting the user, thereby reducing the use of General Fund monies for such purposes. In addition to collecting the direct cost of labor and materials associated with processing and administering user services, it is common for local governments to recover support costs.
ANALYSIS
The Community Development Department comprises the following functions/divisions:
1. The Planning/Code Enforcement Division is responsible for long-term planning regarding the growth and development of the City, for reviewing and processing applications for all land use and development proposals, and for maintaining the appearance of the community. Typical entitlement applications, such as Use Permits, Architectural Reviews, and Variances, are processed through the Planning Division.
2. The Building Division is responsible for ensuring that all construction projects permitted within the City comply with the California Building Code, the Foster City Municipal Code, and all other applicable codes and regulations. The Building Division oversees permit applications, plan checks, permit issuance, and inspections of construction and development projects to ensure compliance with local and state building codes.
3. The Housing Division administers the City’s housing programs, including monitoring affordable housing units throughout the City, working to create more affordable housing opportunities, and implementing the City’s affordable housing regulations.
The Sustainability Division seeks to maintain a healthy environment, including clean air, clean water, and a living area free from pollution, in which resources are used wisely to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
BUILDING FEES
Every year, staff review and evaluate permit fees across all divisions to ensure they remain fair, competitive, and reflective of current costs, while providing transparency to applicants.
New Fees
Certain fees need to be added in order to recover the costs of providing services, as described below:
1. Deferred Submittal Plan Check Fee
A deferred submittal in the building permit is a specific portion of the permit documents that is intentionally submitted and/or approved after the main building permit is approved/issued. For example: Roof trusses for single-family dwellings, fire sprinkler systems, fire alarm systems, elevators, stairs, curtain walls, etc. Currently, the Master Fee Schedule does not include this line item.
The following are examples of Deferred Submittal Plan Check Fee charged by a couple of cities:
• City of Palo Alto for Deferred Submittal $694.00 base fee per application ( link) • City of Mountain View: $433 per hour ( link)
Staff recommend charging a fully burdened hourly rate to cover the cost of staff time spent reviewing the deferred submittal. This fee would be included under CDB-16 under Revisions.
2. Flat Fee of $450 - for Energy Storage System (ESS) for Single-Family Dwellings Energy Storage Systems (battery backups) are widely used in residential applications to optimize solar performance. Building Division commonly sees one (1) and two (2) ESS being proposed for single-family dwellings. Assemble Bill (AB) 1132 caps the residential Photovoltaic Systems at $450 for systems up to 15 kW, which is typical for single-family homes.
The following are examples of Energy Storage System Plan Check Fees by a few other cities:
• City of Palo Alto for ESS in Single Family Dwelling and Duplex is $1,859.00 per permit (page 62, link).
• County of San Mateo: $450.00 for the 1st storage unit, $50.00 for each additional unit (link).
• City of Berkeley: ESS – $150 for residential up to 50kW aggregate and $275 over 50kW aggregate (link).
Staff recommend charging a flat fee of $450 for Single-Family Dwellings ESS (San Mateo Consolidated Fire Department (SMCFD)’s Review and Fire Inspection excluded.)
3.Garage Door Permit Fee
The fee for a Residential Garage Door is currently not specified in the Master Fee Schedule. The number of plan check hours and inspection hours is the same as for Residential Door Replacements.
Staff is recommending a clarification note for CDB-17 item #3, Residential door replacements, including garage doors.
4. CDB#17 item 4 includes the fee for Residential Electrical vehicle charging stations for Single-family and Townhomes.
Staff recommends a correction to include that the Flat Fee is applicable to Single Family Dwelling and Two-Family Dwelling units.
5. Staff recommend making revisions to the note #2 for Building Fees as follows:
Note #2. State Fees CDB-03 / CDB-10 / CDM-01 (3) / CDM-01(6) not included in Flat Fees. Flat Fees are stacked / combined for multiple proposed projects
HOUSING FEES
6. CDH-01 BMR Housing Fees – Monitoring Fees include an annual monitoring fee of $72 per unit per year for the term of affordability, with reasonable periodic increases for BMR units of affordable housing development agreements starting 7/1/2024.
Assembly Bill (AB) 2430, which took effect on January 1, 2025, prohibits local governments from charging monitoring fees for affordable housing developments if certain conditions are met and if the developments are already subject to compliance monitoring by a state housing agency.
Staff recommends adding a note that the fee must be imposed in a manner consistent with Government Code section 65915.3.
7. Additionally, staff has included the following annual adjustments to certain fees:
a. Building Fees (CDB): An annual adjustment to certain fees to account for inflation based on the prior year’s annual percentage change in construction costs, as measured by the Building Cost Index (BCI) published by the California Department of General Services, Real Estate Services Division. For FY 2026– 27, the adjustment is 3.9%. These fees are highlighted in orange in Attachment
1. b. Planning/Code Enforcement Fees: An annual adjustment to certain fees to account for annual inflation based on the prior year's annual percentage change per Bay Area Consumer Price Index (CPI). For 2025, it is +3.05%. These fees are highlighted in yellow in Attachment 1.
8. Lastly, staff has included the following adjustments to Development Impact Fees:
a. An annual adjustment to account for inflation based on the prior year’s annual percentage change based on the Engineering Construction Cost Index for San Francisco, California for:
i. Affordable Housing Commercial Linkage Fees for New Nonresidential Development Projects (DEV-01)
ii. Parks Facilities Impact Fee (DEV-04)
iii. Public Safety Impact Fee (DEV-05)
iv. Transportation Impact Fee (DEV-06)
b. An annual adjustment to the Below Market Rate Housing In-Lieu Fee (DEV-03) to account for inflation based on the Engineering Construction Cost Index for San Francisco, California, for the elapsed time period from May of the previous year to May of the current year.
CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT
This action is exempt from review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3) (general rule for projects that have no direct or reasonably foreseeably indirect physical change to the environment).
FISCAL IMPACT
The amended changes to the FYs 2026-2027 and 2027-2028 Master Fees Schedule for the Community Development Department will allow the City to more efficiently recover costs for materials and staff times associated with specific projects.
CITY COUNCIL VISION, MISSION, AND VALUE/PRIORITY AREA
Smart Planning, Development, and the Local Economy
ATTACHMENTS
2-1. CDD Revised Fee Schedule