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Page 4 of 6 <br />City of Redwood City 1017 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA. 94063 Tel: 650-780-7000 www.redwoodcity.org <br />in providing pre-reviewed ADU plans. Detached ADUs may require additional review items, including fire <br />flow testing and utility coordination, prior to permit issuance. <br />On March 14, 2026, Yes! in Redwood City requested the City work toward ADU Permit issuance within 30 <br />days of application submittal. In early April, staff met with Yes! representatives to provide an overview of <br />the ADU permitting process and provided data on ADU permits issued in 2025. Staff acknowledged this <br />aspirational goal but noted application completeness and applicant responsiveness after receiving City <br />compliance comments play the largest role in the permit issuance timeline (as discussed further below). <br />In theory a complete and thorough ADU application could lead to building permit issuance in 15 days, <br />however, a second round of application review is typically required to address compliance comments. <br />Analysis of recent ADU permit applications that were issued in 2025 indicates that City review timelines <br />are consistent with State requirements and are not the primary factor affecting overall permit issuance <br />timeframes. State law requires jurisdictions to provide application completeness comments within 15 <br />days, whereas the City actually provides completeness and code compliance comments within this <br />timeframe. The median number of review cycles for an ADU permit is 3 and the average is 3.35. The <br />median number of days of City review is 44 days and the average is 47.54. By comparison, applicants take <br />a median of 150 days and an average of 217 days to respond to code compliance comments. Applicant <br />response times vary considerably based on project complexity, availability of design professionals and <br />contractors, evolving project scopes, required revisions to architectural, structural, energy, or utility plans, <br />and owner decisions regarding project feasibility and cost. In many cases, applicants may also pause <br />projects while securing financing, obtaining contractor bids, and coordinating utility upgrades. In <br />summary, while the City completes permit reviews within statutory timeframes, extended applicant <br />response periods significantly increase the total time required to issue permits and commence <br />construction. <br /> <br />The data suggests that efforts to further reduce City review times would have a limited impact on overall <br />permit issuance timelines unless accompanied by measures that improve application completeness and <br />thoroughness (which is underway with updated fillable application forms and informational handouts) <br />and more proactive efforts to assist applicants beyond basic plan review cycles )such as assistance <br />provided by the ADU Resource Center, encouraging the use of Pre-Reviewed Plans, and further assistance <br />by staff, additional informational handouts about what to expect, can all aid in speeding up timelines if <br />the applicant avails themselves of these resources). In particular, the ADU Resource Center offers pre- <br />application feasibility consultations to assist residents with the viability of the ADU location, size, budget, <br />and project timeline to help navigate the development process and provide better developed ADU <br />applications. In conclusion, the Applicant response to comment timeframe accounts for the majority of <br />the total permit processing time for ADU projects. <br />EQUITY IMPACT STATEMENT <br />All City actions are assessed for impact. Because this item is on the consent calendar, this section indicates <br />assessment process, not findings. The anticipated impact of this membership supports equity by <br />7.A. - Page 4 of 16 <br />11