COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

 

ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES AGENCY

 

DATE:

June 12, 2006

BOARD MEETING DATE:

June 20, 2006

SPECIAL NOTICE/HEARING:

None

VOTE REQUIRED:

Majority

 

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

 

FROM:

Supervisor Rich Gordon

 

Supervisor Adrienne Tissier

 

SUBJECT:

Fee Waiver for Solar Panels and Photovoltaic Systems

 

RECOMMENDATION

Waive a portion of the Planning and Building permit fees and eliminate design review fees for solar panels and other photovoltaic systems for a one year period and monitor number of permits submitted.

 

VISION ALIGNMENT

Commitment: Responsive, effective and collaborative government.

 

Goal: County employees understand, support and integrate the County vision and goals into the delivery of services (Goal 21). The County vision supports energy conservation and the pursuit of alternative forms of energy including solar power. Evaluating the current fee structure for solar panels and photovoltaic systems and recommending an administrative waiver of a portion of those fees supports that vision.

 

BACKGROUND

As traditional energy resources are depleted, it becomes increasingly important to pursue alternative forms for energy. Local government has the ability to provide incentives for individuals to pursue those alternatives by providing a partial fee waiver for planning and building permits.

 

DISCUSSION

San Mateo County currently charges $690 for a building permit for photovoltaic systems. The County also charges $473 for a design review exemption in the two design review areas (Bayside and Coastside). The building permit fee covers three inspections, plan checking services, filing fee, microfilming fee and a 5% surcharge for legal services. The design review exemption fee covers a Planning Division plan check and evaluation to ensure that the system will not have an adverse visual impact and can therefore be exempt from further design review. In the past twelve months, the County has issued 18 building permits equaling $12,420 in revenue and seven design review exemptions equaling $3,311 in revenue. The total revenue received from these building permits and design review exemptions in the last twelve months equals $15,731.

 

A survey conducted about seven months ago showed San Mateo County in the middle of the range of building permit costs in the Bay Area. A more recent survey published in the San Jose Mercury News showed that many local cities have recently reduced their fees by 50% or more in an effort to provide an incentive to people that would like to install photovoltaic systems.

 

In an effort to provide the same type of incentive in San Mateo County, we recommend an administrative fee waiver of 50% from the building permit fee so that the fee would be $345. Also, in accordance with recent state legislation, AB 2473, which significantly limits the ability to regulate the design of solar energy systems, we recommend elimination of design review fees and the requirement to obtain an exemption for these systems.

 

The photovoltaic system must comply with the zoning regulations applicable in the district, including height limits, setbacks and lot coverage. The system would still require a building permit and would be required to meet all applicable regulations and have required inspections. If the system installation were part of a larger project, the building permit fee waivers would only apply to the work directly associated with the system.

 

We further recommend that any design review or design review exemption fees that have been accepted by the County since January 2005 when AB 2473 was passed be refunded to the property owners. This would amount to a refund of $473 to seven property owners for a total refund amount of $3,311.

 

The 50% waiver of the building permit fees would result in a building permit fee of $345, which is consistent with actions taken in other local jurisdictions. We recommend implementing the fee waivers for a twelve month period and monitoring the number of permits submitted. If the waiver is an effective incentive, we recommend making it permanent at the end of the twelve month period.

 

FISCAL IMPACT

The impact on the General Fund would be the $3,311 refund for design review fees, plus a future impact of $345 per applicant in reduced permit fees for photovoltaic systems.