County Increasing Building Permit Fees

In a 3-2 split, county supervisors voted to increase building-permit fees after hiring consulting firm MGT of America two years ago to analyze prices. Permits to build a 2,000-square-foot, single-family home, for instance, will increase from about $4,000 to $6,380. Fiscal conservatives complained most builders are already subsidizing the department by paying taxes and noted similar fees in San Luis Obispo County were much cheaper. In S.L.O., that building permit is about $4,000. But Glenn Russell, director of Planning & Development, said the new fee structure is in line with other neighboring jurisdictions, including the City of Santa Barbara and Ventura County, where the same fees are $11,500 and $8,200, respectively. The county supervisors also suggested various ways to accelerate the application process.